🇮🇳 Delhi

Overview

Delhi is India's capital territory and one of the largest urban areas on earth, with over 32 million people in the wider region. It is really several cities stacked on one another: at least seven historic capitals have stood here, from the Delhi Sultanate onward, and the British added New Delhi's wide colonial avenues in 1911. Old Delhi and New Delhi sit side by side and feel like different centuries, twenty minutes apart by metro.

Monuments & culture

• Humayun's Tomb — The Mughal garden tomb that was the architectural rehearsal for the Taj Mahal, built in 1570. Calmer and far less crowded than the bigger names, and beautiful in late afternoon light.
• Red Fort & Jama Masjid — The Mughal emperors' sandstone fortress-palace, facing India's largest mosque across Old Delhi. Climb the Jama Masjid minaret for a view over the rooftops of Chandni Chowk.
• Qutb Minar — A 73-metre victory tower from 1193, the tallest brick minaret in the world, beside an iron pillar that has resisted rust for 1,600 years and still puzzles metallurgists.

Things to do

• Chandni Chowk by rickshaw — The 17th-century market street of Old Delhi, impossibly dense, with lanes specialising in spices, silver, wedding saris and paper. A cycle rickshaw is the only sane way through.
• Lodhi Gardens & Hauz Khas — Ninety acres of parkland scattered with 15th-century tombs, full of joggers and parakeets at dawn. Hauz Khas pairs a medieval reservoir and ruins with bars and boutiques.
• Day trip: Agra — The Taj Mahal is about two hours by express train. Go for sunrise, when the marble changes colour and the crowds are thinnest, and return the same evening.

Gastronomy