Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim · GFDL 1.2
Best: Oct–Mar
Delhi has been a capital, on and off, for a thousand years, and the evidence is scattered across it like furniture in a house nobody finishes moving into. Start at the Qutub Minar in Mehrauli, a 73-metre sandstone tower begun in 1199, with a rust-free iron pillar from the Gupta age standing in its courtyard. Move on through Siri, Tughlaqabad and Firoz Shah Kotla and you cross three Sultanate cities in an afternoon.
Humayun's Tomb, finished in 1572, is the garden tomb that the Taj Mahal later perfected; go at four in the afternoon when the red sandstone warms and the parakeets come out. A few hundred metres away, in the lanes of Nizamuddin Basti, the Sufi saint's dargah fills with qawwali on Thursday evenings, and Amir Khusrau's verses are sung where they were written. Shahjahanabad, the walled city Shah Jahan built in 1648, still runs on its old grid: the Red Fort at one end of Chandni Chowk, Jama Masjid's steps above the kebab smoke of Matia Mahal, wedding-card printers in Chawri Bazaar.
Then Lutyens' New Delhi opens out, all lawns and jamun trees, with Rashtrapati Bhavan on Raisina Hill and India Gate at the far end of Kartavya Path. A good day here is a morning heritage walk, lunch in Old Delhi, an hour in the National Museum or Lodhi Garden, and dinner in Khan Market or Hauz Khas. Winter is the season: fog, shawls, roasted peanuts and daulat ki chaat, a whipped-milk sweet that appears only when the nights are cold.
Best Oct–Mar
October to March; winter fog can delay flights in late December and January.
Give Delhi 3 days and it repays the time; with fewer you are choosing between Humayun's Tomb in late-afternoon light and Qutub Minar and the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. We build the hours around the weather — early starts when it is hot, long afternoons when it is not.
On the ground
The days we would actually plan for you, in the order that suits the light.
At the table
VegetarianDelhi
Slow-cooked chickpeas darkened with tea and dry mango, served with a balloon of fried bhatura, raw onion, green chilli and pickle. Delhi eats it for breakfast, most famously at Sita Ram Diwan Chand in Paharganj and at the Kamla Nagar stalls, always with a glass of sweet or salted lassi.
Non-vegDelhi
Tandoori chicken finished in a tomato gravy loosened with butter and cream, invented at Moti Mahal in Daryaganj by Punjabi cooks who came to Delhi after Partition. It is mild, faintly sweet, and meant to be eaten with naan or rumali roti rather than rice. Order half a plate and share.
Getting there
Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) is India's busiest hub; New Delhi, Old Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin and Anand Vihar are the main railway stations, and Agra is 230 km away by the Yamuna Expressway.
Airport pickups, station transfers and the driver for the days here are all part of what we arrange — including the hour you should leave, which is usually earlier than you think.
Next door
Places that join Delhi without a long drive — the way a real week is built.
HeritageUttar Pradesh
The Taj at dawn, and a city that outlives it
TempleUttar Pradesh
Krishna's birthplace and the groves where he played
CityRajasthan
Pink-walled planned city of astronomers, jewellers and Rajput kings
TempleHaryana
The battlefield where the Bhagavad Gita was spoken
WildlifeRajasthan
Aravalli tiger reserve with hill forts, lakes and a cursed ruin
3 journeys
6 days · 5 nightsEasy · Best Oct–Mar
Delhi's tombs, Agra's marble and Jaipur's pink grid in six days
Route: Delhi → Agra → Fatehpur Sikri → Jaipur
18 days · 17 nightsModerate · Best Oct–Nov
Eighteen days up the spine of India, from the cape to the valley
Route: Kanyakumari → Madurai → Hampi → Hyderabad +6 more
21 days · 20 nightsModerate · Best Nov–Feb
Three weeks down the whole length of India, Delhi to Chennai
Route: Delhi → Agra → Jaipur → Udaipur +6 more
From the journal
· Food · 6 min
A working eater's route through ten Indian cities, from Chandni Chowk at dawn to Indore's Sarafa Bazaar at midnight. One anchor dish per city, the lanes and stalls that make it, what it costs, and how to eat street food without losing a day.
· Tips · 6 min
Everything we tell first-time travellers before they land: how many places to attempt, what a SIM card and a day of cash actually cost, how to eat street food safely, what to wear into a temple, and the four scams worth recognising.
· Itinerary · 5 min
A day-by-day plan for Delhi, Agra and Jaipur that fixes the two mistakes most first trips make: too little time in Delhi and too much time on the Agra to Jaipur road. Includes ticket prices, closing days and drive times.
Before you ask
Photograph of Delhi: Muhammad Mahdi Karim · GFDL 1.2
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