Nehru Place
Asia's biggest computer bazaar wrapped in 1980s office towers — cheap laptop fixes, business hotels, Lotus Temple nearby.
Concrete office towers and computer market sheds at Nehru Place with crowds on the raised plaza
Why people stay in Nehru Place
Nehru Place is a concrete plaza ringed by 1980s towers, and inside those towers and the low sheds around them sits one of Asia's largest computer markets. Thousands of shops sell RAM, screens, refurbished ThinkPads, printer cartridges and repairs, with touts murmuring offers of software you should not buy. If your laptop dies in India, this is where it gets fixed for ₹800 instead of ₹8,000, usually same day. As a place to sleep it is unromantic but practical: business hotels, real prices, a Violet Line station under your feet.
The rooms are functional three-star and upper-budget stock, mostly on the Kalkaji and Okhla edges — ₹2,800 to ₹4,500 for a proper business room with a lift, a restaurant and a decent shower, ₹6,000 to ₹9,000 for the larger conference-hotel properties near the Outer Ring Road. Weekday rates spike Tuesday to Thursday when the trade fairs and corporate meetings run, and drop hard on Friday and Saturday nights, which is the reverse of most of Delhi. If you can shift a two-night stay to the weekend, you will save around a third.
At 9pm the district empties in a way few Delhi neighbourhoods do. Offices are dark by 7.30pm, the computer sheds shutter around 8pm, and the plaza becomes a wind tunnel with security guards and stray dogs. Life moves upstairs to Epicuria, the two-floor restaurant mall directly above Nehru Place metro station, where the bars run to midnight, and to the Paras cinema complex. Sunday is the important warning: the computer market takes Sunday off entirely, so a Sunday visit for a repair or a purchase is a wasted trip.
This suits business travellers, anyone with hardware to buy or mend, and pilgrims — the Lotus Temple, the Kalkaji Mandir and the ISKCON temple at East of Kailash are all within two kilometres. Skip it if you want charm, greenery or a walkable evening; the plaza is hostile after dark and the surrounding roads are eight lanes of traffic. Skip it too if you are travelling on a Sunday-heavy itinerary, because the thing that makes Nehru Place interesting will be shut.
The usable pockets are the Kalkaji lanes just south of the plaza and the Okhla side towards Modi Mill, both a 10 to 15 minute walk from the metro and quieter than the district core. Expect ₹2,200 to ₹3,200 for a small business hotel, ₹3,500 to ₹5,000 for a solid three-star with a restaurant and airport transfer, and ₹7,000 upwards for the big conference properties on the Outer Ring Road. Avoid the guesthouses advertised as being inside the commercial towers — many are converted office floors with no natural light and lifts that stop at 10pm. Avoid Ring Road-facing rooms entirely; traffic here is loud until 1am and starts again at 5. Rates jump for trade-fair weeks at Pragati Maidan and Okhla, so book ahead in February and November, and ask whether the quoted tariff includes the ₹300 to ₹500 breakfast.
Things to do in Nehru Place
The sheds and towers around the central Nehru Place plaza handle screens, keyboards, batteries and data recovery at a fraction of authorised service pricing — a screen replacement typically ₹3,000 to ₹6,000, a keyboard ₹800. Get two quotes, insist on a written bill, and decline the pirated-software pitch. Closed Sundays; busiest 12pm to 5pm.
The Bahá'í House of Worship is 1.5 km west, entry free, open roughly 9am to 5.30pm in winter and later in summer — and closed on Mondays, which catches people out. Silence inside is enforced, photography is not allowed in the prayer hall, and the shoe deposit is free. Go at opening to avoid school groups.
The restaurant mall built directly over Nehru Place metro station is the district's only real evening — two floors of restaurants and bars serving until about midnight, mains ₹450 to ₹900, cocktails ₹600 upwards. It is the reliable answer after 8pm when the plaza itself has gone dead. Weekend evenings need a booking.
The Kali temple on the mound beside the Kalkaji Mandir metro interchange, 1 km from the plaza, is open from before sunrise and packed during Navratri in autumn and spring. Free entry, leave shoes and phones with the stalls at the base for ₹10 to ₹20, and expect steep steps and a lot of jostling.
Two kilometres north on Hare Krishna Hill in Sant Nagar, the ISKCON complex has evening aarti with drums and kirtan from about 7pm and a good vegetarian canteen serving thalis for ₹200 to ₹350. Free entry, shoe deposit at the gate, and the terrace gives you one of the better views over south Delhi rooftops.
The Paras cinema complex on the Nehru Place plaza runs mainstream Hindi and dubbed Hollywood releases from mid-morning to a late show, tickets from about ₹150 on weekdays. It is a working-crowd cinema rather than a plush multiplex — noisy, opinionated, cheap popcorn. Book ahead only for Friday openings.
What to see
Hotels near Nehru Place
No hotels are listed in Nehru Place yet. The nearest ones are on the region page.
Every hotel we cover in Nehru Place
- Janpath 3★ · 4.5/5
- Corus 3★ · 3.8/5
- Royale Connaught Regency 2★ · 3.8/5
- Hotel Excellency 3★ · 3.7/5
- Hotels Daffodils Connaught Place 3★ · 3/5
- OYO 18401 Ivory Palace 2★ · 3/5
- Janpath Guest House 1★
- Stay nearby Lutyen’s Delhi just 15min from Connaught Place
Getting around Nehru Place
From Terminal 3 an app cab costs ₹650 to ₹900 and takes 45 to 80 minutes; the cheaper route is the Airport Express to New Delhi, Yellow Line to Central Secretariat, then Violet Line to Nehru Place, around ₹120 in total. Nehru Place station on the Violet Line puts you under Epicuria; Kalkaji Mandir, one stop south, is the interchange for the Magenta Line towards Hauz Khas and Botanical Garden. Inside the district everything is a five to fifteen minute walk, though the plaza is easier via the raised walkways than at street level. Autos to Greater Kailash or Lajpat Nagar run ₹70 to ₹120; Ring Road buses towards Ashram and Saket cost ₹10 to ₹25.
Questions about Nehru Place
No — Sunday is the weekly closing day and the great majority of shops and repair counters are shuttered. A handful of the tower showrooms and the Epicuria restaurants stay open. Plan hardware purchases and repairs for Tuesday to Saturday, arriving before 4pm if you want the job done the same day.
For repairs, parts, RAM, storage and refurbished business laptops, yes — prices are genuinely lower and the technicians are skilled. For a brand-new flagship phone, an authorised store is safer, because grey-market imports here often carry no valid India warranty. Always get a GST bill, check the serial number, and refuse any pirated software offered on the plaza.
Only if business or hardware brings you here. The Violet Line links are excellent — Red Fort in about 40 minutes, Central Secretariat in 25 — and the Lotus Temple is walkable. But the district has no street life after 8pm and no charm at any hour. First-time visitors are usually happier in Connaught Place, Karol Bagh or Defence Colony.
About 1.5 km, or a 20-minute walk via the Outer Ring Road foot overbridge, and roughly ₹50 by auto. Remember the temple is closed on Mondays and shuts around 5.30pm in winter, so go in the morning. From the same spot you can add Kalkaji Mandir, which is another ten minutes on foot.
