Few days as a tourist in New Delhi

dannydesiliva · Oct 21st, 2009, 01:29 AM

Hello guys,
Well, I may be comming to New Delhi for probably a week and just want to know about the expenses. These are the questions:
1- How much would a good and respectable hotel would cost including meals per day.
2- How traveling around is being done. I intend to use taxi, are they metered, if yes then how much is a journy going to cost for every kilometer of Travel?.
3- What are the tourist attractions of New Delhi?
4- Being a foreigner, am I allowed to open an account in the local banks and which are the best to choose from.
Thanks for the replies and I would come back to this excellent forum if I come up with more questions.
For now you all take care and be safe :-)
Amir.....................

yasmink · Oct 22nd, 2009, 10:04 AM

I hope you find this helpful - I've been to Delhi a few times.
Hotels tend to be either nice (expensive) or dives (cheap) - i think it's hard to find middle range places. Prices also depend on the time you're travelling - december tends to be more expensive. Same with meals - there's cheaper places but then the nicer places are like NYC prices. You may want to check guest houses or see what other people recommend - like on trip advisor.com
Taxis are cheap - in Bombay it's by KM so assume it's the same in Delhi. You can also get a hired car/taxi for the day and that comes with a driver.
Tourist attractions - I think do the usual like Red Fort, Qutab Minar, India Gate, Humayun's tomb, etc. but then also check out Delhi/Dilli Haat. It's a big bazaar where you can find all types of handicrafts, shawls, furniture, etc. If you have time, I'd make a trip to Agra. You can go at night and see the Taj Mahal and Sikandra in the AM and then leave by noon to come back to Delhi.
I know you can open up a bank account as a foreigner if you have an NRI/PIO card. If you don't have a PIO/NRI card then perhaps rates may be different not sure. But they do have others banks there - like Citibank, etc. and you can use your same ATM there. People also take credit cards broadly there.

Arleitter · Oct 25th, 2009, 02:37 AM

Pls make sure that u are not travelling at odd hours.Pls take careof ur belongings.

~Namkeen~ · Oct 28th, 2009, 07:09 PM

pls see my reply in red below:

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannydesiliva

Hello guys,
Well, I may be comming to New Delhi for probably a week and just want to know about the expenses. These are the questions:
1- How much would a good and respectable hotel would cost including meals per day.

approximately Rs.4500 per day at a mid-range hotel. i have stayed at Ginger Chain of hotels in various cities, and i highly recommend it, but i haven't stayed at their hotel in Delhi. I stayed at the Intercontinental, i believe it was around 11k a night, and honestly it was just okay. Oberoi and Sheraton are better in that price range.

2- How traveling around is being done. I intend to use taxi, are they metered, if yes then how much is a journy going to cost for every kilometer of Travel?.

Not sure. I hired a car and driver by the day, it is a better/safer way to travel, esp when you're a tourist. approx cost of car plus driver for 8 hours is Rs.1600 and 5 hours is around 900 Rs.

3- What are the tourist attractions of New Delhi?
Qutb Minar, India Gate, Jama Masjid, Red Fort, Akshardham, famous eateries, day trip to Agra... these are the ones that come to mind immediately.

4- Being a foreigner, am I allowed to open an account in the local banks and which are the best to choose from.

dont' know.. as arleitter said, i dont' think you can open an account unless u're an NRI.

if u need details of car services i used or any other help planning ur trip, let me know and i'll dig up that information for u. i also have an excellent travel agent I use, and I can give u his info also.. he offers very competitive fares.

hope u enjoy ur trip!

Thanks for the replies and I would come back to this excellent forum if I come up with more questions.
For now you all take care and be safe :-)
Amir.....................