Delhi Airport Arrival and Hotel

Wanted to give a quick plug to Namaste India tours for providing excellent driver service when we arrived at Delhi International (and later, at Delhi Domestic).

You can certainly manage arrival with a prepaid taxi, but after the long flight it may be worth a few rupees to be met by a nice man holding your name on a sign (though it's a challenge finding your name among the hundereds being held by many other nice men with signs).

Namaste also did a very good job of finding the right hotel location for us. I had told them we wanted to be "somewhere," not the nowhere of tourist enclaves. They immediately suggested Karol Bagh, a fascinating, lively market area with wonderful strolling possibilities. (Hotel details in the the Delhi Lodging section of Indiamike).

Finally, their driver (Sanjay) was wonderfully friendly and patient with us during our final day of driving around before heading to the airport for our departure.

Hi soundbyte,

I wonder which hotel you stayed at. In December 2000 I and friends stayed a few nights at the Surya Shelter which was then being used by Gecko Tours. We were starting off on a budget North India/Nepal tour which was most memorable.

I do agree that Karol Bagh has its own character with also some good value cafes and cheap internet spots for tourists. The night market was great fun.

I have had short stops in Delhi since but haven't been back to Karol Bagh, mainly because I wanted to try other areas of central Delhi.