Gurgaon Hotels

Not long ago a sleepy suburb of Delhi, Gurgaon now boasts over a million inhabitants, slick office complexes housing companies ranging from Accenture to Xerox, and more shopping malls per square mile than anywhere else in India. Alas, the infrastructure is still struggling to catch up with the boom and there's plenty of dust and traffic jams, but it's still an exhilarating glimpse into the India of the future.

By plane
Delhi's Indira Gandhi International is just across the border of Gurgaon, a fact which no doubt adds to its popularity.

By train
Gurgaon has a small rail station on theDelhi - Jaipur railway line, but it only receives about five trains a day. An extension of the Delhi Metro may reach Gurgaon as early as 2010.

By bus
DTC and Haryana Roadways buses runs down National Highway 8 in Delhi. Buses to Gurgaon can be best boarded at Dhaula Kuan (on the Inner Ring Road). Alternatively, these is a small dedicated Gurgaon-bound bus terminal at Karol Bagh near the unmissable 100-foot Hanuman statue, a five-minute walk west of Jhandewala Metro station or a short cycle rickshaw ride (Rs.10) from Karol Bagh metro station. Buses cost Rs. 16 one-way. Also Haryana Roadways, Mewat and Kamal (Private buses) runs from Sarai Kale Khan to Gurgaon Bus Stand whole day. Also there is frequent service of DTC buses between Gurgaon Bus Stand to Badarpur Border via Mehrauli and Khanpur.

By road
National Highway 8 connects Delhi to Gurgaon and Jaipur. With the recent opening of 8 lane expressway, travel time from Delhi to Gurgaon has been cut down to less than 30 minutes. However, be aware that office hour peak times may still cause you a lot of heartache and delay on the road. The 8 lane expressway is still not complete and has (in certain places) massive bottlenecks. It's best to avoid exiting Gurgaon (to Delhi) between 6pm and 9pm. The road is additionally still victim to water logging while heavy monsoon rain.

Starting from the bus stop "IIT Gate" south of the IIT flyover of the Outer Ring Road in Delhi you can get all day and night (because of 24h service for call centres) jeeps and cars with yellow plates carrying you for Rs. 10 (Aug 2007) to places like the Bristol hotel or the IFFCO chowk. Sitting in these caps at peak times means to use the normal back bench of a car with 3 to 4 other people and without AC, but at off times you travel in the comfort of a taxi without paying more than Rs. 10!

Get around

Public transport within Gurgaon is, in a word, terrible. However there are some intracity mini-buses which go from Gurgaon Bus Stand (near Police Lines) to Mall region and ahead on the MG (Mehrauli-Gurgaon) road. Cost is Rs.6 per head. Ladies don't need to worry about travelling in these buses as most often than not, the conductor ensures that the lady gets a seat.

Cycle Rickshaws are not bad actually - they demand Rs.5 per head for a distance of 1.5-2kms. So it helps when you can't walk but would like to still get there.