As promised from my previous post Why You Should (or Shouldn’t) Stay in a Hostel in New Delhi, I am giving an update to my experience staying in a hostel for the first time in India! And I also stayed in a hostel in Jaipur too.
So, I picked The Madpackers Hostel and paid INR900 ($13) for 6-bed female dorm room per night. I chose it because its impeccable review on TripAdvisor, location, and free breakfast.
So, here comes my experience
The Female Dorm Room Experience
Okay, I stayed for 2 nights. The first night was okay, but on the second night there was a girl sobbing at 2 a.m and I heard a male’s voice in my dorm room! But nothing happened to me, I was just disturbed but not hurt or anything. It sort of reminded me of what it means to stay in a dorm (oh well!)
I LOVE their mattress, pillow and quilt. It’s so comfortable that it didn’t feel real!
I don’t know if it’s good or bad that we had our bathroom attached to the room. The surprise was that there was a hair dryer! And I had real hot showers there! But the bad part was, it’s not easy to share washroom with 6 people. And I think I only saw one shared bathroom in the hallway. It just doesn’t seem to be enough. If someone showers for 15 minutes plus brushing teeth and all, that is 20-25 minutes wait for 1 person!
So overall, the bed is comfortable, but I guess I would rather couchsurf (if in other countries) than to sleep with a whole bunch of strangers… and I would say my sleep quality wasn’t great, and maybe the same would go to my roommates as I had to leave early on both mornings! Maybe I was the noisy one too!
The Finding a Travel Buddy Part
I do believe hostel is the place to make friends. I recently stayed in a crappy hostel in Paharganj (paid INR800 for a double room…. you know I paid INR900 for a dorm bed here!) and you are not going to find travel buddy there! There’s no comfortable lounge for ‘foreigners’ to hangout. So even if there are some foreigners, you don’t see them in hotels :/ I talked to some cool people in Madpackers, and it’s nice!
The hostel also shares info about activities and deals. For example, INR 6000 for 4-seater taxi to Agra and back.
Or a walking tour for INR300 in Old Delhi.
I call this type of hostel ‘Hostel-South Asian Version’. Why? Because the hostels here in India is not a ‘budget accommodation’, unlike other parts of the world. It targets a different market and bacons international travelers who don’t want to stay in creepy hotels with dirty sheets where you don’t even know who has a duplicated key to your room. Hostels are clean, and the Madpackers definitely set that bar pretty high! I’m not complaining that the Madpackers is expensive (INR900 for a dorm bed!), but just try to think what type of traveller you are. Do you want to meet new people? Do you rather have privacy and be close to what 80% of India looks like? Do you want to have some rare peace in India, or do you want to push yourself a little bit out of your comfort zone?
Breakfast
Maybe you know it’s free, but maybe you don’t know it doesn’t start until 8:30am. So when I was there at 8:00-8:15am, not only the hot dish wasn’t ready, there was no fruit nor cereal either. So in this sense it didn’t impress me.
And you have to boil your own water to make coffee. But their kettle is just the normal one that we have at home, and it took me 10 minutes to boil less than a liter of water. Hmm. It doesn’t seem efficient especially if there might be many people who want to make coffee or tea. But if you can wait till 8:30am, this is what it looked like when all these things were out! This is the free breakfast! When you have time to enjoy it, I think it’s pretty exciting!
So here’s the hot dish! It’s omelette with spices. Some beans. I had fun eating them 🙂 I just wish they would be available earlier in the day, for example, 8:00am.
Would I Stay Here Again?
I mentioned in my other post that I would like to try OYO room next time. I am usually with my family when I go to India. But, if I’m alone, for 100% I will stay in a hostel. I would like to stay with the Madpackers next time because I like to have breakfast in the day, but I might be in the mood to check out other hostels!
Location
Honestly, if you are coming from the airport, you can get a taxi and let the driver call up The Madpackers Hostel for direction (if the driver is willing). It will cost INR400 from the airport to Southern Delhi. Or if you want to book hostel’s taxi, it is INR1100 (which is a lot! But the staff said because they had to pay for two ways, which is absurd!)
It’s only 900m from the metro station, Hauz Khaz. It’s in walking distance but the flyover and junction was huge. I’m not saying the location is bad, it’s probably the best it can be considering it’s India. But it’s not as easy as you think it might be. The walk is not interesting and it felt long (with or without luggage). And especially if you are arriving late, you wouldn’t get a good impression if you are a girl and if you think you can simply ‘walk’ to the Madpackers from the metro that is within walking distance (that is 15-20 minutes).
Map to Go There
Daytime Direction
You can take airport express (INR60) to New Delhi Station. Then change into metro, I think it was INR18. It took me less than 1 hour. (And in case you are taking an auto rickshaw from hostel to the airport, INR200 will be enough! So it will not be worthwhile to take public transportation even if you are just 1 person!)
As you come out from gate #2 of Hauz Khas station, you would see this giant road. Go to your left and keep walking till you see the giant junction.
If you look back, this is what you would see with the metro station behind you. Okay, let’s not look back.
And you would see this giant junction. And it’s sort of weird having to cross it. So my trick is to continue walking straight (in parallel to the bridge), and turn right to cross when I’m on the other side. I just felt it was easier and shorter that way.
After you make the first cross and if you look back. Then make another cross.
After you cross the junction, you will be on the opposite of the road. You will be in the difference direction with the cars. Just keep going for another 8 minutes and you will be at the hostel. This is right after you cross the junction, and if you look back then this is what you would see.
Just keep walking. It’s not the most exciting street to walk but it was okay. Once you see this grand mansion, you are almost there!
There! The white one on the right, with a tiny sign!
Night Time Version
Just down the road you would see a mini sign. And 39-A sign. It means you made it from walking from 1 to 39! I do not recommend walking there at night, especially if you are there for the first time. But comparing to Paharganj, yes this neighborhood feels safe. (But it’s a residential area, and it’s still weird to walk on the street at night as a girl)
In Southern Delhi
- The Madpackers Hostel Score: 9.1/10 Price:$11-$14 per night. Address:S-39A, Third Floor, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi Checked!
- Jugaad Hostels Score: 8.8/10 Price:$11-$14 per night. Address: F-128, 4th Floor, Jhandu Mansion, Mohammadpur, R.K.Puram, New Delhi
- Moustache Hostel Score: 8.7/10 Price:$11 per night. Address:S-25, Greater Kailash 1, New Delhi ($10.6 on hostelbooker. Click the link)
- Bed and Chaï $13 (but only mixed dorm) Address:R-55 Greater Kailash, New Delhi
In Northern Delhi (Go for it if you don’t mind chaos, and want to be closer to tourist attractions)
- Joey’s Hostel Score: 9.2/10 Price:$8.2-$11 per night. Address:1/49, Lalita Park, Main Vikas Marg (Next to Laxmi Nagar Metro Station), New Delhi (It’s cheaper on hostelbookers, but there’s no female dorm option. Click the link)
- Stops Hostel Delhi Score: 8.9/10 Price:$11-$15 per night. Address:4/23-B, Asaf Ali Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi => In Chadni Chowk
- Zostel Delhi Score 82.7% Price:$9.08 per night (no female dorm) Address:5 Arakshan Road, Oppo New Delhi Railway Station, New Delhi => In Paharganj!
- Smyle Inn Score:81.6% Price:$9.10 bed+breakfast (only female dorm) Address: 916, Gali Chandi Wali, Main Bazaar, Paharganj New Delhi
- Namaskar India Score: 80.8% Price:$12.3 (only mixed dorm) Address:8a/99, W.E.A, Channa Market, Karol Bagh, New Delhi
- Hostel New King Score:74.6% Price:$3.79 per night (only female dorm) Address: General Market, 15/16 Ramdwara Road, Main Bazar Pahar Ganj New Delhi
- Backpackers Hostel Score: 7.1/10 Price:$8 per night. Address:7874, Arakashan Road ,Ram Nagar, New Delhi => In Paharganj!
Traveling Mega
