Pahar Ganj is Delhi's backpacking district, and like all touristy districts, it can be infamous for a high proportion of people wanting to trick, hassle, and manipulate you into paying them for whatever service, real or imagined, they are providing.
You can view my original rant on it here:
http://balancevishfocus.blogspot.com/2011/11/back-to-delhi.html
One fabulous thing about Pahar Ganj is that it is reasonably close to the metro and a railway station. The closest metro stations are New Delhi, on the orange/red line, and Ramakrishna Ashram Marg (the sky blue line). (The metro map can be found here http://www.delhimetrorail.com/zoom-route-map.aspx and Google Maps is also really helpful.) The railway station is the New Delhi railway station (station code NDLS) as opposed to the Old Delhi railway station, code DLI - check your tickets carefully to avoid going to the wrong one and missing your train!
So if you arrive by train or metro (or airport then metro) you can get off and walk to the area in a reasonable amount of time and look for a hotel on foot instead of hailing a rickshaw that will try to take you to a specific hotel.
There are a million hotels around. It took us 3 or 4 tries to find one that had available rooms for a fair price, but all in all it wasn't too daunting of an outing. We ended up staying in Hotel Satyam, got a 3 person room with a double and a single bed for 1100 rupees I believe. This was definitely not the most budget looking room I have stayed in but it was still pretty cheap and really nice for the price. My favorite thing about the hotel was how accommodating the owner was - he answered a couple of travel questions that we had and got us 500 rupee airport cabs for ridiculous morning hours that were right on time. He just seemed like a nice, helpful person who wasn't trying to trick you or rip you off.
Two doorways to the right of the hotel if you are facing it is a cafe with a phone that is open pretty late. The prices for international calls are far too high, but it's good for a late night local call or international call emergency.
As long as you stay stoic, you can get most of what you need to get done in this area, especially if this is your civilization stop-over before heading off into a more rural area again. Internet cafe, passport photos, local clothing, real coffee! This is not the best location for a gourmet supermarket if you are craving some imported food, however. If you are looking for something more chain-ey (objects or food) and price is not a huge consideration, pop over to Connaught place on the metro.
Just remember, keep your wits about you but do stay friendly and do well to represent whatever nation you are hailing from :)
Happy travels!
You can view my original rant on it here:
http://balancevishfocus.blogspot.com/2011/11/back-to-delhi.html
One fabulous thing about Pahar Ganj is that it is reasonably close to the metro and a railway station. The closest metro stations are New Delhi, on the orange/red line, and Ramakrishna Ashram Marg (the sky blue line). (The metro map can be found here http://www.delhimetrorail.com/zoom-route-map.aspx and Google Maps is also really helpful.) The railway station is the New Delhi railway station (station code NDLS) as opposed to the Old Delhi railway station, code DLI - check your tickets carefully to avoid going to the wrong one and missing your train!
So if you arrive by train or metro (or airport then metro) you can get off and walk to the area in a reasonable amount of time and look for a hotel on foot instead of hailing a rickshaw that will try to take you to a specific hotel.
There are a million hotels around. It took us 3 or 4 tries to find one that had available rooms for a fair price, but all in all it wasn't too daunting of an outing. We ended up staying in Hotel Satyam, got a 3 person room with a double and a single bed for 1100 rupees I believe. This was definitely not the most budget looking room I have stayed in but it was still pretty cheap and really nice for the price. My favorite thing about the hotel was how accommodating the owner was - he answered a couple of travel questions that we had and got us 500 rupee airport cabs for ridiculous morning hours that were right on time. He just seemed like a nice, helpful person who wasn't trying to trick you or rip you off.
Two doorways to the right of the hotel if you are facing it is a cafe with a phone that is open pretty late. The prices for international calls are far too high, but it's good for a late night local call or international call emergency.
As long as you stay stoic, you can get most of what you need to get done in this area, especially if this is your civilization stop-over before heading off into a more rural area again. Internet cafe, passport photos, local clothing, real coffee! This is not the best location for a gourmet supermarket if you are craving some imported food, however. If you are looking for something more chain-ey (objects or food) and price is not a huge consideration, pop over to Connaught place on the metro.
Just remember, keep your wits about you but do stay friendly and do well to represent whatever nation you are hailing from :)
Happy travels!
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