Arriving in India for the first time is always going to be daunting to any traveller. The sheer scale and variety India is overwhelming. Add into that the chaos of the capital, the confusion of the bureaucracy and the raw visceral newness of the Indian experience and you can see why India can be an intimidating backpacking destination. This is our account of the first time we touched down in India, it was anything buy a smooth ride!

Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.

Landing in Delhi for the first time

We had just spent a brilliant week living it up in a high rise apartment in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. Our next destination was lined up, the flights were booked, but we were far from ready! According to various sources on the internet, we were about to “graduate” in backpacking terms. We were off to India!

India was always on the travel bucket list. The vast, continent sized country with billions of people, a bewildering array of cuisines, languages, landscapes and cultures had caught our imagination. We had always been desperate to go.

Our time during the lockdown in London had confirmed what we already knew, we had to go to India! We repeatedly watched The Budgeteers, Karl Watson and the brilliant Kingin-It - all of their Indian adventures spurred us on and gave us inspiration.

The sun sets over the wing of an Air Asia aeroplane at Kuala Lumpur's International Airport.

Our arrival in India was far less smooth than anticipated. We flew with AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur. After a hiccup with baggage labels (we were absolutely convinced our bags would not arrive with us!), we settled in for our five and half hour flight. The flight was fine and the bags did arrive, but John was immediately pulled aside at Delhi for random infection testing when we landed. Luckily the tests only took ten minutes and John was quickly released from the nose poking zone. Not the end of the world but not what you want in the middle of the night after a flight!

Delhi Hotel number one - Mistakes were made…

We thought we had been sensible. We had a lovely and quite luxurious hostel lined up in south Delhi but, as we were arriving closer to midnight, we decided to book one nights accommodation close to the airport. We found a super cheap room which, according to booking.com, was right next to the airport. Very cheap….almost too cheap…

We bought our sim cards, booted up Google Maps and promptly got very confused as to why our hotel had moved to be nearly 4 km away! The booking.com address, it seems, was incorrect. This was our first sign things may not be as they were advertised. Never mind we thought, let's get on with it and get a Uber.

We got into our taxi well after midnight and were immediately thrown into the melee of Delhi’s roads. What we thought was a dual carriageway appeared to be a six lane free for all. Throw in some cows, stray dogs and a man wheeling his chai stand across a flyover and you get the picture. This was very overwhelming compared to the comparatively sedate, well mannered traffic of Kuala Lumpur, but this was all part of the vibrancy, excitement and adventure we had hoped to find in India!

Turning off the motorway, the tarmac disappeared and we found ourselves in a warren of alleyways. Fluorescent lit streets that, despite the late hour, were absolutely buzzing with life. This was well past midnight, in London the streets would have been dead. In Delhi there were young children buying ice-creams and food vendors still doing a roaring trade.

We had been speaking to our hotel online, but they had gone radio silent after we had declined their offer of a taxi (the offer was 4x the price we paid on Uber). So when we pulled up to the darkened entrance we shouldn’t have been surprised by the frosty reception and the sudden revelation that the hotel apparently didn’t have any rooms for us. The unsmiling man at reception said he would organise a room nearby in his “sister hotel” for the same price. Just wanting to sleep, we shrugged and followed him further into the maze of alleyways.

We arrived at the “sister hotel” and began the laborious task of checking into a Indian hotel. Every hotel, hostel, guesthouse etc is required to make you fill out an enormous tome, detailing all your personal information; where you’ve been, where you’re going, how old you are, how long you have been in India and what you had for breakfast (maybe we made that last one up). After filling in this tome we were escorted up many flights of stairs to our new room.

We’ve been lucky on our travels so far, finding great deals and ridiculously cheap accommodation everywhere we went. However, on this day, we found that paying for a cheap room in Delhi really did get you what you paid for…

This is predominantly a positive blog so we don’t usually moan about mishaps and now that this is over, it is all part of the memory of adventure! Whilst it was happening however, and we were lying fully clothed in a very unwashed bed whilst two angry men outside our door had a full on shouting match, it was less than fun.

When the morning finally broke, we made our way downstairs, checked out and ordered an Uber to take us to our fancy hostel. As is often the case, everything looked better in the morning light. We had had a rubbish night sleep in a hotel we hadn’t booked but, as soon as we walked outside, we knew that we were exactly where we wanted to be. The relatively quiet street we had walked down the previous night was now a throng of activity. Sari clad women ushered their children to school, whilst vendors of every variety had opened shop or were pushing their carts up and down the street. Unbelievably delicious smells filled the air, wafting out of a multitude of nearby eateries!

We knew we had arrived in India.

Accommodation in South Delhi - JHouse Hostel and Mohammadpur Village

It appeared, from what other backpackers have reported, that Delhi is a very “marmite” city. Some love Delhi with its vibrancy, chaos and colour, whilst some hate it due to scams, perceived unfriendliness and the unrelenting pace of life. We decided not to stay in the traditional backpacker district of Paharganj. Paharganj seemed to be where other backpackers tended to get overwhelmed, scammed or both. Instead we chose to stay in the south of the city in the neighbourhood of Mohammadpur.

On our next trip to India we did actually stay in Paharganj. make sure you read our guide to the district and Old Delhi here. It is well worth a stay and undeserving of its negative reputation, but it is very different from the relaxed streets of Mohammadpur!

Our hostel, JHouse, was in a quiet neighborhood, at least by Delhi standards anyway! Mohammadpur is a small district full of little shops and winding alleyways. Close to the upmarket Hauz Khas district and its beautiful deer park (read all about them here), as well as being within walking distance of a couple of metro stations Mohammadpur was well connected to the rest of Delhi. You can find Mohammadpur on a map here. Staying down in south Delhi turned out to be a brilliant decision and we are sure it was largely responsible for our smooth introduction and brilliant time in India’s busy capital.

Our Uber pulled through a colourful fruit and vegetable market and deposited us outside what looked like an apartment building. Following the signs we came up to the third floor and pressed the buzzer that let us into our hostel. What a difference to the previous night! Our large private room at JHouse Hostel was the perfect sanctuary from the frenetic pace of the city outside. A roof garden looked over the streets of Mohammadpur, its patio surrounded by potted plants with swings, comfy chairs and tables.

The rooftop of the JHouse Hostel is filled with chairs, tables and plants. The view spills out over the rooftops of south Delhi

JHouse hostel was comfortable, stylishly decorated and clean. With lovely hot showers, fantastic staff and relaxing common areas both indoors and outside on the roof. There are dorm rooms and private rooms available. Our private room was massive, with lots of cupboards, luggage space and a good size bathroom.

A cosy private room in Jhouse Hostel south Delhi. Rugs and orange cushions along with stylish pictures decorate the room.

JHouse was a brilliant base for exploring Delhi. Within twenty minutes you could walk to the Hauz Khas district with its independent shops, high-end cafes and bars. The walk to Hauz Khas would take you through the green space and ruins of Hauz Khas Park (also known as Deer Park). This green park with its chilled out lake became one of our favourite spots to relax and walk through in the early evenings. For more information on Hauz Khas and Deer Park make sure you read our article here.

A mobile spice seller sits at his colourful stall on the streets of Mohammadpur in Delhi.

JHouse is located in the centre of the Mohammadpur district.

In Delhi areas are often referred to as villages, and in Mohammadpur you could totally see why. Most of the winding alleyways and little streets were only accessible by foot, scooter or by bicycle. Cars could get a little way in, but to get any deeper into the village, you would need to be on two legs or two wheels. Mohammadpur was full of small shops selling everything you could need from pharmacies and mini markets, to leather goods and party supplies.

There is also food everywhere! From the ever present evening market, that would spring to life each day in the late afternoon, to chai sellers, samosa stands, fresh fruit stalls and sit down restaurants.

A shockingly cheap menu from Anna Dhaba restaurant in Mohammadpur, Delhi

The food we ate was an amazing introduction to India. Unbelievably cheap, rich and flavourful thalis, toasty paratha and delicious dosa were all eagerly consumed by us in our first few days.

Our dinners frequently cost us 220 rupee (£2.15 or $2.68) for the two of us!

A Thali plate is crowded with colorful curries. A Butter panner curry is served alongside 2 different vegetable dishes, raita, rice, chutney and naan bread — *Not a bad spread for £1.10 each!*

JHouse was also within walking distance of Bhikaji Cama Place metro station (pink line), Green Park metro station (yellow line) and R.K Puram metro station (magenta line) which will connect you to the whole city. We found the Delhi Metro to be one of the best and easiest to use mass transit systems we have encountered so far. Tickets are brought from the machines or at a ticket booth. The ticket will come in the form of a plastic token which you can tap into to get into the platforms and inserted into a slot to leave. For longer term travellers in Delhi you can set up travel cards etc.

For those places where the metro was inconvenient, Uber rickshaws or taxis were very affordable and reliable.

We cannot recommend JHouse and Mohammadpur enough. All the negative stories of Delhi simply didn’t apply. Friendly locals and fantastic cheap clean food, all the while being connected to anywhere we wanted to go. Delhi is very full on as a city so it was great having a luxury little bolt hole to retreat to at the end of the day. JHouse also faced the sunset so, as an added bonus, our rooftop garden was a great place to watch the sun sink over the incredible city.

To book your stay at JHouse, or check the nearby options have a look at the map below:

Thanks for reading,

John & Ellie x

#adventuresofjellie