INDIA UNFOLDEDYour first guide, on us

City guide · The Yamuna plain, Delhi

Delhi

The Seven Cities

In 60 seconds

Seven cities were built here before New Delhi, each on the ruins of the last — Delhi is India's past stacked on its present, and you can walk through all of it in four days.

Tomar and Chauhan Rajputs, five Sultanate dynasties, the Mughals at their height, the British at theirs: every power that ruled northern India built a capital on this stretch of the Yamuna and left its walls standing. Today the National Capital Territory holds about 22.7 million people (the wider agglomeration around 30 million on the UN's latest count), runs on a Metro that reaches almost every monument, and is loud, polluted in winter, generous at its gurudwaras and astonishing at dawn. Come October to March, give it three or four days, and start at Humayun's Tomb when the gates open.

Founded

c. 1052 · 1639 · 1931

Lal Kot · Shahjahanabad · New Delhi

Best months

Oct – Mar

Nov–Jan mornings can be smog-grey

Give it

3 – 4 days

Old Delhi, the Sultanate south, Lutyens' centre

Fly into

DEL

Airport Express to New Delhi station in 20 min

01

The Story, in Six Acts

The full telling lives in the guide

I

INDRAPRASTHA · LEGEND

The Mahabharata's Pandava capital is placed by tradition at Purana Qila, and Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari calls Delhi 'originally Indrapat'. Archaeology finds Painted Grey Ware under the fort from around 1100–500 BCE — the epic age's pottery — but no city to match the poem. Legend, with a real layer beneath it.

II

THE SULTANATE CITIES · 1052–1398

Anangpal Tomar raised Lal Kot around 1052; Prithviraj Chauhan lost it at Tarain in 1192. Qutbu'd-Din Aibak laid the Qutb Minar's foundation in 1199 (ASI's date; others say 1193) and founded the Delhi Sultanate in 1206. Then the cities came one after another — Alauddin's Siri against the Mongols, Tughlaqabad in 1321, Jahanpanah, Firuz Shah's Firozabad in 1354 — each abandoning the last.

III

SHAHJAHANABAD · 1533–1739

Humayun began Dinpanah in 1533, died on its library stairs in 1556, and got the first great Mughal garden-tomb. Shah Jahan laid out a new capital from 1639: the Red Fort (1648), Jama Masjid (1650–56), and Chandni Chowk — his daughter Jahanara's design, around a canal whose moonlit pool named it. In 1739 Nadir Shah's Persians killed tens of thousands in a day and left with the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor.

IV

1857

The siege guns opened on 8 September; John Nicholson fell in the assault from Kashmere Gate, aged 34; the city was retaken by the 21st after a week of street fighting. Bahadur Shah Zafar surrendered at Humayun's Tomb; his sons were shot at Khooni Darwaza; the last Mughal died in exile in Rangoon in 1862. Mughal Delhi ended where it had begun — at a tomb.

V

THE IMPERIAL CAPITAL · 1911–1947

At the Durbar of December 1911 George V moved the capital from Calcutta. Lutyens and Baker built the new city by 1931; India Gate carries some 13,300 names of the war dead. Toward midnight on 14 August 1947 Nehru spoke of a tryst with destiny in Parliament House; on 30 January 1948 Gandhi was shot in the garden of Birla House.

VI

THE MEGACITY · 1947 —

Partition brought close to half a million refugees in weeks; Purana Qila and Humayun's Tomb became camps. The city that absorbed them grew into one of the largest on earth — a Metro from 2002, Kartavya Path from 2022, a winter smog now part of its calendar. The seven cities are still there, underneath.

Look Closer™ · Humayun's Tomb

Stand here. Look for this.

What the plaques won’t tell you — and where to stand to see it for yourself.

01← LOOK HERE

Outside Humayun's Tomb's east wall

The blue dome nobody visits

A Persian-tiled blue dome, Nila Gumbad, just beyond the enclosure.

WHY IT MATTERSSaid to hold the grave of Miyan Fahim, a servant of the nobleman Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan — though the dome may be older than Humayun's Tomb itself. A tomb for a servant beside an emperor's; most visitors never reach it.

02← LOOK HERE

Qutb complex · the courtyard of the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque

A pillar that won't rust

A 7-metre iron pillar, 1,600 years old, with a Sanskrit inscription in Brahmi.

WHY IT MATTERSRaised for a king 'Chandra' — Chandragupta II, most scholars say — and almost pure wrought iron (assays give 98–99.7 per cent). Its phosphorus-rich surface forms a protective layer that has kept it from rusting through sixteen centuries of monsoons. The railing stops the old backwards-hug for luck.

03← LOOK HERE

Red Fort · Diwan-i-Khas, the corner arches below the cornice

Paradise, carved three times

A Persian couplet in gold on marble.

WHY IT MATTERS'If there be paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this' — the couplet usually credited to Amir Khusrau, though it appears in none of his works — carved where the Peacock Throne stood until Nadir Shah took it to Persia in 1739.

04← LOOK HERE

Khooni Darwaza, on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg near Feroz Shah Kotla

The bloody gate

A Sher Shah-era gateway on a traffic island.

WHY IT MATTERSIn the days after the city fell — 21 or 22 September 1857, the sources split — William Hodson shot the three Mughal princes he had taken prisoner here. The name may be older; this is the story it keeps.

05← LOOK HERE

India Gate · the sandstone canopy behind the arch

The empty canopy

A 28-foot black granite Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose under a canopy built for a king.

WHY IT MATTERSGeorge V's statue stood here until 1968; the canopy then stayed empty for fifty-four years — a republic unsure what to put in an emperor's place — until Bose's statue was installed on 8 September 2022, the day Rajpath became Kartavya Path.

The India Unfolded edit

02

What to See

Ranked — do them in this order

Humayun's Tomb

UNMISSABLE

The first great Mughal garden-tomb (begun in the 1560s; ASI says 1569) and the model for the Taj — red sandstone and white marble in a four-part Persian garden, restored over six years to 2013. Go at opening; the light on the west gate is the arrival photograph.

≈ ₹600 foreign (₹550 online) · Indian ≈ ₹40 · sunrise – sunsetFees & timings →

Qutb Minar complex

UNMISSABLE

A 73-metre victory tower begun in 1199 by the first Sultan, a mosque built from 27 temples, the rustless iron pillar, and the stump of a rival minar that was meant to be twice as tall. Late afternoon for the light on the fluting.

≈ ₹600 foreign (₹550 online) · Indian ≈ ₹40–50 · sunrise – 20:00

Red Fort

Shah Jahan's palace-fortress (1639–48): the Lahori Gate barbican, the marble pavilions along the river wall, the dry channel of the Stream of Paradise. Closed Mondays; the sound-and-light show runs every evening but Monday.

≈ ₹600 foreign (₹550 online) · Indian ≈ ₹40–50 · closed Mon

Jama Masjid & Chandni Chowk

India's great congregational mosque (1650–56), its courtyard built for 25,000, and the princess-designed avenue below it — Kinari Bazaar, Dariba Kalan, Paranthe Wali Gali, Khari Baoli's spice sacks. Climb the south minaret for the Red Fort view.

Mosque: foreign ≈ ₹400, verify · minaret ≈ ₹100 · Chandni Chowk free, Sundays dead

Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah

The shrine of the fourteenth-century Sufi saint who told a sultan 'Delhi is still far' — and the Thursday-night qawwali after sunset prayers that is Delhi's most moving hour. Head covered; shoes at the stall.

Free · qawwali Thursdays after maghrib (≈ 18:00–19:00 winter)

Lodi Gardens

Fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century tombs of the last Sultanate dynasties in a 1936 English park — Delhi's lungs, joggers and picnics between the domes. The golden-hour walk.

Free · 06:00 – 20:00

FEES REVIEWED · AUGUST 2026≈ marks values that move. Spot a change on the ground? Tell us — we fix it in days.

If you want to go deeper

Also worth your time

Do the edit above first. This is the next tier — genuinely worthwhile, honestly described, ≈ where facts move.

Mehrauli Archaeological Park

A hundred monuments in scrub beside the Qutb: Jamali Kamali's painted tomb, Rajon ki Baoli, a Mughal noble's tomb that a Victorian turned into a weekend house. The quiet half-day the bus tours skip.

≈ ₹200 foreign · Indian ₹50 (DDA, from Mar 2025) · sunrise – sunset

Purana Qila

The sixth city — Humayun's and Sher Shah's fort on the Indraprastha mound, with the library stairs that killed an emperor.

≈ ₹300 foreign · Indian ≈ ₹25 · 07:00 – 17:00

Safdarjung's Tomb

The last great Mughal garden-tomb (1754), usually empty — the whole Humayun's Tomb idea, a century later and a little tired.

≈ ₹300 foreign · Indian ≈ ₹25 · sunrise – sunset

Jantar Mantar

Sawai Jai Singh II's first masonry observatory (c. 1724), the prototype for Jaipur's. Worth an hour with the guide's notes.

≈ ₹300 foreign · Indian ≈ ₹25 · sunrise – sunset

Sunder Nursery

The restored Mughal garden beside Humayun's Tomb — lakes, tombs, a nursery and the best picnic in the city.

≈ ₹200 foreign · Indian ₹50 · 07:00 – 22:00, last entry ≈ 21:00

Agrasen ki Baoli

A 103-step stepwell between office towers on Hailey Road — Tughlaq-era fabric, medieval geometry, free.

Free · ≈ 09:00 – 17:30

Gurudwara Bangla Sahib

The Sikh shrine by Connaught Place whose kitchen feeds thousands a day, free, to anyone. Cover your head; eat with everyone.

Free · 24 h · langar ≈ 09:00–15:00, 19:00–22:00

India Gate & Kartavya Path

Lutyens' war memorial (1931) and the ceremonial axis — floodlit at dusk, full of families and balloon-sellers.

Free · 24 h

Akshardham

The vast 2005 temple complex on the Yamuna's east bank — no phones or cameras inside, a cloakroom at the gate.

Temple free · exhibitions ≈ ₹250 · closed Mon

National Museum

The national collection on Janpath — the Harappan gallery and the bronzes; its move to the new Central Vista museum is planned, so check it is still open.

≈ ₹650 foreign · Indian ₹20 · closed Mon · verify status

Lotus Temple

The Bahá'í house of worship of 1986 — 27 marble petals, silence inside, closed Mondays.

Free · 09:00 – 17:30 · closed Mon

If you have more time

Tughlaqabadthe third city's colossal walls on the Mehrauli–Badarpur road — cursed by a saint, abandoned within years (≈ ₹300 foreign)

Hauz KhasAlauddin's reservoir and Firuz Shah's madrasa beside the café village (≈ ₹300 foreign, ₹250 online)

Coronation Parkwhere three Durbars were held and George V's statue ended up

Feroz Shah Kotlathe fifth city, an Ashokan pillar hauled on 42 wheels, and Thursday letters to the djinns

Raj GhatGandhi's memorial on the river, 05:00–19:30

Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum₹50 online, Tue–Sun; the gardens open in February

Dilli Haat INAthe crafts bazaar with every state's food stall (₹30 / foreigners ₹100)

03

Off the Beaten Path

Where Delhi stops being a monument circuit and shows you the cities underneath the city.

Jamali Kamali, Mehrauli

A Sufi poet's mosque and painted tomb of the 1520s, inside the archaeological park. Who 'Kamali' was — disciple, companion, brother — nobody knows; the ceiling is the best in the park.

Nicholson Cemetery, Kashmere Gate

Delhi's oldest Christian cemetery still in use (1857), 2,400 graves under trees, and the brigadier who died taking the city. Daylight only; free.

Majnu ka Tilla

The Tibetan colony on the Yamuna, settled after 1959 — momos, monasteries, a gurudwara named for a Sufi who met Guru Nanak here.

Lodhi Art District

India's first open-air public-art district, painted across Lodhi Colony's 1940s blocks by some fifty artists since 2015. Walk it between Khanna and Meherchand markets.

Sanjay Van

A city forest of some 780 acres with the surviving ramparts of the first Delhi, Lal Kot, running through it. Free, daylight, take a friend.

Hauz Khas ruins at dusk

The fourteenth-century madrasa steps down to Alauddin's tank — the café village's noise behind you, the Sultanate in front.

The Shot List™ · our creative direction for Delhi

Thousands of photos. Not one memory.

Most travelers come home with hundreds of photographs and no real story. The Shot List is our creative direction for the city: twelve moments, in the order that tells the story of Delhi — and for each one, exactly where to take it, what to focus on and how. No photography ability required. If you can follow five steps, you can bring home the book.

The Delhi direction, frame by frame — the example photographs are in production.

01 · WHERE TO TAKE IT

The exact place and the hour the light is right — named, not hinted.

02 · WHAT TO FOCUS ON

What goes in the frame, where your family stands, what stays out.

03 · HOW TO TAKE IT

Which way to hold the phone, what to tap, when to press. Five plain steps.

Humayun's Tomb at opening

WHERE
Humayun's Tomb, the west gate threshold, at sunrise
FOCUS
The dome framed by the gate's arch; your family in the gateway, looking in
HOW
Stand in the gate's shade, phone upright, centred on the arch

Isa Khan's garden

WHERE
Isa Khan's tomb enclosure, just inside Humayun's Tomb's main gate, first half hour
FOCUS
The octagonal tomb; one child on the path ahead
HOW
Phone sideways, low, the path leading to the tomb

Chandni Chowk waking

WHERE
Kinari Bazaar or Dariba Kalan, Old Delhi, 9–11am
FOCUS
The lane receding under the wires; your family walking ahead
HOW
Phone upright, from the lane's centre, let them walk

Khari Baoli from above

WHERE
The Gadodia Market rooftop, Khari Baoli, 11am–1pm
FOCUS
The courtyard of sacks below; the minaret skyline beyond; your family at the parapet
HOW
Phone sideways, shoot down into the courtyard, then out

Jama Masjid from above

WHERE
Jama Masjid's south minaret, between prayer times
FOCUS
The courtyard below and the Red Fort beyond; your family at the minaret's rail
HOW
Climb the 130-odd steps; phone sideways at the top

Jama Masjid's east steps

WHERE
Jama Masjid's east gate steps, after the climb
FOCUS
The steps sweeping up; your family seated on them
HOW
Phone upright from the bottom step, looking up

Qutb in the late light

WHERE
The Qutb complex, the Quwwat-ul-Islam colonnade, 3–4:30pm in winter
FOCUS
The minar framed through an arch; your family beneath the columns
HOW
Phone upright, from inside the colonnade, tap on the minar

Lodi Gardens at golden hour

WHERE
Lodi Gardens, the south lawn before Bara Gumbad, the last hour of light
FOCUS
The dome in the low sun; your family on the lawn in front
HOW
Phone sideways, low, from the lawn

Agrasen ki Baoli

WHERE
Agrasen ki Baoli, Hailey Road, harsh midday
FOCUS
The steps descending on the axis; your family at the top
HOW
Phone upright, centred, shoot down the axis

India Gate at blue hour

WHERE
Kartavya Path's south lawns, 200 m west of the arch, at blue hour
FOCUS
The floodlit arch with the canopy behind; your family on the lawn in front
HOW
Phone sideways, brace, tap on the arch

Nizamuddin's qawwali

WHERE
Hazrat Nizamuddin dargah, Thursday after maghrib
FOCUS
The singers in the lamplight; the crowd; your family at its edge
HOW
Night mode, no flash, head covered, stay at the back

The mosque, lit

WHERE
A rooftop on Matia Mahal or Urdu Bazar facing Jama Masjid, after dark
FOCUS
The lit domes and minarets; the edge of your table below
HOW
Rest the phone on the table, night mode on

All twelve, with the standing position, the light window and the steps for each, are inside The Delhi Guide and on the Delhi Shot List. These aren’t photography tips. These twelve photographs become your book.

COMING NEXTGuide My Shot — a creative director in your hand. Stand where it says and it finds the light, the position and the frame for you, for anyone who wants the thinking taken out of the picture. You can do it without it, if you’re good at following instructions.

Plan Delhi

The questions everyone asks, answered properly

04

Watch Out For

AT THE STATION

"The tourist office is closed"

It isn't. The International Tourist Bureau is on the first floor of New Delhi station, Paharganj side — the railway's own sign says so. Climb the stairs.

CONNAUGHT PLACE

The "Government Tourist Office"

Private agencies in CP and around the station's gates dress as official. The Government of India tourist office is at 88 Janpath and nowhere else.

THE SHOE

Muck on your shoe

Something lands on your shoe; a helpful stranger notices; a shoe-shiner appears and wants ₹1,500. Walk on in dirty shoes.

THE TAXI

"Your hotel has burned down"

A driver's detour to a commission hotel or a fake office. Use the police prepaid booth, keep the slip until you arrive.

05

What It Costs

PRICES REVIEWED · AUGUST 2026

ASI fees are the schedule shown on official pages in 2026; online tickets are ₹5 (Indian) and ₹50 (foreign) cheaper than the counter. Street prices are typical ranges, not quotes.

$1 ≈ ₹84

Humayun's Tomb / Qutb / Red Fort — foreign≈ ₹600 counter · ₹550 online
The same — Indian / SAARC≈ ₹40–50 counter · ₹35 online
Category B monuments (Purana Qila, Safdarjung, Jantar Mantar) — foreign≈ ₹300 · ₹250 online
Metro, any ride₹11 – 64 · 1-day tourist card ₹200
Airport Express, T3 → New Delhi≈ ₹60 · 20 min
Airport prepaid taxi to the centre≈ ₹500 – 900, ask the booth for the slip
Kebabs at Karim's, per dish≈ ₹300 – 600
Two paranthas, Paranthe Wali Gali≈ ₹140
06

What to Bring Home

Spices from Khari BaoliAsia's biggest wholesale spice market — buy by the hundred grams from a retail stall, not the sacks
Dilli Haat craftsevery state's handicraft under one roof, fixed-ish prices
Old Delhi silver and zariDariba Kalan for silver, Kinari Bazaar for wedding trim
Khadithe Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan on Connaught Place — Gandhi's cloth, honest prices
BooksBahrisons in Khan Market, the Sunday book market on the Daryaganj pavements
07

Getting Around

Metrothe fastest way to every monument — Yellow for Qutb and CP, Violet for the Red Fort and Jama Masjid, Pink for Nizamuddin
Airport ExpressT3 to New Delhi station in about 20 minutes, 05:00–23:00
Autos & app cabsapps show the meter-equivalent; agree or use the meter before moving
Cycle-rickshawthe only sane vehicle inside Chandni Chowk's lanes — agree ₹50–100 for a short hop
Trains outGatimaan to Agra in 100 minutes (not Fridays); the Ajmer Shatabdi to Jaipur in under five hours

The full guide

Everything above is the appetizer.

The 32-page Delhi guide adds the full story of the seven cities with a dated timeline, the Humayun's Tomb feature, checklist itineraries, the Shahjahanabad first-light walk, and the 12-frame Shot List — designed to read, print and carry.