Delhi Airport 8½ hour Stop Over

Hi all,

I have recently booked some flights from LHR to Goa for the Christmas and New Year period. To keep things a little cheaper I had to choose flights with an 8½ hour gap between arrival at Indira Gandhi Intl Terminal 3 and my domestic flight to Goa also leaving from Indira Gandhi Intl Terminal 3.

I am wondering if it would be better to find a hotel for 5-6 hours rather than hang around in the airport feeling tired? If so what hotels would other people recommend? My requirements would be that it's a reasonable price, clean and comfortable.

Would an airport lounge be another decent alternative?

I would like to hear what other people have done in this situation.

If you could tell us what was the net savings between the 8-1/2 hour layover and one with lesser duration, it would help in suggesting whether a hotel for 5-6 hours would be within your TTC (Total trip cost)

Price of the hotel+to-n-fro transportation <= Savings incurred by opting for an 8-1/2 hour layover.

In addition, IMO, knowing your arrival time in Delhi and departure time to Goa would also be helpful. My guess is they would be around midnight and 8:30am. It can take 1-11/2 hours to clear immigration & customs and please do not forget that the incoming flights can get delayed due to fog at that time of the year. Maybe best to hang around the airport although you would probably have to move from int'l to domestic (I don't know why you say both flights are from T3).

Welcome.

Cheers

Nattusbs

Kingfisher, Jet and Air India have moved all their operations to T3. Which means domestic and international arrival and departure.

The difference in price for a lesser duration was £700 total for 2 tickets - although I would like to state that in no way am I thinking of spending a great deal of what I saved on a hotel!

I arrive at 01.30am and fly out at 10.05am. I know I have to take into account the joy of passing through India immigration & customs (prior experience of that) but it would still leave quite a wait in the airport that if I'm honest I'm not too excited about.

nycank is correct - I have a domestic Kingfisher flight and it departs from T3.

there was some mention of sleeping pods in the airport at departure lounge (not sure if that is for domestic or international).
also, there is one hotel within T3 as well - check out the site for details

http://www.newdelhiairport.in/eaton-smart.aspx
http://www.newdelhiairport.in/sleepi...s-airport.aspx