What is the jetlag pattern like in India if you're coming from the US? Actually, I'll be coming from Paris after a 2 day stay there. So my jetlag might be shifted a bit.

Do you get sleepy or wide awake in the morning? I'm wondering whether I should take the 8:45 a.m. domestic flight out of Delhi on the first day or the afternoon flight out? If I'm wide awake, might as well get up and leave. If very sleepy, take the afternoon flight.

Thanks.

I should add that my flight gets in at 11 p.m. to Delhi. I probably won't get to the hotel until like 1 a.m.?

If taking the 8:45 a.m. domestic flight, I have to get back to the airport by 6:45 a.m.? That's like 5+ hours of sleep. But if I'll be all awake, I don't mind.

Thanks.

If you cannot do otherwise, then the afternoon flight would be best. I am sure you could sleep well into the middle of the day, and that will be a help in getting over jet-lag. If you push yourself then all that happens is that you confuse your own system so it takes longer for it to get back to normal. I try and keep to local night sleep times even if it might be difficult. Drinking plenty of orange juice may also help.

So, the jetlag pattern is sleepy in the early morning and wide awake when?

When I go to Japan and China, I'm wide awake at 2 a.m. onward.

If it's the case with Delhi when I first fly in, I'd rather take the early domestic flight out. If I could get a really early flight like at 5 a.m. then do you recommend not getting out of the airport at all?

With an 8:45 am flight out of Delhi in December you are very likely to have fog which will delay your flight. I would avoid a morning flight if you can. If you can get a 5 am flight that might be preferable, sometimes there are night fogs, but by 5 am in December it should be cold enough that the fog would have disappeared. Otherwise, the afternoon flight would be preferable to the 8:45 am flight IMO and experience.

Remember that if you fly into Delhi from outside India, you are going to land at the international airport, but your flight to your next destination within India will be going out of the domestic airport, which is about 3 miles away. You will have to collect your luggage and go through customs and immigration at the international airport and then get over to the domestic airport. There is a free bus transfer between the two, or you can take a taxi. If you take the bus, plan at least hour for the transfer, it could take longer (see below). If you take a cab, the transfer takes about 20 minutes. There is a pre-paid taxi desk in the arrivals area where you can arrange and pay for the taxi and someone will then take you out to the taxi area. This would not cost more than US$10 at most and would be worth it IMO.

With regard to the free bus transfer service between the international and domestic service, the bus only runs once an hour. Once you have gone through Immigration, gotten your bags and handed the Customs man your little slip of paper, go out into the arrivals hallway and look to the left for signs for the transfer lounge. (Pre-paid taxi counters are on the right, these guys will be calling out to you.) You can ask someone in the transfer area how soon the next bus will leave. You will invariably be told "coming soon". This can mean anything from 5 minutes to an hour (welcome to India). You could maybe wait for a while, and if it doesn't show up, consider going back out into the hall and arranging for a pre-paid taxi to take you over to the domestic airport if you wanted to wait there.

There are no facilities to speak of at either the international or domestic terminal. There are no shops and there is one restaurant in the domestic terminal which you can go to after you check-in, you can buy coffee and tea at a stand near the gate area and maybe a bun that’s it really, so there is no advantage to one over the other. I could not guarantee that the restaurant in the domestic terminal wuold be open after midnight as I have not been there that late. The waiting area in the international transfer area has sofas which are pretty comfortable and a bathroom, so for a long wait in the middle of the night they would be preferable to the waiting area in the domestic terminal.

When going into any airport in India you have to show your ticket and passport to be allowed to get IN the door to the airport, then you have to put your own bags onto the x-ray machine for the screening process (there is usually a longish line for this, and really horrible ones at international airports). After that, then you can go to the check-in counters with your luggage.

Thanks, Cicerone, for the all the good, detailed info!

The flight out of Delhi is for Nov 19 (coming up soon!). Do you think it still be foggy in the morning? We're leaning toward the 5:45 a.m. flight out of delhi after arriving at 11 p.m. the night before on an international flight. I hope it's not too crazy! But we could veg out after that in Hyderabad for a few days before serious sightseeing begins.

Another question: I hear domestic flights have a restriction on check-in luggage. What are the rules? Different from airline to airline? I hear they charge you heftily for anything over the (already low) limit?

Thanks again!

Fog usually starts around the end of November.
Foreign tourists can have extra baggage over the norm, Usually 30 kg., but check on the airline website.