Getting to New Delhi: Routes, Journey Times and Fares

Two airports, six rail terminals and a metro that now reaches the airport — here is how each arrival into Delhi actually works, and which one to book.

Arriving by air: IGI versus Hindon

Indira Gandhi International (DEL) is where almost every international visitor lands, with Terminal 3 handling all overseas arrivals and most full-service domestic flights. The Airport Express Line runs from T3 to New Delhi station in roughly 20 minutes for around ₹60, or ₹10 more from T1, and it is the only arrival option I would recommend to a first-timer with luggage on a weekday morning. Prepaid taxi counters in the arrivals hall quote to Connaught Place, Karol Bagh, Hauz Khas and Aerocity, and the ride takes 25–50 minutes depending on whether you hit the Rao Tula Ram Marg bottleneck near Mahipalpur.

Hindon Airport, out past Ghaziabad in the east, takes a thin spread of regional flights and is roughly 40 km from central Delhi — an hour plus by road with no metro link, so unless the fare saving is enormous, ignore it. Within IGI, T1 serves IndiGo and SpiceJet domestic routes and sits about 8 km from T3; the inter-terminal shuttle runs every 20 minutes but budget 30–40 minutes if you are connecting. Budget international carriers increasingly use T3's older piers with long walks to immigration, so allow 90 minutes after landing before you expect to be in a car.

Overnight arrivals are the awkward ones. Between about 1am and 4am the Airport Express is closed, prepaid taxi queues thin out, and app-based cabs surge. If you land then, book a hotel in Aerocity — ten minutes from T3 — rather than pushing into the city, and move in after breakfast.

Trains into Delhi: which station, and why it matters

Delhi has no single main station, and picking the wrong one costs you an hour and a ₹300–500 cab. New Delhi (NDLS) on Ajmeri Gate side handles the Rajdhani and most long-distance expresses from Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai; it is on the Yellow and Blue metro lines and walkable to Paharganj. Hazrat Nizamuddin (NZM) in the south-east takes many southbound and Goa-bound services and sits near the Ring Road, handy for Noida and south Delhi hotels but awkward for Karol Bagh or north Delhi.

Old Delhi Junction (DLI) is for slower services towards Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and is the closest to Chandni Chowk; Anand Vihar (ANVT) in the east handles a lot of Bihar and eastern UP traffic and is the best arrival point if you are staying in Mayur Vihar or Noida. Sarai Rohilla and Delhi Sarai Rohilla serve a handful of Rajasthan trains. If your ticket says only "Delhi", check the code before booking a hotel — an NZM arrival and an NDLS hotel is a 45-minute cross-city transfer in traffic.

Book trains 30–60 days out. Tatkal opens one day before departure and fares roughly double. For a Delhi–Agra day trip, the Gatimaan and Bhopal Shatabdi leave from NDLS before 7am and reach Agra in about 100 minutes; anything later and you are doing the Yamuna Expressway in a car.

Road, bus and the metro link

Long-distance buses mostly use Kashmere Gate ISBT (Rajasthan, Himachal, Uttarakhand), Anand Vihar ISBT (eastern UP, Uttarakhand) and Sarai Kale Khan for southbound services. Volvo and Scania coaches from Jaipur take about 5–6 hours on the NH-48; ordinary state buses take 7–8. From Rishikesh or Haridwar, expect 6–7 hours with a break near Muzaffarnagar. Kashmere Gate is on the Red, Yellow and Violet lines, so a metro connection to most central hotels is straightforward if you are not arriving at 2am.

Self-driving in from Jaipur or Agra means the Yamuna Expressway or NH-48, both tolled, with the last 15 km into central Delhi frequently the slowest part of the trip. If you are coming from Chandigarh, the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways let you bypass the city entirely and drop onto the Ring Road near your hotel. The Delhi Metro's Violet Line extension and the Airport Express have made a car unnecessary for most arrivals between 5am and 11pm — recharge a card at any station counter and skip the queues.

What I would book

For a first trip, fly into T3, take the Airport Express if you land before 11pm, and stay within walking distance of a Blue or Yellow line station — Connaught Place, Karol Bagh or Hauz Khas. Aerocity suits a single overnight or an early-morning departure but is thin on neighbourhood life. Skip Paharganj unless you are on a genuine backpacker budget and arriving by train at NDLS; the convenience is real but so is the noise.

If your trip is work in Gurugram, land at T3 and go straight south rather than crossing the city twice. Best months are October to March; April to June is punishing and late June to September brings humidity and flight delays. Given how few people currently search before they book, do the transport leg first and lock the hotel around it — where you sleep should follow which terminal or station you actually arrive at, not the other way round.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about reaching New Delhi.

Questions, answered

Which airport should I fly into for central Delhi?

Indira Gandhi International's Terminal 3, without question. It has the Airport Express link to New Delhi station and the widest taxi and app-cab supply. Hindon only makes sense for a small number of regional flights and is an hour or more from the centre.

How long does it take to get from IGI Airport to the city centre?

The Airport Express takes about 20 minutes to New Delhi station. By road, allow 25 minutes to Aerocity and 40–50 minutes to Connaught Place in normal traffic, longer during the morning and evening peaks or in monsoon rain.

Which Delhi railway station is best for my hotel?

Match the code on your ticket: NDLS for Paharganj and central Delhi, NZM for south Delhi and Noida, ANVT for Mayur Vihar and the east, and DLI for Chandni Chowk. An NZM arrival with an NDLS hotel means a 45-minute cross-city transfer.

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