International Paying Guest House

Where today stands the International Travellers’ Hostel (ITH Cantt), once stood the International ‘Paying Guest House’.

ITH, essentially speaking, is a restart of the former paying guest house which existed about 2 decades before its modern successor. The International Paying Guest House belonged to a different time of the world altogether; comprising of single and double private en-suite rooms, had a completely different set-up. It was the time before there were mobile phones and the Internet in India.

Contrary to its predecessor, ITH offers a wide range of accommodation options to travellers – ranging from a basic tent for travellers on extremely tight budget, fan-cooled and air-conditioned mixed and female-only dorms, to a gorgeous luxury en-suite room for travellers with an inflatable budget.

The paying guest house, as the tourism department of India defines it, was a venture of present-day hostel’s owner, Ashish’s father.

International Paying Guest House had unfortunately been discontinued due to hostile situations created by some of the neighbours. Since then times have changed, hostility has vanished, and International Travellers’ Hostel has hence opened doors to backpackers and flashpackers.

Sadly we do not have any images to show from the times of International Paying Guest House, except for a photo from around that time of Ashish standing tall with his father in their garden.