Delhi (दिल्ली — both the city of New Delhi (the colonial-era capital, designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker (1911–1931)) and the National Capital Territory of Delhi (33 million people, the largest urban area in India and the second largest in the world after Tokyo)) is the most historically layered city in Asia: the site of eight successive capitals of the Indian subcontinent, from the Tomara Rajput city of the 8th century through the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526), the Mughal Empire (1526–1857) and the British Raj (1858–1947) — each leaving monuments that still stand: Qutb Minar (the tallest brick minaret in the world (72.5m), 1193 AD), Humayun's Tomb (the first garden tomb in the Mughal tradition, 1572 AD — the design that inspired the Taj Mahal), the Red Fort (Lal Qila — the Mughal palace complex built by Shah Jahan in 1648), India Gate (the war memorial of 1931 by Lutyens) and the Parliament of India. Old Delhi (Shahjahanabad — the walled city built by Shah Jahan in 1648, still densely inhabited with the same street pattern) is the most intense and overwhelming urban environment in the world: the Chandni Chowk (the silver bazaar, once the most extravagant market in all of Asia), the Jama Masjid (the largest mosque in India), and the spice market of Khari Baoli (the largest spice market in Asia) in a single square kilometer.
Jama Masjid (جامع مسجد — the Mosque of the World-Reflecting Mosque, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in 1644–1656: the largest mosque in India, capacity 25,000 (the largest gathering in one place in Delhi for Friday prayers), the three great bulbous white marble domes flanked by two 40m sandstone minarets (the climb to the south minaret (for a fee) gives the finest view of Old Delhi below). Across the forecourt Shah Jahan built the Red Fort simultaneously — the mosque and the palace facing each other across the same square. Open to non-Muslim visitors outside prayer times.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLal Qila (लाल क़िला — the Red Fort, 1648, UNESCO World Heritage: the massive red sandstone walls (33m high, 2.4km perimeter) enclosing the Mughal palace complex of Emperor Shah Jahan — the same emperor who built the Taj Mahal. The Diwan-i-Am (the Hall of Public Audience — the enormous open hall where the emperor received his subjects, the peacock throne originally placed here before being looted by Nadir Shah of Persia in 1739), the Diwan-i-Khas (the Hall of Private Audience — where the marble throne with the inscription "If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this" is carved), and the Rang Mahal (Palace of Colors — the zenana (women's quarters) with the marble lotus fountain at the center).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideChandni Chowk (चाँदनी चौक — "Moonlit Intersection" — the great bazaar of Shahjahanabad, laid out by Shah Jahan's daughter Jahanara Begum in 1648: the central road runs from the Red Fort to the Fatehpuri Mosque (the west end), and the 12 parallel and perpendicular markets (Khari Baoli (the largest spice market in Asia), Kinari Bazaar (the wedding decoration market), Dariba Kalan (the silver market)) branch from the main road. Navigate by cycle rickshaw (the pedal-powered rickshaw — the only practical vehicle for the alleys of Chandni Chowk, ₹100–200 for the circuit) and stop at the Sisganj Gurdwara (the Sikh temple where Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded by Aurangzeb in 1675).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideParathe Wali Gali (परांठे वाली गली — "The Alley of Parathas" — a single 100m alley in Chandni Chowk where three restaurants (Kanwarji, Gaya Prasad Shiv Charan and Pt. Babu Ram) have been serving stuffed parathas (the thick, layered, whole-wheat flatbread, here stuffed with: paneer (fresh cheese), rabri (sweetened condensed milk), potato and spice, black gram (dal), dried fruit and nut — a list of 20 fillings still using recipes unchanged since 1875) continuously for 150 years. The parathas are cooked on a huge iron tawa (the flat griddle), finished in clarified butter and served with three chutneys.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideButter chicken (Murgh Makhani — the dish invented by Kundan Lal Gujral and Kundan Lal Jaggi at Moti Mahal restaurant in Daryaganj, Delhi, in 1947: the story (disputed but widely accepted) is that leftover tandoori chicken was added to a sauce of tomato, butter and cream to prevent it drying out — the resulting dish became the most internationally recognized Indian dish in the world. The original Moti Mahal restaurant (3704 Daryaganj, Netaji Subash Marg — the street directly south of the Red Fort, ₹600–1,000 for a full meal) is a pilgrimage for the dish's creation story.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideHumayun's Tomb (हुमायूं का मक़बरा — UNESCO World Heritage, 1572 — the mausoleum of Mughal Emperor Humayun, commissioned by his widow Bega Begum: the first true charbagh (the Persian "four-garden" tomb garden, divided by water channels into four quadrants symbolizing the four rivers of paradise) in the Mughal tradition, and the direct architectural precursor to the Taj Mahal (built 90 years later). The red sandstone and white marble double dome (the first double dome in India — an inner dome at a human scale and an outer dome for visual impact from outside), the octagonal plan (also the first in India) and the precise charbagh garden are the three innovations of Humayun's Tomb that the Taj Mahal perfected.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Qutb Minar complex (UNESCO World Heritage — the first mosque in India (Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, 1193 — "the Might of Islam" — built using the columns of 27 demolished Hindu and Jain temples, the Hindu and Jain carvings still visible on the columns), the 72.5m Qutb Minar (the victory tower of Qutb ud-Din Aibak, 1193 — the tallest minaret in the world built before the 20th century), the Iron Pillar of Delhi (the 7m iron pillar cast in the 4th–5th century (Gupta period) — it has not rusted in 1,600 years despite standing in open air, the corrosion-resistant alloy remaining a metallurgical mystery), and the Tomb of Iltutmish (the exquisite red sandstone tomb with geometric arabesques).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLodi Garden (the 90-acre park in the heart of New Delhi, containing the tombs of the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties (15th–16th century): the Mohammed Shah's Tomb (1444), the Shish Gumbad ("Glass Dome" — 1489, the dome finished with blue-green ceramic tiles), the Bada Gumbad ("Large Dome" — 1494) and the Sikandar Lodi's Tomb (1517) scattered in a carefully maintained English-style garden park. The joggers, the yoga practitioners and the families who use Lodi Garden daily seem entirely comfortable sharing their park with 600-year-old tombs — the most civilized coexistence of ancient monuments and urban leisure in the world.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideIndian Accent (The Lodhi Hotel, Lodi Road — consistently ranked in the World's 50 Best Restaurants list, the finest modern Indian restaurant in the world: chef Manish Mehrotra's menu takes traditional Indian recipes and flavor profiles and elevates them with French and global techniques. The signature dishes: the doda barfi treacle tart (the Indian milk fudge as the pastry cream in a Breton pastry shell), the duck kulcha (the stuffed flatbread with slow-braised duck) and the meetha achaar pork ribs (the pork ribs with sweet pickled mango). Book at least 3–4 weeks in advance.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideIndia Gate (42m, Edwin Lutyens, 1931 — the war memorial to the 84,000 Indian soldiers who died in WWI and the Third Anglo-Afghan War, the names of 13,516 carved on the sandstone: the great axial boulevard of Rajpath (now Kartavya Path) stretches from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhavan (the President's Palace) 3km away, past the North and South Secretariat buildings (Herbert Baker's colonnaded offices of the Government of India), the Parliament of India and the Supreme Court. Lutyens designed New Delhi as an imperial city to last 1,000 years — India had it for 16 (independence was 1947)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNational Museum of India (Janpath — the largest museum in India (220,000 objects): the Harappan civilization gallery (the 5,000-year-old seals, the "Dancing Girl" bronze (2500 BC — the most famous artifact of the Indus Valley Civilization, a 10.8cm bronze of a girl in a contrapposto stance with a necklace and bangles, technically sophisticated beyond any bronze of the same period anywhere)), the Buddhist art gallery (the Gandharan sculptures (1st–5th century AD — the Greek-influenced Buddhist art of ancient Gandhara (modern Pakistan/Afghanistan), where Alexander the Great's influence is visible in the Greek facial features of the Buddha), the Deccani miniature paintings and the Mughal arms and armor collection.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideKhan Market (the most expensive retail real estate in India, serving the diplomatic enclave of New Delhi: the leafy market with bookshops, wine bars, organic café and the finest chaat (the savory Indian street snack tradition) at Natraj Dahi Bhalla Wala (the dahi bhalla — the lentil dumpling in yogurt with tamarind chutney and chaat masala, one of the defining textures of Delhi street food) directly beside the upscale restaurants. The most eclectic retail experience in Delhi: a New York used bookshop beside a French wine bar beside a chaat cart.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideHauz Khas Village (the medieval water reservoir (hauz khas = "royal tank") built by Alauddin Khalji (1305) and the 14th-century madrasa and tomb complex, surrounded by the bohemian boutique and restaurant village of the modern South Delhi arts community: the tomb and ruins overlooking the lake at night, the boutiques and bars of the village behind, and the kulfi (the Indian ice cream — denser, richer and more intensely flavored than European ice cream, traditionally set in terracotta cups: the pistachio-saffron kulfi from the Hauz Khas Village kulfi wala is the finest way to end the evening in Delhi.
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