Tuesday, March 3, 2015

India's Rashtapati Bhawan Visit !



A lot has been written about Rashtrapati Bhawan (RB) of India . You will find most of the stuff on internet. But let me share some personal experiences during my visit to India's Rashtrapati Bhawan or President's palace.

First things first, RB visit is allowed only on 3 days in a week - Friday through Sunday. In order to get inside RB , one needs to make online reservation. And, my suggestion would be to make it at-least 2 weeks before your proposed date of visit.  Keep your Passport/Aadhar/PAN Card handy while registering online on RB website. While doing online registration, a visitor has to  needs to pay online (around .50 cents or INR 30 / person).  Once registration is done, wait for RS to send a confirmation by email, which they send usually within 24 hours.

On the date of visit, I suggest you take printout of RB confirmation. Security Guards at RB gates would ask for the confirmation document and match your name with their records.
RB doesn't allow visitors to bring-in any Mobile phone or Cameras. But if you have  a high end smart phone, I am sure you would not miss to snap yourself in front of RB.
On entering the RB main building, at reception on the waiting hall, visitors are asked to show Id proof and printout of confirmation, details are matched with computer records and a nice Airport Immigration counter style picture is taken with computer camera.
Visitors are asked to wait in the waiting hall for 15-20 mins and then taken inside the RB hall led by guard. Important to note, if you have a mobile phone , there is a small cloak room kind of facility Where visitors are suggested to deposit their mobile phones, Car keys etc. The cloak room service is free of charge.

The entire guided tour takes around 30-40 mins and that's it! You are done.