Arrived at 5:00am to a dark, quiet, street with the lit Metropolis Hotel sign giving us hope the hotel would be open. After a double ring of the bell beside the door the Night Manager, Manoj Kumar, greeted us with a warm welcome. We were not expecting rooms at that hour but hoped they would allow us to take refuge in the lobby until check-in time. They did have two rooms available (2 couples in our party) and allowed us immediate access. After breakfast we took to the streets of the Paharganj area of New Delhi and were pleased with the location of the Metropolis. Don’t fall for the touts’ line of “I’ll show you where the mall is” - enjoy the neighbourhood on your own. Head LEFT out the hotel’s main door and a short walk along Main Bazaar will bring you to the New Delhi Train Station.

ROOM 103 faces east on the floor above ground level. It is a small room with double wide bed, bedside tables, mirror above the desk, fridge, wardrobe (2 hangers), safe (not bolted down), air conditioning and balcony access through a glass door. The attractive modern bathroom had a large shower, stylish sink, hand soap but no toilet paper (available on request). Wifi is included in the hotel rate but we experienced some difficulty in strength of signal from this room.

ROOM 202 is two floors above ground. Larger in size than 103, it had 2 beds made up as 1 to give it the width of a king with the length of a double. The room’s furniture included bedside tables with wall lamps above each, a cocktail table, luggage bench, cabinet with bar fridge, wardrobe (no hangers), safe (not bolted down), desk, chair, in-room wifi, air conditioning, wide double windows opening to good size deck with a single plastic chair. [In the photo, this room is situated above the word ‘Hotel” on the lit sign]. Like 103 the bathroom was modern with stylish sink and large shower with rain head. Hot water required running the tap for a couple of minutes (we found dinner time the hottest – great for freshening up before going out).

ROOFTOP RESTAURANT & BAR offered excellent food and Rama Kant is a friendly, skilled waiter. (All the staff members at Metropolis were friendly and outgoing.) Lonely Planet and shop owners along Main Bazaar (without knowing we were staying there) recommended Metropolis as the area’s best restaurant. The hotel’s good food doesn’t end with the rooftop restaurant but continues to the breakfast room with a variety of dishes and beverages from which to choose. We had chosen to include breakfast in our room price selection and, in this particular hotel, felt it was a good decision. During one breakfast, we met a lone woman traveler (staying elsewhere) who was switching her hotel accommodations to the Metropolis because of the food, room quality and their friendly, helpful, respectful staff.

FINANCES. During checkout we were charged for an extra night for our early check-in, however, because we had confirmed no additional early-arrival charges would be levied BEFORE we engaged the rooms, they deducted the extra night immediately. They added 450 Rs for taxi fare (based on a casual inquiry) to the airport but after asking twice they removed that charge as well (taxies are cheaper and plentiful on the street).

RECOMMEND Metropolis? Oh my, yes. So much so, we made reservations for our return trip through Delhi on our way home.