I will be arriving in DEL around 8.15 pm on CO 82 from EWR and connecting to MAA on a domestic flight the next morning . I am hoping to take one of those early morning flights to MAA

Are these any reasonably priced hotels near the airport that I can stay at? Any recent experiences

Flyerfox mentioned in one of earlier posts that he went up to the hotel reservations desk after clearing customs and their recommendation turned out to be good and reasonable. Is that option still available..

Also, do we have to arrange our own transportation to the hotel. I am scared of all the touts

Though I lived in Delhi it was nearly 15 years back and I have not gone there since 1999 and not passed through the airport even once.

I will be alone but with checked luggage.

any suggestions will be much appreciated

Reasonable near bombay airport means something on the order of 5..7K ++ INR. Poke around on cleartrip.com or makemytrip.com. Then look the hotel up on tripadvisor.com ..

Walk out of the airport and there's a prepaid taxi counter. You can get a regular taxi (non aircon old black fiat 1110 aka premier padmini) or an aircon taxi (aircon old blue fiat 1110, or maybe a tata indica / maruti suzuki 800)

If you see a tout hit on you ignore him .. he will go away and hit on someone else. They hit on foreigners far more than Indians and you sound Indian / south Indian with your FT handle, so ..

If at all you can do so, try to change your ticket so you fly direct into MAA - Air France if you want skyteam miles, or Lufthansa / BA / Jet Airways

.... you said delhi not bombay. overnight stay theres a bunch of hotels near the airport - the crowne plaza for example. all expensive ..

same advice about prepaid taxis, there are at least 3 prepaid taxi counters just before you exit the airport.

hserus

thank you for the reply.

yes I am south indian who used to live in Delhi and I have decent Hindi so I can kind of make my way through in a pinch.

I may end up staying with relative or a friend. Unfortunately there does not seem to be late night flights out of DEL to MAA as there is from BOM. I am told it is fairly easy to connect from BOM these days with plenty of late night connections for the domestic leg and one does not have to wait until the next morning.

The only reason I am connecting in DEL is because on our return we intend to stay a couple of days in Delhi and Continental offered convenient schedules and reasonable fares during summer time.

For several years I have avoided both BOM and DEL connections and flown directly to MAA whenever possible. This time is an exception.

I checked online and it seems there is a Hotel Star right next to Radisson near the airport costing around INR2000 but I have no idea how good or bad

A few years ago, foolishly I booked one of those hotels near Mumbai airport that offered airport pick up and drop in Andheri E and when I got there it was just horrible. Filthy to say the least. That is the reason I am wary of these airport hotels

thks again

hsubbu

Face it, the cheaper hotels are useless, the midpriced hotels are just about bearable, and hotels that'd normally be $100..150 most places stateside are $250++ (or even $300++) in DEL.

Go stay with your relatives. Or if you absolutely need a hotel poke around for reviews on tripadvisor.com