Delhi for First-Time Visitors: Five Things to Sort Before Landing

Pick your airport and your arrival hour together

Indira Gandhi International sits about 16 km southwest of the city centre, and the two terminals are not interchangeable: Terminal 3 handles nearly all international traffic, while Terminal 1 runs most domestic low-cost flights. If you are connecting to a hill station or to Rajasthan on a separate ticket, check which terminal your onward carrier uses, because the inter-terminal shuttle takes roughly 20 minutes and runs through the night. Allow three hours between flights on separate tickets; the walk from arrivals to the shuttle bay is longer than it looks on a map.

Arrival time matters more than most first-timers expect. Landing between midnight and 4 am narrows your options to prepaid taxis and app cabs, and the Airport Express metro line, which links Terminal 3 to New Delhi station in about 20 minutes, does not run overnight. A mid-morning landing gets you a room by early afternoon and a first walk in daylight. If you must land late, book a hotel close to the airport for night one and move into the city the following morning — I would do this rather than push straight through to Karol Bagh or Paharganj.

Choose a neighbourhood that matches your days

Central Delhi — Connaught Place, Janpath and the streets around New Delhi station — keeps you within walking distance of Rajiv Chowk metro, the Rajpath approach to India Gate and the museums on Janpath. Rooms here sit at the upper end of the mid-range, but you save on cabs. South Delhi, particularly Hauz Khas, Saket and Greater Kailash, is greener and quieter, with the Yellow Line and Magenta Line reaching most sights in 25 to 40 minutes. Aerocity, next to the airport, is the most convenient base for an early departure and the least interesting for everything else.

Paharganj and the lanes behind New Delhi station are the budget heart of the city — cheap beds, plenty of noise, and a five-minute walk to the metro. Karol Bagh is better value for families, with wider streets and the Blue Line at hand. My pick for a first visit of three to four nights is a mid-range hotel between Connaught Place and Mandi House: you can walk to India Gate in the morning and reach Humayun's Tomb, Nizamuddin and Lodi Garden by metro or a short cab ride. Save Paharganj for a return trip when you know the city.

Time your visit around the weather, not the calendar

October to March is the comfortable window, with daytime temperatures in the high teens to mid-twenties and clear skies from November. December and January mornings can be foggy, which occasionally delays flights and trains, so keep a buffer before any onward connection. February and early March are warm and dry and generally quieter than the December holidays. If your trip is fixed to late spring, plan sightseeing before 10 am and after 5 pm and keep an indoor option such as the National Museum or Humayun's Tomb for the middle of the day.

The monsoon runs roughly from late June to September. Delhi does not shut down in the rain, but sudden downpours flood underpasses and slow traffic badly, so build slack into any day with a fixed appointment. The cheapest room rates of the year fall in this period, and hotels that sit at the top of the mid-range in winter drop noticeably. If you are flexible and can tolerate humidity, a July or August trip with a short indoor-heavy itinerary is the best value Delhi offers — just avoid scheduling an airport run two hours before a flight.

Sort transport, connectivity and money before you fly

Buy a metro card on arrival at the Terminal 3 station or at Rajiv Chowk; a single-journey token queue at a busy station can cost you 15 minutes. The Delhi Metro is clean, cheap and reaches most of what you want, but it does not cover Lutyens' Delhi's diplomatic streets well, so budget for app cabs or the prepaid taxi desk for evening returns. For airport transfers, the prepaid taxi counter inside arrivals is the least stressful option if you have no Indian payment app set up; agree on the vehicle type before paying.

For connectivity, an eSIM activated before departure saves the queue at the airport counter, and a local SIM is cheaper if you are staying more than a week and have your passport and a photo ready. Carry small notes for auto-rickshaws and set fares on the meter or agree a price first. Most hotels in central and south Delhi take cards, but street food, monuments and autos run on cash. Book your first two nights in advance and leave the rest flexible — a mid-range room near Connaught Place booked a month out is far easier than hunting on arrival.