How to get from New Delhi to Vraja Dham - some hopefully helpful hints

Bhaktas often voice concern about how to get safely from New Delhi Airport to Vrindavan or Radha Kund.

Most of the foreign Airlines arrive around midnight, because their return flights to Europe are scheduled to arrive in their hubs in the morning, so that transiting passengers can continue and arrive during the day or the eve at their destinations. Air India is probably still arriving during the day in India, and possibly one or the other Arabian airline with their hub on the Arabian peninsula.

Generally what I did when I arrived around midnight was to take a pre-paid taxi at the airport and proceed to a hotel at Pahar Ganj the way to which I knew, to then later take the Taj Express to Mathura, and then take a car or an auto-Riksha to Vrindavan or Goverdhan etc. Later I will explain the details to this, and a version of it for those who do not know any hotel in Pahar Ganj, or have never been in Delhi, but would like to go this way.

Before getting to this let me first address what better not to do when you arrive at the airport around midnight. It is unwise to go and hire a taxi to go to Vraja Dham at night. It is impossible for a woman traveling alone, but also unwise for a couple. If you insist in doing this, by all means make sure that you get a man with an Ambassador car, and no other car ever. The Ambassador is the Mercedes of India so to speak, the most reliable car available. Other cars such as Marutis are owned by people who want to make fast money, and have therefore less responsible drivers. One thing to know is that being a driver in India is a low-class occupation, which means you are not going to see much responsible driving in someone who is out for fast money. Someone who owns an Ambassador however, is receiving more traditional clients, and therefore is more safety-oriented. Another aspect is that you hardly ever see Ambassadors in car-crashes on the road, while you see any amount of Marutis (very light cars) and also Jeep type cars (they are not as safely built as Ambassadors are).

There are few Ambassador taxis available at New Delhi Airport to my knowledge. If you wish to do the trip this way, make sure you get one and settle for no other car.

The best way to do this trip, however, is to order a car from Vrindavana. The best service available there is thru Iskcon travel service. I do not have their number at the moment, but I have ordered their service from afar before, and they have good cars and drivers, and do the job at market rate. An alternative to ordering from Iskcon would be to order from any other shop-keeper whose number you know, for instance Mahesh at Loi Bazar. But they are likely not to provide an Ambassador.
When you order a car this way, give them an easily identifyable name which they will write on a board that they hold up at the exit for you to see and find them.

If you want to save money, go my way to Pahar Ganj first and then take a train to Mathura. The advantage of this is that you have a few days in modern New Delhi, can buy ayurvedic drugs and other things not available in the Dham. And you can adjust to the climate in a more familiar environment first.

If you do not know your way around Pahar Ganj you can look up any affordable hotel around Connaught place in a tour guide such as Lonely Planet or any other. For not having to buy the latest edition you can go to a book-shop and look it up there and write it down. Latest edition is important to get the present phone number. Phone numbers are changed in Indian cities every season or so.

Then you call that hotel from your home-country and ask them to send you a car to pick you up at your scheduled arrival time. It is not easy for them, since the car cannot enter the immediate arrival area, but the driver will manage all right.

Another version of this is with the pre-paid taxi that you take to a hotel:

If you do know your way to your hotel once you have arrived at Pahar Ganj which is the desirable area to be since it is near New Delhi Railway Station, get that prepaid taxi, proceed to the hotel and ...sleep well.

Dandavats. All glories to the Vaisnavas.

I agree with Nabadip in regards to being very safe as I know many that tried to be as cheap as possible and it got them into trouble.

The first thing is traveling at night. We had a car arranged throug ISKCON Travel whose driver and car was inspected by friends before it was sent. Even with all of that it is just a bit scary driving at 2 am from Delhi because your driver has probably been up for 20 hours and the cars on the highways, even if your car is excellent, are still a majo concern. We drove by accident by accident and it was something that, especially with children, seems way too risky.

If you fly through Asia you will arrive in the early afternoon which is what we will do this time. You can go through Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, etc.

Aspiring to serve the Vaisnavas,
Rasaraja dasa

The next day go to New Delhi Railway Station which is at the end of Pahar Ganj Main Market, and go to the Foreign Tourist Reservation Office at that train station. Touts will be trying to convince you to come to their office, which of course you better avoid, since you will get cheated. The best and safest way is to go to the information office at the trainstation and ask a clerk for the way to the Foreign Tourist Reservervation Office.

There wait in the queue and search out the Taj Express and its number. Write it down on a form available there before going to the desk, and specify the number of seats etc. As address you can give your local hotel address (invent it if you do not know it). Book the aj Express leaving from Nizzamudhin Railway station because it is the fastest train to Mathura. It has (officially ) only two stops, one of them in Mathura. It leaves in the morning at a reasonable time, so that you arrive at Mathura before noon. (Ticket price around Rs 50)

In order to go to Nizzamudhin Railway station make sure you get an auto-Riksha at least an hour before departure time. it takes about a half-hour ride from New Delhi station to Nizzamudin. If you would also like to save that money for the trip, you can take a sub-urbian train from New Delhi Railway Station. Cost maybe 5 Rupees. They leave about every hour or so. Make sure you get to the right train by checking out departure time and platform number the evening before. Buy the ticket in the morning, allow enough time to stand in queue. Before boarding the train ask at least three distinctive looking people whether this is the right train to Nizzamudhin.

I agree with Rasaraja das as to the low quality of cars etc. Expect the worst, also in taxis in Delhi. I always remain in intense medidation when driving with a taxi-driver at night. the car might have break down any moment. This on an open road at night would be hell.

Also most taxi drivers who are driving at night do not know their way around Connaught place, and will not find a hotel in Phar Ganj. A hotel at e.g. Janpath however might be found by them. A taxi without knowing the way to your hotel is therefore not a good option.

check out the trains at

http://www.indianrail.gov.in/

Friends have told me about experiences to go to Vraja by bus. Buses are extremely unsafe in India. I never travel by bus if I have a choice. Remember dto be a driver is a low-class occupation. That applies to bus drivers as well in general, no offence intended.

If (and generally when) we arrive at Delhi an hour or two after midnight, we just go to the lounge right next to the airport to doze off for a couple of hours, waiting for the sun to rise. That is, unless there's a taxi already booked and waiting for us. At any rate, even now that we book a car, we'll still probably wait for a couple of hours at the airport and have him come around 4 or 5 AM to make the trip a bit safer.

Just a note about the Tourist Office: they will not issue tickets for trains that are sooner than four hours from departure, i.e. you'd need to book in the morning for an afternoon train. The alternative is to buy a standard ticket and try to get upgraded. You do this by finding a TT and asking if there are any seats in AC. They are the guys in jackets carrying lists. You'll normally findthem pretty easily standing around the AC car(s) once the train pulls in. They charge you a few rupees more for the upgrade besides the difference in ticket price.

There is also a private bus from the airport to Connaught Place and the train station. It's run by some retired airmen's association or something like that and cost 15/-. I used to take that when arriving after midnight and then spend a few hours at the train station waiting for the first train, which is around 5:30 a.m., I think.

If anyone does want to take the bus it leaves from the Interstate Bus Stand in North Delhi also called Kasmiri Gate. There are buses that go directly to Vrndavan and even Govardhana, though the more frequent one go to Mathura where you can change and get another bus to Vrndavan. In general bus is certainly less convenient than train especially for long journeys. However there are someplaces in India where the bus travel is the only alternative. In South Indian there are some deluxe bus companies which provide air conditioned luxury (lay back padded seats) to destinations like Tirupati, Bangalore, Mangalore (Udipi), Chennai (Madras), etc.

Another tip for the traveller in India is buy the latest copy of the Train schedule. For most of the trains the english guide "Trains at a Glance" should be enough. It is available at the book stands at New Delhi Train station. Sometimes (many times) it is out of stock or print. I always buy the latest copy whenever I go to India. If you learn how to use this book you have mastered travelling in India.

If you are doing a lot of travelling some people also use Indrail Passes. They make it easy to get on trains without reservation, etc. I have not used one for years as they are pretty expensive. Definitely make reservations at the biggest station you can. Most of them will have a special room or line for tourists and also tourist quota. If you ever can't get Tourist quota you can also write a short letter claiming that you need the reservation due to some emergency. There is a thing called emergency quota and sometimes you can get that. If you are travelling on long distance trains make sure you get the class of berth that you want. If you travel 2 or 3 tier AC then you can sometimes get stuck on the wall side of the isle which is less desirable and the bunks are shorter (for us tall westerners). Usually if there are women in the party they will endeavor to put you inside and not on the wall. Also a little "baksheesh" to the TT never hurts if you want to get upgraded to a better berth or class (or if you have a lot of luggage).

Travelling on the trains in India is a whole art in itself. There are lots of tips and tricks, I can't go into all of them here. The biggest money saving tip is to travel at night in a nice sleeper berth and save the money you would have spent on the hotel.

This all sounds horrible, almost like don't visit holy places in this age of Kali!
What about creating save Holy Dhamas in the western hemisphere? Once I went looking for a harmonium in Calcutta and the whole thing went out that we weren't able to buy anything there since all these bussiness people thought we are western millionaires like George Harrison and pay them 100.- USD for a beadbag. What about going by helicopter from Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi to Govardhana, someone knows if they offer this service and how much it costs?

I have been thinking about the same. The northern part of Finland, the Lapland, would be a good place. There is lots of untouched nature and fresh air. And because of the long days at summer, 20-22 hours sunshine, the food grown there is healthy.

From our last trip from Delhi to Vrindavana :

[malati]vrajamatka/onnettomuus3.jpg[/malati]

The problem is that you hardly find any Indians there, only bad smelling, hateful muslims or worse, hateful communists/atheists. They see you having an accident and what's reality, while you have to take care of victims etc., they try to steal whats in your car. The closer you come to a holy place in India the closer you come to all kind of thieves, rogues and rascals. Just like you need a tour guide in the mountains, you need a real insider guide to move in India from A to B without getting ripped off at each corner. Even when you are sick and go to a doctor, as soon he finds out that you dont know the price he tries to cheat you. Strange but true. For many years I used to travel to the Holy places in India every year, when I stopped it - not to avoid the tapasya to visit a holy place in India but everytime you actually risk your life because of so many dark elements surrounding the dhamas like horseflies.

Muslims are not Indians? Unless you're referring to Native Americans, I'm a bit at loss over what you're trying to say.



Aren't you going a bit beyond the limit here? I find this largely exaggerated. You may have had a bad personal experience, but that doesn't really qualify you for presenting this as the collective state of affairs there. Please feel free to prove me wrong and tell me of the basis for this statement of yours.

Dont get me wrong, Muslimes dont like Hindus and are the strongest minority with almost 200 Millions (Kashmir even 95%). Of course are they Indians but not peaceful neighbors at all.
For many years I used to travel to the Holy places in India every year, when I stopped it - not to avoid the tapasya to visit a holy place in India but everytime you actually risk your life because of so many dark elements surrounding the dhamas like horseflies. The worsest story I heard many times when you injure a villager with your car it happens very easy that other villagers come and kill you right on the spot, unless you dont stop and just leave the place with full spead. Another thing look at the deathlist in Iskcon, why almost everyday someone dies at the age of only 40 or 50 and everytime you hear, well yes, it was cancer. I'm sorry, for me its insane to believe people who dont drink, smoke, are vegetarian, die of cancer like flies at the age of only 45.

Traveling in India is basically a very safe affair, if you are careful and thoughtful yourself. Naturally people around you who are there to earn their money will try their best when they see a Westerner, or a foreigner in general. Indians tell me the same thing, say a Tamil friend who visits Delhi or Calcutta has similar experiences as I have as a Westerner. By and large traveling remains a very safe thing in India, and nothing to compare with some South American Countries. But there are indeed different hazards in different environments, and in differing modes of transportation. Going by train is generally very safe, unless you make the mistake by taking a local train at night, or late afternoon, so that you might travel or arrive after sunset if the train runs late. At night India is a dangerous place, because rogues take advantage of the night, naturally.

Famous places may attract thieves and robbers more than other places. That is a common observation. I have seen that in the case of Auroville where a lot of Westerners are living in for Indian standards luxurious houses and developments. Known thieves go around, and the risk of severe beating by the police and some time in prison does not deter them. But again, it is one's own business to be careful and avoid risks.

The longer you are in India the more a perception may grow in you that everyone is after your money and your possessions, or even just your connection. I keep having a hard time to explain even to long-time friends of mine why buying bottled water is not a luxury for me as is to them. This fact alone makes me a rich person in their eyes, no matter if they themselves make 30'000 Rupees a month as a government employee (for instance as a professor). If my friends who should know better keep seeing me as the rich Westerner, how much more will that be the case with ordinary Indians? They think of us as people with unlimited amounts of money available. Just think of that attrocious incident of the Delhi taxi driver killing a lady, and then finding that she had only a few hundred dollars with her. See http://www.gaudiyadiscussions.com/index.php?showtopic=1383

Everyone lives with so much misconceptions about the other, that communication seems a very difficult affair.

As visitors we should keep that in mind, and remember that we are guests who have to bear the difficulties of understanding of our innumerable hosts.

I have heard Finland has also a good supply of Mosquitos. That would make it an excellent environement for a replica Holy Dham

Also note: you did not use an Ambassador. I doubt the ambassador would have had the problem that your Jeep had. I think I remember having heard that the car was going into a skid... I believe that also had to do with thy type of car you used. Its centre of gravity is higher up than in an Ambassador.

Yes, especially in the North Finland there are lots of Mosquitos at summer, but they don't carry malaria or any other dangerous diseases.

A few years back someone living near the Geneva Airport got Malaria. Obviously the person was stung by a Mosquito coming along with a plane from India or another Malaria-country.