City Edition No. GT-01 · 32 pages · PDF for A5
FEES & TIMINGS REVIEWED · AUGUST 2026The Delhi Guide
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.
- The full story — the story, in six acts, told properly
- Look Closer™ at Humayun's Tomb — what everyone walks past
- 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
- Every fee, timing and price — sourced and dated each season
- The Shot List: twelve frames that become your Memory Book
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Turn the pages
Real pages, not mockups.
Six of the 32 pages, exactly as they print. Scroll →
What’s inside
32 pages. Every one earns its place.
The system is the same in every City Edition, so you learn to navigate it once. What changes is the city — 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.
- 01
Before you land
The one page to read on the plane
- 02
In 60 seconds
The city, its story and its logic on a single page
- 03
The story, in 6 acts
From the founding to this morning — plus “Delhi in dates”, the whole spine on one page
- 04
First, understand The Yamuna plain
The kingdom you are standing in, and why it matters
- 05
Humayun's Tomb
The signature landmark — with Look Closer™: five things almost everyone walks past
- 06
What the plaques won't tell you
And five true things to say at dinner
- 07
What to see, ranked
Do them in this order. Every fee, sourced and dated
- 08
If you only have one day
Dawn to dinner, in order — tick each one off
- 09
The day-by-day plan
Two to three days, mapped around the light
- 10
The walk
One route on foot, start time and all
- 11
Off the beaten path
Where Delhi stops performing for visitors
- 12
Worth leaving town for
The day trips that earn the drive
- 13
Watch out for
The traps, the touts and the lines that mean no
- 14
When to go & getting there
Season by season, and the best transit days
- 15
What it costs · What to bring home
Typical prices, and the crafts that are actually made here
- 16
Where to stay · Eat like you live here
Neighbourhoods, not hotel lists; dishes, not restaurants
- 17
The India Decoder
Language, manners and the six phrases that open doors
- 18
Stories Worth Remembering™
Facts fade; stories stay
- 19
The Shot List™
Four pages: twelve frames with the where, the when and the light
- 20
Where next
The road on from here
Look Closer™ · Humayun's Tomb
Stand here. Look for this.
Five things at Humayun's Tomb that almost everyone walks straight past — the exact place to stand and what you are actually seeing. It is the page readers tell us they photograph and carry to the gate.
← LOOK HERE
The blue dome nobody visits
Said 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.
← LOOK HERE
A pillar that won't rust
Raised 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.
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
SHOT 01 OF TWELVE · DO THIS, IN ORDER
- 1Buy tickets online the night before and be at the gate as it opens at sunrise.
- 2Stand inside the west gate, ten paces back, centred on the archway.
- 3Put your family in the gate's opening, backs to you, looking at the tomb.
- 4Hold the phone upright and get the whole arch in.
- 5Tap on the dome, then shoot — you have half an hour before the groups.
PLACES THAT WORK
- Humayun's Tomb, west gate
- The south-west corner of the upper platform, for the side-light on the sandstone
- BEST LIGHT
- sunrise to an hour after
- PHONE
- Portrait · 1×
WHY THIS SHOTBegun in 1569 for an emperor who died on his library stairs — the first great Mughal garden-tomb.
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
SHOT 02 OF TWELVE · DO THIS, IN ORDER
- 1Turn right just inside the main gate, before the crowds follow.
- 2Stand at the start of the gravel path facing the tomb.
- 3Send one child ahead down the path.
- 4Hold the phone sideways, low.
- 5Tap on the tomb and shoot.
PLACES THAT WORK
- Isa Khan's tomb, Humayun's Tomb complex
- BEST LIGHT
- first half hour after opening
- PHONE
- Landscape · 1×
WHY THIS SHOTA Sur-dynasty noble's tomb of 1547 — the style the Mughals replaced, in the same garden.
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
SHOT 06 OF TWELVE · DO THIS, IN ORDER
- 1Come out of the courtyard by the east gate, the emperor's gate.
- 2Go down to the street and turn round.
- 3Sit the family on the steps halfway up, backs half-turned.
- 4Hold the phone upright and tilt up so the gate fills the top.
- 5Tap on the gate and shoot.
PLACES THAT WORK
- Jama Masjid, east steps (Meena Bazaar side)
- BEST LIGHT
- midday
- PHONE
- Portrait · 1×
WHY THIS SHOTThe east gate was the emperor's; the steps faced his fort.
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
SHOT 08 OF TWELVE · DO THIS, IN ORDER
- 1Be in the gardens an hour before sunset.
- 2Find the lawn south of Bara Gumbad.
- 3Sit the family on the grass, looking at the dome.
- 4Hold the phone sideways, low.
- 5Tap on the dome and shoot as it goes gold.
PLACES THAT WORK
- Bara Gumbad and Shish Gumbad, Lodi Gardens
- Sikandar Lodi's tomb at the north end
- BEST LIGHT
- golden hour
- PHONE
- Landscape · 1×
WHY THIS SHOTThe last Sultanate dynasties, buried in what became the city's favourite park.
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
SHOT 10 OF TWELVE · DO THIS, IN ORDER
- 1Be on the lawns twenty minutes after sunset as the floodlights come on.
- 2Stand the family on the grass two hundred metres west, looking at the arch.
- 3Hold the phone sideways; brace your elbows.
- 4Tap on the lit arch so the sky stays blue.
- 5Shoot; the balloon-sellers are part of it.
PLACES THAT WORK
- Kartavya Path south lawns
- The canal boats, for the family in a boat
- BEST LIGHT
- blue hour
- PHONE
- Landscape · 1×
WHY THIS SHOTLutyens' war memorial of 1931, and behind it the canopy that stood empty for fifty-four years.
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
SHOT 12 OF TWELVE · DO THIS, IN ORDER
- 1Choose a rooftop café facing the mosque's east gate and confirm the view before ordering.
- 2Wait for the domes to light with colour still in the sky.
- 3Wipe the lens; night mode on.
- 4Rest the phone on the table edge.
- 5A glass soft at the bottom, the domes above, and shoot.
PLACES THAT WORK
- The rooftop cafés on Matia Mahal and Urdu Bazar — confirm the view on the day
- BEST LIGHT
- 15–60 min after sunset
- PHONE
- Landscape · night mode, braced
WHY THIS SHOTThe closing image — Shah Jahan's mosque watching the seventh city go to sleep.
Why this isn’t another travel guide
More useful per minute of your attention.
Ranked, not listed
Other guides give you everything. We tell you what to do first, what to skip, and why — then keep the rest in a quieter layer for when you have more time.
Sourced and dated
Every fee and timing is checked against official sources and dated; ≈ marks the ones that move. Spot a change on the ground and we fix it in days.
Built to be carried
Designed for A5 — 32 pages that read on a phone, print on any printer and fold into a jacket pocket. No app, no signal, no battery.
It becomes your book
The twelve frames of the Shot List are the twelve slots of your Memory Book. Capture them as you travel, and come home with a book, not a camera roll.
Why trust India Unfolded
LAST REVIEWED · AUGUST 2026Researched deeply
Every historical claim checked against reputable sources; every fee dated.
Edited ruthlessly
We leave out whatever doesn't improve your trip. Five, not fifty.
Never bought
No sponsored rankings, no paid placements, no affiliate nudges.
Improved by travelers
Changing information gets confirmed and corrected by people actually there.
$9.99. Your first one is complimentary.
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