Places to visit in Delhi

Most trips to North India start here, and many people make the mistake of leaving the next morning. Delhi is loud, huge (almost 34 million people in the metro area) and not built for walking from one district to another: pavements double as parking and crossings are rare. But whole quarters open up on foot. Old Delhi smells of cardamom, frying jalebi and diesel; Lodhi Garden at dawn is quiet enough to hear the birds over the tombs; Mehrauli hides a thousand years of ruins in a forest beside the Qutub.

Hindi is the city language, with Punjabi and Urdu close behind, and English is enough in tourist places. The rhythm that works: one area per day, the metro between them, e-rickshaws for the last stretch.

Old Delhi

• [Red Fort](/en/delhi/red-fort/): the 17th-century Mughal fortress and a UNESCO site. The interior is rather empty; the walls are best felt on an evening walk round the outside.
• [Jama Masjid](/en/delhi/jama-masjid/): Shah Jahan's mosque of 1656, the largest in India, with a minaret you can climb for the view over Old Delhi. It closes to sightseers around midday prayers.
• [Chandni Chowk](/en/delhi/chandni-chowk/): the old bazaar, worth it less for shopping than for the street food and the crush. At its western end, [Khari Baoli](/en/delhi/khari-baoli-spice-market/) is Asia's largest wholesale spice market.
• [Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib](/en/delhi/gurudwara-sis-ganj-sahib/) and [Ghalib ki Haveli](/en/delhi/ghalib-ki-haveli/): the place where the ninth Sikh Guru was executed in 1675, and the courtyard house where the poet Mirza Ghalib spent his last years.

New Delhi

• [India Gate](/en/delhi/india-gate/) and [Rashtrapati Bhavan](/en/delhi/rashtrapati-bhavan/): the memorial arch where families picnic in the evening, and Lutyens' presidential palace of 1929, seen inside only on pre-booked tours.
• [Gurudwara Bangla Sahib](/en/delhi/gurudwara-bangla-sahib/): kirtan (devotional singing) almost without pause, a marble tank and a free kitchen open to anyone.
• [Jantar Mantar](/en/delhi/jantar-mantar/) and [Agrasen ki Baoli](/en/delhi/agrasen-ki-baoli/): Jai Singh II's stone observatory of 1724 and a free 14th-century stepwell, both a short walk from Connaught Place.
• [Lodhi Garden](/en/delhi/lodhi-garden/) and [Sunder Nursery](/en/delhi/sunder-nursery/): tombs inside a park, best early in the morning; Sunder Nursery sits right next to Humayun's Tomb, which makes a half-day walk.

South Delhi

• [Qutub Minar](/en/delhi/qutub-minar/): a 73-metre tower of red sandstone begun around 1199, with the Iron Pillar at its base. The [Mehrauli Archaeological Park](/en/delhi/mehrauli-archaeological-park/) beside it holds more than a hundred monuments and is free.
• [Lotus Temple](/en/delhi/lotus-temple/): the Bahai house of worship, a silent hall open to all faiths.
• [Akshardham](/en/delhi/akshardham-temple/): a hand-carved Swaminarayan temple complex with an evening water show. Phones and electronics stay in the locker, so allow three to five hours.
• [Purana Qila](/en/delhi/purana-qila/) and [Tughlaqabad Fort](/en/delhi/tughlaqabad-fort/): a 16th-century fortress beside the zoo, and six kilometres of 14th-century walls where the grass has taken over.

One day: pick a side. Old Delhi in the morning (Red Fort from outside, Jama Masjid, Chandni Chowk), then Humayun's Tomb with Sunder Nursery and Lodhi Garden in the late light.

Two days: add a south Delhi day: Qutub Minar and Mehrauli in the morning, the Lotus Temple or Akshardham in the afternoon. This is the minimum the city deserves.

Three days or more: time for New Delhi on foot around Connaught Place and India Gate, a museum or two, Thursday qawwali at Nizamuddin Dargah, and the Okhla wetlands in winter.

The best months are October and February to March: dry, with days around 24–33°C. November to January is cool (nights down to 8°C) but brings smog, with AQI that can pass 450, and winter fog that delays flights and trains. May and June are the months to avoid, with heatwaves of 45°C and more. July to September is the monsoon, wettest in August at around 227 mm. Month-by-month figures are on the [weather page](/en/delhi/weather/).

By air: Indira Gandhi International (DEL) is the main gateway to northern India, 16 km from the centre. T3 handles international and part of the domestic flights, T1 the low-cost carriers. From T3 the Airport Express metro reaches New Delhi station in about 20 minutes for about ₹65, running 04:45–23:30. The prepaid taxi counter of the Delhi Traffic Police (between gates 5 and 6 at T3) costs about ₹500–900, paid at the end of the ride.

By train: four main stations, New Delhi (NDLS), Old Delhi (DLI), Hazrat Nizamuddin (NZM), where the Agra trains start, and Anand Vihar (ANVT). Agra is about 1 h 40 min by Gatimaan or Vande Bharat, Jaipur about 3 h 40 min.

By bus: ISBT Kashmere Gate in the north, Sarai Kale Khan in the south for Agra and Rajasthan, and Anand Vihar in the east.

Around the city: the metro, with more than ten lines, runs roughly 05:30–23:30, and fares are about ₹11–64. A tourist card costs about ₹200 for one day or ₹500 for three. Book autos in an app, since drivers quote visitors their own price; in Old Delhi, e-rickshaws cover the hop from the metro exit for about ₹20–50. More on the pages about [getting here](/en/delhi/how-to-get-there/) and [getting around](/en/delhi/getting-around/).