Sector 17 Plaza

Sector 17 was designed as Chandigarh's "city center without cars": a vast concrete plaza of shops, cafés, and fountains where the whole city comes to stroll in the evening. By day it's a shopping district; after sunset, with the musical fountain running and families out for ice cream, it turns into the closest thing brutalism gets to a piazza.

What's worth your time beyond the brand stores:

• Phulkari: Punjab's signature embroidery, blazing geometric silk-thread work on dupattas and shawls. The government emporia around the plaza are the safe-bet places to buy genuine pieces.
• Juttis: embroidered Punjabi flat shoes, with plenty of local styles in the central markets.
• The plaza's book bazaars and music shops, a fading species, still alive here.

Come around 18:00–19:00: shopping first, fountain and people-watching after dark.

The city's pedestrian heart