Delhi Trip - 4 days in August, budget hotels, nightlife, food!

bloreGhooma

Hi All,

The fiance and I are planning a two week long trip hitting Delhi-Agra-Goa-Bangalore in August. This thread is about the Delhi part of the trip, and I'll be posting questions about the other cities in their respective forums.

We'll be arriving in Delhi at the IGI Airport on Aug 23rd at around 11 in the night.

The Hotel: We'd like a nice clean budget hotel that meets a few comfort requirements - clean toilets, running hot/cold water and Air conditioned. We have a budget of Rs 1000-1500 per day. We are open to more expensive places if necessary, but would prefer to hit this mark.
Ideally, I'd prefer the hotel to be walking distance from Connaught Place so there are shpos/eateries of interest within walking distance. However, it seems that most of the budget hotels are in the Karol Bagh area. Does anyone know how good that area is, and recommnd a suitable hotel for us. If you could recommend anything in CP/janpath in our budget, that would be great!!

Sight Seeing: I'm assuming that there will be some kind of a state run daily tour bus that will hit the main spots in a day. Is that correct? Where can I find information about this? Alternatively, would it be better if I hired a car for the day? What does the community recommend?

Nightlife: We plan to experience some of delhi's famed nightlife while we are there. So what are the must see nighclubs to visit? We'll be there from Sun 24th Aug to Wed 27th, so are there any interesting event going on in the city at that time? Where can I find out abt them?

Food: We are both foodies (eat everything and anything!!), so what are the must have foods and foodplaces to visit?

Shopping: Any recommended shopping places? Factory outlets etc.?

Thanks for all your help!

- blore

Aishah

bloreghooma - in this Delhi Forum there are a number of Threads with answers to your questions. Check out for budget hotels, restaurants, etc. Some good markets are Sarojini Nagar, Janpath area,Lajpat Nagar, karol Bagh and Rajouri Gardens. More expensive are Khan Market, Defence Colony.

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wonderwomanusa

One possibility might be to arrange an airport pickup, Karol Bagh hotel and city tour with Namaste India Tours.

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puchoo

If you want something within walking distance then you only have a choice really of Paharganj, which i would not recommend. You could get something in CP itself, for example google jukaso Inn, but this would be more expensive at around 3000 a night but you would be in CP.

Karol Bagh is fine as such , there are a lot of recommendations as well as information regarding that area on the site. You would be a 15 odd minute taxi/auto drive away from CP depending on the time of the day.


There are city tours, but i have never been one on one on account of the fact that I am a Dilliwala and have over the years seen everything....the Delhi tourism website will be a good place to start and i saw a tour there when i was last on the site a few days ago.

Hiring a car would be slightly expensive but much more convenient.

Well, this would depend on what your preference is really , i am not a nightclub , techno music guy so dont go too many often but there are places in CP , and some of the most popular ones are locate with various 5 stars..other members will be along soon with their recommendations hopefully..

Delhi's Devils
Lizard Lounge
Someplace Else
Capitol


Oh dear , where to begin!!

Sagar - South Indian
Udupi - South Indian
Swagath - Mangalorian Sea Food
Moti Mahal / Karims etc - Mughlai Food
Street food - Chaat , Chole Batura etc...
Punjabi By Nature - Again a good option for Punjabi Stuff..
Chinese - Not too many choices , i only like the Imperial but there are places such as Mainland China etc.


Janpath is a big and popular destination initself and then ofcourse you have the tourist centric Dilli Haat as well for handicrafts etc. Dilli Haat also house a lot of stalls for food from different states in India , so might be worth your while to eat a little something there as well...

Hope that helps somewhat!

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Aishah

There are hotels near the Metro end of Karol Bagh - Hotel Swati Deluxe, Good Palace, Radiance, Arpit, are some that spring to mind. The first 2 are probably better than the others. Arpit is practically right beside the Metro station - 8rupees per person to Rajiv Chowk, right in the centre of CP.

jyotirmoy

Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) runs sight seeing tours. Go to Scindia house in CP.

bloreGhooma

Thanks for the great inputs everyone!

Ive been down with a bout of flu for the last few days and so haven't been able to post here.

I'll definitely check out the DTC tour and post back here.
Karol Bagh seems a good enough option for the hotel. Now I just have to narrow down the options

KABAARY

Chinese in the Imperial ? If it's Spice Route you are talking of, they serve malabar and South East Asian cuisine.

Actually there are many choices in Chinese...among the better ones are 19 Oriental Avenue, The China Kitchen, Taipan, Nanking, China Garden, Empress of China etc.

puchoo

I would strongly recommend Nanking...

bloreGhooma

I'll try out Nanking then

Based on some recommendations from friends, I have prepared an alternative itenarary. Throwing day trips to Jaipur and Agra, and a overnight stay at Neemrana into the mix

Take a look at it here: Neemrana-Delhi-Agra-Jaipur in 5 days

Thanks for the awesome suggestions here. So far we have Delhi sightseeing, food and shopping covered pretty well. But I'd love more nightlife recommendations. I had heard some great things abt the Delhi night life, where should I experience it??