Badminton court to tarmac-view gym: Flyer discovers hidden side of Delhi airport

In his post, Rahul Mathur shared surprising details and images of the facilities hidden inside Delhi’s IGI Terminal 3 building.

An X thread by a founder-turned-venture capitalist about his unusual overnight stay inside Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) Terminal 3 has caught the internet’s attention after he shared surprising details and images of the facilities hidden inside the terminal building.

Mathur said his experience began unexpectedly when his Bengaluru to San Francisco flight was cancelled.. (X/@Rahul_J_Mathur)

In his post, Rahul Mathur said his experience began unexpectedly when his Bengaluru to San Francisco flight was cancelled. He instead flew to Delhi and was left with a 13-hour layover from 8 pm to 9 am. To rest, he said he checked into the only hotel located inside Terminal 3.

“This badminton court is inside Delhi’s T3 building - I discovered this because I stayed overnight inside the terminal yesterday,” he wrote, sharing a photo of a full-sized indoor badminton court.

In another post, he revealed that the hotel has a gym featuring treadmills facing large windows overlooking the airport tarmac. “I did a quick 30 min run a few hours back - the treadmills overlook the airport tarmac - you can see flights take off & land - and you can see the NH-48 road,” he wrote, posting a picture of the view.

Mathur also noted that the hotel has a 24-hour restaurant, offers breakfast in the morning, and that he received complimentary meals since he booked via AMEX. “It was quite a fun run,” he added.

Mathur further described the “strangest part” of his stay to be his room view. “My room overlooked the main check-in area at T3 - so there was a silent buzzing noise in the background (despite really good sound suppression in the room),” he wrote.

Social media reactions

Social media users were intrigued, with many saying they had no idea such facilities existed inside IGI Airport.

“Never saw this one. Where's exactly this court ???” asked one user. “This belongs to the hotel or the airport? Never heard about it till date,” questioned another.

“I searched over internet. There is no mention of Badminton court at IGI airport. Please give details of exact location,” commented a third user, while another user shared, “I have seen staff using it to destress routine work.”

“Yes very strange … a few years ago, saw a bunch of people playing as well,” one user shared.