Guides ·Essentials

Cards, UPI, and cash

Cards (Visa/Mastercard) work at every hotel, mall, chain restaurant, and Uber payment screen. UPI (Google Pay, PhonePe) is the local default and works even at fruit carts — but you need an Indian bank account to send, so most tourists can’t use it. Cash is still king in Sadar Bazaar, at temple donation boxes, for auto-rickshaws, and for tipping. Withdraw ₹14263–₹19018 in rupees from an airport ATM on arrival; use HDFC, ICICI, or SBI ATMs to avoid ₹475 surcharges.

Contactless taps work under ₹5000 without a PIN, above that you’ll be asked to enter one, so memorise it before you land rather than fumbling at the DLF Mall of India till. Diners Club and Amex are accepted at five-star hotels like the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Gurgaon New Delhi NCR but rejected at most Cyber Hub restaurants and every auto-rickshaw, so carry a Visa or Mastercard as backup. Bank SMS alerts for every swipe are standard here and worth keeping on, since a surprising number of small kirana stores still run manual card imprint machines that occasionally double-charge.

What things cost

Rough prices in ₹: metro token ₹19–₹76; Uber Cyber City to airport ₹761–₹1141; a beer at Cyber Hub ₹475; a Sector 29 rooftop cocktail ₹761; buffet breakfast at a 5-star ₹2092; thali at Haldiram's ₹380; chole bhature at Bikaner Sweets ₹190; a shirt tailored in Galleria Market ₹1712; a 60-minute spa treatment at The Oberoi ₹11411; Sultanpur park entry ₹571. A tourist eating in mixed venues will spend ₹3804–₹6656 a day excluding hotel.

A few more to plan around: a 1GB-a-day tourist SIM (Airtel or Jio) at the airport counter runs ₹600–₹950 for a week; a 20-minute wash-and-fold at a Sector 29 laundry costs ₹150–₹250; a movie ticket at Ambience Mall’s PVR is ₹300–₹550; a full evening show at Kingdom of Dreams in Sector 29 is ₹1500–₹4500 depending on seating; a half-day car-with-driver hire for sightseeing around Manesar or Sohna is ₹1800–₹2800; and a bottled water refill at any Cyber Hub kiosk is ₹20–₹40, roughly triple the MRP printed on the label, which sellers will still honour if you point at it.

Tipping the Indian way

Not compulsory but expected in hospitality. Restaurants: 10% is generous if service charge (usually 5–10%) isn’t already on the bill. Check the bill — many places add it silently. Hotel porter: ₹95 per bag. Housekeeping: ₹190/day left on the pillow. Uber and auto drivers: not expected, but round up to the next ₹48 if the ride was fine. Tour guides at monuments: ₹285–₹475 for a good hour. Do not tip at temples; leave a donation in the box instead.

Valet parking at malls and hotels like the Hilton Gurugram Baani City Centre expects ₹50–₹100 when you collect the car, even though the service is technically free. A spa therapist at a full-service property such as Trident Gurgaon or Le Meridien Gurgaon Delhi NCR is typically tipped ₹200–₹400 for a session, handed directly rather than added to the room bill. Food-delivery riders from Zomato or Swiggy increasingly get a ₹20–₹30 in-app tip, which most Gurugram customers now add by default. If you hire a driver for a full day of sightseeing, ₹300–₹500 at day’s end is standard on top of the agreed fare.

Currency exchange and ATMs

IGI Airport Terminal 3’s arrivals hall has several forex counters (Thomas Cook, Centrum) but their rates run 4–6% worse than what you’ll get from a bank ATM in the city. Change only ₹2000–₹3000 there for the taxi and first meal, then rely on ATMs once you’re settled. HDFC, ICICI, SBI, and Axis Bank ATMs cluster around Cyber Hub, MG Road, and Sector 29 Market, and dispense ₹10,000–₹40,000 per transaction depending on the bank and your card network. Standalone ATM brands like Muthoot or Fincare tack on an extra ₹150–₹250 withdrawal fee on top of your own bank’s foreign transaction charge, so stick to the big four.

Skip the unlicensed “money changer” stalls scattered through Sadar Bazaar — rates are erratic and there’s no receipt if a note is later flagged as counterfeit. If you have leftover rupees to convert back before flying home, Centrum Forex inside T3 departures will buy back up to ₹5000 in old notes without needing a boarding pass; larger amounts require your passport and proof of onward travel. Keep exchange receipts from your first transaction in case you need to reconvert a larger sum, since Indian banks technically ask for one, even if enforcement at the airport counter is inconsistent.

Budgeting by traveller type

A backpacker sticking to the metro, street thalis, and a no-frills stay such as Hotel Sky Lite or Galaxy Hotel (₹1500–₹2800 a night) spends roughly ₹2500–₹3500 a day once tips and a snack or two are added. A midrange traveller based at somewhere like Bloom Hotel Golf Course Road Sector 43 or Lime Tree Hotel Near 32nd Avenue Sector 29 Gurgaon (₹4500–₹7000 a night), mixing Ubers with a Cyber Hub dinner most evenings, lands around ₹6000–₹9000 a day. A luxury stay at The Oberoi Gurgaon, Trident Gurgaon, or Grand Hyatt Gurgaon (₹18000–₹35000 a night) with a spa treatment and a fine-dining meal easily pushes past ₹15000 a day.

For a short trip, the midrange band is the one that actually matches what Gurugram is built for — the city’s malls, Cyber Hub restaurants, and golf-course hotels are designed around exactly that spend, and you won’t feel like you’re missing anything by skipping the five-star tier. The backpacker budget works fine logistically since the metro and street food are genuinely good, but Gurugram has fewer hostels and backpacker cafés than Delhi, so solo budget travellers often find the city quieter and less social than they expected. If budget is tight, spend on food and transport, not the room — a ₹3000 hotel and a ₹2500 hotel look near-identical from the inside.

Avoiding money mistakes

When a card terminal asks whether to charge you in rupees or your home currency (Dynamic Currency Conversion, or DCC), always choose rupees — the “convenience” rate on the foreign-currency option is typically 3–5% worse and is one of the most common ways tourists overpay in Gurugram without noticing. This shows up on hotel checkout machines and at some Cyber Hub restaurants as often as at the airport. Similarly, always insist an auto-rickshaw driver use the meter or agree the fare before you get in; “meter is broken” is a near-universal opening line and the fix is simply to name the next available auto rather than argue.

Keep a stock of small notes — ₹10, ₹20, ₹50 — because autos, small vendors, and temple donation boxes rarely have change for a ₹500 note, and drivers will sometimes claim they can’t break large bills just to round the fare up in their favour. Check any note over ₹500 for tears or tape; some smaller shops in Sadar Bazaar will refuse damaged notes outright, and you’ll be stuck passing it on to an auto driver instead. If a note looks suspiciously new or the paper feels wrong, it’s reasonable to ask for a different one — nobody will be offended.

Frequently asked questions

What people ask before they set off on this one.

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