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Please help me decide on the night before my flight-Agra or New Delhi?

Please help me decide on the night before my flight-Agra or New Delhi?

Old Feb 23rd, 2015, 02:15 PM
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Please help me decide on the night before my flight-Agra or New Delhi?

My husband And I will be in Asia for 26 night in May/June.
We will arrive at New Delhi airport from Kathmandu on 13th of June and will be picked up to go to Agra with a car. We will be staying at Oberoi in Agra.
On 16th of June we will be flying to JFK from New Delhi at 1:30 pm on Virgin Atlantic, business class .
Ideally, we like to stay in Agra all three nights so we don't have to pack and unpack one more time, but we are not sure if that is a wise decision.
I know the drive is three hours and we don't have any problem getting up early in the morning.
I am not sure if there will be any traffic or other issues that might make this trip much longer than three hours.
Please let me know what you think.

Thank you.
adeleh is offline  
Old Feb 23rd, 2015, 05:04 PM
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We just returned from a trip to India and were staying at the Oberoi in Agra and had a 2pm flight out of Delhi. The drive was about 3 1/2 hours and we were doing a domestic flight with carry on bags only. I would stay in Agra and leave at 7:30am, the Amarvilas is a great hotel so you should enjoy the extra night there.
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Old Feb 23rd, 2015, 07:45 PM
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I would go back to Delhi the day before. I have travelled delhi~ Agra several times. It has taken anywhere fro 3.5 to 8 hours. I would never cut it so close for an international flight, unless you' ve got great travel insurance!
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 01:36 PM
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Agree with lcuy. Traffic in India can be horrible. Go to Delhi the day before and allow plenty of time even then to get to IGI.
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Old Feb 25th, 2015, 03:37 PM
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lcuy and jacketwatch - Did you use the new Yamuna expressway? That was a game changer for us - took less than 2.5 hours from Agra to Delhi (though not to the airport). I don't think you'd have an issue if you left first thing in the morning.

However a night in Delhi would probably be more relaxing if you stayed near the airport. Amarvilas would probably give you a late checkout, so you could have the best of both worlds.
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Old Feb 25th, 2015, 04:20 PM
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Going business class, check in is much easier - - there are special lines at the counter and also for security. Worst case scenario, when we checked in for various flights, there were people who went to the front of the security lines because their flights were leaving in "10 minutes". Shouldn't be traffic so early in Agra but you will hit some traffic in Delhi after the expressway. A lot depends on your level of anxiety when you travel....if you are really nervous about it and won't sleep well in Agra, then stay at an airport hotel (or perhaps the Oberoi Guragon).
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Old Feb 25th, 2015, 08:39 PM
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I,guess I have been scarred too many times by Indian traffic. In Oct. Of 2013 we had a ride from Chnadigarh to Delhi and man we hit traffic because of road work. Terrible. Added two hrs. to our ride. I just don't leave anything to chance. Another time we hit horrible traffic from Pitampura to the airport late at night. Sorry but for me don't assume anything. JM2C.
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Old Feb 26th, 2015, 01:59 AM
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Just one final thought about this.....I don't want to appear that I am pushing the early morning departure ....just hoping that you have full information before deciding what to do...the absolutely worst driving experience we had in our trip was the final couple of hours when we were driving back to the Delhi airport and we arrived after sunset. Even though it was a Sunday, so traffic wasn't as bad as usual, I found it quite unsettling to be driving in the dark on the roadways around Delhi. So if you do decide to stay near the airport instead of Agra, I would urge you to leave in mid afternoon so that you arrive at your hotel in daylight. If you decide to stay in Agra and leave even earlier, like 6am, I know the Amarvilas will pack a nice breakfast for you. I understand why this a tough call.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2015, 03:12 AM
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Thank you for all replies.
I am still undecided and the reason is that I want to stay in Agra so bad
adeleh is offline  
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