Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport

Indore airport is compact and generally well-maintained — floors are clean and the terminal feels fresh for a Tier 2 city. Security queues can get chaotic during morning peak hours when multiple IndiGo and Air India flights depart back to back. The free Wi-Fi is practically unusable beyond the first five minutes, which is frustrating when you have a long wait. Staff at the check-in counters were friendly and helpful, so that balanced things out.

Indore airport has improved a lot over the last couple of years — the terminal is compact but kept reasonably clean and the staff at check-in were helpful and efficient. The food options are decent but limited; I grabbed a coffee from the café near the departure gate and it was average at best. The free Wi-Fi kept dropping every 10 minutes which was frustrating when I was trying to finish some work before my IndiGo flight.

I travel through IDR almost every month for work and honestly the cleanliness has improved a lot over the last year — the toilets near Gate 3 are regularly attended and smell decent, which is more than I can say for many bigger airports. My only real complaint is the food options are very limited and overpriced; the one café inside charges Mumbai prices for average poha and chai. Drop-off is smooth and the road layout outside is straightforward, no circling around like Hyderabad.

I fly through IDR regularly for work and I must say the cleanliness inside the terminal is genuinely impressive — washrooms are maintained well and smell fresh even during busy hours. Security can be a bit chaotic though, especially when multiple flights are boarding around the same time and everyone piles into the same queue. The drop-off area outside is always congested and there's very little space for cabs and autos to wait, which is honestly my biggest complaint about this airport.

Coming back from Dubai, the arrivals experience at Indore was surprisingly efficient — immigration-equivalent formalities were done quickly and the baggage came out within 20 minutes, which honestly shocked me after years of struggling at bigger hubs. Parking is where they really need to invest — the short-stay lot was full both times I visited and the overflow area is quite a walk in the heat. A couple more decent food stalls post-security would make the departure experience genuinely comfortable rather than just tolerable.

Was pleasantly surprised by the food this time — tried the poha and jalebi combo at one of the small outlets near arrivals and it was actually quite good, very Indore-style! The CISF staff at security were thorough but polite, no unnecessary hassle. Parking charges felt a bit steep for what is essentially a single small terminal airport, but overall it is one of the more pleasant Tier-2 airport experiences I have had in India.