| VITAL INFORMATION | |
| Population | 16,000,000 |
| Languages spoken | Hindi, Urdu, English |
| Currency | 1.00 Indian rupees (INR) = 0.024 USD |
| Average temperature | Summer: 108F; winter: 72F |
| High season | October to March |
Beautiful, squalid, breathtaking, and at times heartbreaking, India is a country of extremes. You’ll either love it or you’ll hate it, but either way, you’ll be changed by your experience in this bewildering and exotic land. Delhi, situated in northern India, is the nation’s capital and one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. While you can certainly spend weeks here without seeing it all, you can actually manage to visit an impressive number of tourist attractions and fit in plenty of fun in just three days. So if you happen to be stopping through this vibrant and cosmopolitan city, print this guide out and avoid tourist traps by following our plan for what could be some of the most awe-inspiring and life-transforming days of your life.
Before your holiday begins, take care in selecting your accommodation. Don’t stay in anything less than a three- or four-star establishment, unless you’ve heard glowing reviews from others about a particular hostel or hotel. One meal will often be included in the cost of your stay, and it’s probably best to choose the breakfast option, thus allowing you to wake up leisurely over a steaming cup of chai. Once you’re ready to set out for the day, one of the cheapest and most reliable ways to get around Delhi without being taken for a ride as a tourist is by metro. The metro operates between 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., and the cost of a ticket is between 6 INR ($0.15 USD) and 22 INR ($0.60 USD), depending on your destination. If public transit in a country like India is an experience you’d rather forgo, hailing cabs and auto rickshaws shouldn’t stretch your budget out by much.
Day 1: Indian culture
Start your journey by jumping right into the heart of Old Delhi and assaulting your senses with a visit to Chandni Chowk, a 3,000-year-old market that’s one of the oldest, busiest and craziest shopping areas in Delhi. To cut straight into the throngs of this extremely congested but exhilarating street, take the metro to Chandni Chowk Station. Stroll about browsing in narrow lanes, but for a true slice of life in Old Delhi, turn off Chandni Chowk onto Khari Baoli and drop by Naya Bazar and Gadodia Bazar, the spice markets. Here you can revel in huge mountains of Indian spices weighed on iron scales and pick up bags of your favorites for next to nothing to add exotic new flavors to your barbecue sessions back home. Finish your visit to this quirky area with lunch at any of the vegetarian restaurants on Chandni Chowk, but don’t leave without polishing off your meal with a warm, freshly made jalabi (a bright orange Indian sweet fried in clarified butter, or ghee) from Haldiram’s.Get back on the metro and prepare for an afternoon of ancient Indian culture. From Chawri Bazar Station, you can walk to Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India. If you happen to be on the southeast side of Chandni Chowk, you can walk right up to the mosque as well. Public access is allowed during the day, except at prayer time. You’ll have to take your shoes off, but complying with this rule is almost one of the best parts of the experience. There’s something surreal about wandering around barefoot in an ancient mosque to take in the bird’s-eye view Jama Masjid offers of bustling Old Delhi.
After you get your shoes back, walk or take an auto rickshaw to the Red Fort, a structure originally constructed as a palace for one of the great Mughal emperors, Shah Jahan. This stop will probably be your last for the day in terms of sightseeing since it will take you several hours to make your way through all the splendors of the imperial apartments, balconies, bathhouses, white marble mosques, galleries, and gardens. Pay special attention to the ceilings here since many were originally ornately designed with silver and gold gilding and precious stones. A bit of imagination will be required, however, since various invaders did a good job of ruining significant portions of the fort. The Red Fort also played an important role in recent history when Jawaharlal Nehru first raised the Indian flag here in 1947 as India became an independent nation.
Flag a taxi next and dine in any of the fine restaurants lining Haus Khas village where many beautiful old houses have been turned into upscale boutiques and restaurants. If you can’t find anything you fancy for evening entertainment in Haus Khas, hop into a cab and cross the Yamuna River over to Centre Stage Mall in Noida. Here you can groove to trance beats from a state-of-the-art sound system at Elevate. There is a hefty cover charge, but it can be put toward drinks. This experience is well worth it; this club boasts one of the largest clubbing spaces in the country, with two floors and an eighth-floor outdoor terrace with phenomenal views of the city.
Day 2: A taste of history
From the Central Secretariat metro station, walk or take a quick ride in an auto rickshaw to IndiaIf you can manage to tear yourself away from the Old Fort and break for lunch, head to Dilli Haat, an open-air market for pedestrians where you can sample dishes from all over India, including mouthwatering Goan prawn curry, biryanais, dosas, and many more tempting Indian delights. Follow your delicious meal with a stop at Humayun’s Tomb on Mathura Road. A forerunner of the Taj Mahal, this tomb is Delhi’s most impressive. Built in 1565 by the wife of the emperor Humayun to commemorate his death, the gardens and watercourses are amazing and the tomb itself can only be described as magnificent. What’s even better, though, is the freedom you’ll have to investigate all the ins and outs of the complex of buildings on this ancient site.
It will probably be close to dinner once you get through with Humayun’s Tomb, so take a quick ride over to Greater Kailash I. This area is home to some of the more trendy shops in Delhi, and also a plethora of pubs and restaurants. Spend your evening chilling out at Shalom, a lounge bar filled with Delhi’s most beautiful people where you can consume delectable nibbles, smoke hookah and relax in the bar’s amply padded chairs and couches.
Gate, which commemorates the 90,000 Indian soldiers who died in the Afghan War of 1919 and World War I. Take a stroll from India Gate to the parliament buildings to get a flavor of more modern Indian architecture. Move on from here to the Old Fort, aptly named since it’s the oldest historical landmark in the city. Erected in the early 16th century, this monument has since witnessed empires come and go and is famed for its mix of Mughal, Hindu and Afghan architecture.
Day 3: Shop ‘til you drop
You’ll need to start your day out early and, if possible, arrange transport the night before with your hotel to the Qutab Minar. Advance preparation is necessary since you’ll spend several hours visiting this attraction and it’s not as close to the city center as many other popular destinations. This massive, mind-blowing architectural feat built in the 12th century is five stories high, with the top two portions done in marble. The tower’s original purpose was to announce battle victories and call believers to prayer. The Qutab Minar also features intricate carvings the whole way up its seriously impressive height. Be warned: So high is the Qutab Minar, it’s almost impossible to fit it into a camera frame without taking your picture at a distance from an angle. To the right of the tower, you’ll see Alai Darwaza, a fascinating entranceway to what was once a mosque.Go back toward downtown and the Rajeev Chowk Station to get some shopping done and a decent lunch. This area is now officially known as Rajeev Chowk, but is still often referred to by both locals and tourists as Connaught Circus. If you like to read, consider picking up some books here since books tend to be less costly in India than they are back home. Also, should you want to bring back souvenirs from Delhi in the form of unique home furnishings, visit Cottage Emporium, where gorgeous statues, rugs, furniture, and accessories await you at fixed prices. You’ll find more shopping at Janpath market, though both Connaught Circus and Janpath are very touristy. Do pick up some dressy-looking leather sandals in Janpath -- yes, you'll probably get ripped off while attempting to bargain for them, but they’ll still be much cheaper, not to mention cooler looking, than the ones you can buy at home.
From Janpath, walk about a quarter of a kilometer north to Jantar Mantar, one of the world’s oldest astronomical observatories, commissioned in 1724 by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur. This site contains clever stone instruments for tracking time that were given as a gift from the Maharaja to the Mogul emperor Muhammad Shah. Another Hindu site worth visiting in the area is Lakshmi Narayan Mandir, a temple dedicated to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, built in 1938 by a rich merchant. Vast, colorful and stunningly elaborate, this marble temple also sits on the grounds of ancient hot sprigs, which are actually still used by devotees for bathing. Lakshmi Narayan is a great introduction to Hinduism since you can watch priests engaged in prayer rituals and traditional practices, as well as learn about the various gods of this religion.
Take your dinner at Haveli at the Taj Mahal Hotel on Mansingh Road. The décor is sumptuous and the food superb, making this restaurant a worthwhile place to sample northern Indian cuisine. Tantalize your taste buds with the Maharaja thali, a dish featuring samples of spicy lamb, masala chicken, tandoori prawns, dals, and mixed vegetables. Of course, no trip to India would be complete without a visit to the movies, so check out a Bollywood film at the Plaza. The costumes and beguilingly beautiful Indian actresses will more than make up for the fact that you can’t understand it.
tips for the trip
- Don’t give money to beggars unless you want to be mobbed, particularly at tourist attractions. There is no shortage of poverty in Delhi, and while it can be crushing to witness (particularly when its victims are small children), the best thing to do to avoid being surrounded by people is to bring along some fruit to hand out instead.
- Drink bottled water and avoid eating street food. Eat food on the street only if you know the vendor is reputable or you’re quite sure about the hygienic standards of the food.
- When engaging the services of taxi drivers, auto and cycle rickshaw drivers, baggage handlers, or anyone else offering their assistance for a fee, make sure you do your bargaining and settle on a price prior to accepting the service. Otherwise you could end up forking out unreasonable amounts of cash.
- Toilet and bathroom arrangements may be different than what you’re used to, so be open-minded as long as everything’s clean.
- Don’t bother with getting any medical shots or taking antimalarial medication unless you’re a hypochondriac or you plan on spending some time in the jungle.
doing delhi
Delhi has a dizzying number of historical sites, shopping venues and entertainment centers. Though your three-day whirlwind tour may leave you pleasantly exhausted, you’ll soon be trying to arrange your next trip back to this enchanting city that effectively mixes the old with the new and the ancient with the cosmopolitan.Resources:
New Delhi Travel Guide
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