Location · Oct - Mar
Golden Triangle, Unhurried
Private car and resident host, the Taj Mahal at sunrise, a Mughal garden breakfast and an afternoon at a Jaipur block-printing workshop
From US$1,850 per person
Overview
Delhi stands where the Aravalli ridge peters out beside the Yamuna, a river crossing that rulers have fought over since the eleventh century. Eight capitals were raised on this ground, from the basalt ramparts of Tughlaqabad to the sandstone avenues Edwin Lutyens finished in 1931. You read the city in layers rather than in a line: a Lodi tomb inside a public park, a stepwell behind a clothing market, a Sultanate minaret in a mango grove.
The Mughals gave Delhi its grandest chapter. Humayun's Tomb of 1572 was the first garden tomb on the subcontinent and the drawing board for the Taj Mahal; Shah Jahan moved his court here in 1648 and built the Red Fort with Jama Masjid facing it across a planned bazaar. Independent India then layered on museums, embassies and a metro that now carries more people each day than the London Underground.
For a visitor from London, Chicago or Berlin, Delhi is the easiest place in India to arrive, adjust and understand what follows. Long-haul flights land before dawn, hotels range from 1903 colonial verandahs to glass towers, and almost every guide speaks fluent English. It is also the start of the Golden Triangle, with the Taj Mahal two hours away by express train and Jaipur five hours by road.
Hand-held, every step
You travel as our guest, not as a booking number. One named person looks after you from the first video call to the drive back to the airport, and explains the meaning behind everything you are looking at.
In Delhi that matters most where the crowds are thickest and the customs least familiar.
- Airport welcome with a name board, a local SIM and your first rupees sorted
- One trip manager on WhatsApp for the whole journey, answering within the hour
- Guides who explain each ritual, dish and carving as you meet it
- Reserved, safe places at festivals rather than the crush
- A real part in a puja, a wedding or a family celebration if you want one
- Female guide on request, vetted drivers, and no shopping-commission stops
Festivals worth planning a trip around
Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Islamic dates follow lunar calendars, so each year shifts. We confirm every date against the panchang before a departure goes on sale.
| Festival | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Republic Day Parade | 26 January | Marching contingents, state floats and a flypast down Kartavya Path; ticketed stands sell out weeks ahead |
| Holi | March | Colour powder, drums and bhang thandai in residential colonies; the date follows the lunar calendar |
| Phoolwalon ki Sair | September to October | Mehrauli's flower sellers carry floral fans and pankhas to a dargah and a temple on the same morning |
| Dussehra and Ramlila | September to October | Open-air Ramlila theatre runs for ten nights near the Red Fort before giant effigies are burnt |
| Diwali | October to November | Oil lamps on every parapet, sweet shops working all night and Chandni Chowk lit end to end |
| Guru Nanak Gurpurab | November | All-night kirtan and processions from Gurudwara Bangla Sahib and Sis Ganj in the walled city |
| Basant Panchami at Nizamuddin | January to February | Yellow turbans and Sufi qawwali at the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya to welcome spring |
| Eid-ul-Fitr | Follows the Islamic lunar calendar, around March 2027 | Dawn prayers fill Jama Masjid, then the lanes below serve sheer khurma and kebabs until midnight |
Food to try in Delhi
Ranked the way a local host would feed you, starting with the dish you should not leave without.
- Butter chickenInvented at Moti Mahal in Daryaganj in the 1950s; order it with a plain naan, not garlic
- NihariSlow-cooked marrow stew eaten at breakfast near Jama Masjid, with a sheermal to mop the bowl
- Chole bhatureSpiced chickpeas with a balloon of fried bread; Sita Ram Diwan Chand in Paharganj is the benchmark
- ParanthasStuffed and ghee-fried in Paranthe Wali Gali, served with pumpkin and tamarind chutneys
- Seekh and galouti kebabsCharcoal-grilled minced mutton in the lanes behind the great mosque; ask for it less chilli-hot
- Daulat ki chaatA winter-only cloud of churned milk foam sold at dawn in Chandni Chowk from December to February
- Bedmi aloo with nagori halwaOld Delhi's bankers' breakfast: lentil-stuffed puri, potato curry and warm semolina pudding
- JalebiThick saffron coils fried in ghee at the Dariba corner shop that has worked the same vat for generations
- Kulfi faludaDense frozen milk with rose noodles at Kuremal Mohan Lal in Chawri Bazar, including a stuffed mango version
- Rajma chawalKidney beans and rice, the Punjabi comfort lunch of every Delhi office canteen and home kitchen
Heritage sites in Delhi
- Qutub MinarUNESCO. A 73 m victory tower of 1199 beside India's oldest surviving mosque and an uncorroded iron pillar
- Humayun's TombUNESCO. The first great Mughal garden tomb, restored stone by stone with lime plaster over ten years
- Red FortUNESCO. Shah Jahan's river-facing citadel of 1648, where the Prime Minister raises the flag each 15 August
- Jama MasjidIndia's largest congregational mosque, 1656, with a courtyard for 25,000 and a climbable southern minaret
- Safdarjung's TombThe last of the garden tombs, 1754, built with marble recycled from an older mausoleum
- Purana QilaSher Shah Suri's fortress on a mound that excavation links to the Mahabharata city of Indraprastha
- Tughlaqabad FortSix kilometres of 14th-century rubble walls abandoned within a few years, now grazed by goats
- Hauz Khas complexA Sultanate madrasa, tomb and 13th-century reservoir, best at sunset from the arcade above the water
- Mehrauli Archaeological ParkOver 100 monuments across 800 years in one scrubland park, including Balban's tomb and Jamali Kamali
- Agrasen ki BaoliA sandstone stepwell of 60 descending steps hidden between office blocks off Hailey Road
Places to visit in Delhi
- Chandni ChowkShah Jahan's 17th-century bazaar, still divided by trade: silver, spices, wedding cloth, paper
- Kartavya Path and India GateThe ceremonial axis from Rashtrapati Bhavan to the 1931 war memorial listing 13,000 names
- Gurudwara Bangla SahibVolunteer-run Sikh shrine with a sacred tank and a kitchen serving tens of thousands daily
- Lotus TempleA Bahai house of worship of 1986 in 27 marble petals, open to silent prayer of any faith
- AkshardhamA carved sandstone and marble complex of 2005 raised without steel, with a stepwell courtyard
- Sunder NurseryA 90 acre Mughal-era garden park with six listed tombs, restored and opened to the public in 2018
- National MuseumHarappan jewellery, Chola bronzes and Mughal miniatures in one afternoon on Janpath
- Nizamuddin BastiA living 14th-century settlement around a Sufi shrine, where qawwals sing every Thursday night
- Dilli HaatA crafts market where artisans from each Indian state rotate through their own stalls
- Khan Market and HumayunpurWhere Delhi actually eats and drinks, from bookshops to Naga kitchens
Waterfalls, lakes and wild places
Delhi has no waterfalls; its water story is stepwells, Mughal canals and a hard-worked river. Come between November and February when the ridge forest is green and the light is clean, and treat the Yamuna strictly as scenery, because it is heavily polluted and unsafe for bathing.
- Hauz Khas tankSouth Delhi. A royal reservoir dug in 1295 to water the new city, now a heron-filled lake
- Vasudev GhatNorth Delhi. A newly restored Yamuna riverfront of steps, lamps and murals, good at sunrise
- Okhla Bird SanctuaryOn the Yamuna at the Noida edge, where several thousand migratory waterfowl winter
- Sunder Nursery water channelsNizamuddin. Mughal canals and lily tanks running the length of the restored garden
- Rajon ki BaoliMehrauli. A three-storey 1506 stepwell with a colonnade, the finest of Delhi's surviving baolis
- Asola Bhatti Wildlife SanctuarySouthern ridge. Abandoned quarry lakes in dry forest, with nilgai, jackal and 200 bird species
- Lodi Garden pondsCentral Delhi. Tomb-side water bodies among joggers and parakeets, free and open from sunrise
Where to stay in Delhi
Properties we would put our own guests in. Your package includes the level you choose, and we hold rooms before festival dates.
- The ImperialJanpath. Open since 1931, with Raj-era lithographs down a long colonnaded corridorHeritage
- The Oberoi New DelhiDr Zakir Hussain Marg. Golf-course views, rebuilt in 2018 but trading since 1965Luxury
- Taj Mahal New DelhiMansingh Road. The capital's old-money address, five minutes from India GateLuxury
- ITC MauryaDiplomatic Enclave. Where visiting heads of state stay; home of the Bukhara grill roomLuxury
- The ClaridgesAurangzeb Road. A 1950s Lutyens-zone hotel with a lawn built for winter lunchesHeritage
- Maidens HotelCivil Lines. Delhi's oldest working hotel, 1903, with high ceilings and a mature gardenHeritage
- The LodhiLodhi Road. Suites with private plunge pools, backing onto the tombs of Lodi GardenLuxury
- Haveli DharampuraOld Delhi. A restored 19th-century mansion in the lanes, with a rooftop facing Jama MasjidBoutique
- Hotel BroadwayAsaf Ali Road. Working since the 1950s, on the seam between the walled city and New DelhiBoutique
- The AshokChanakyapuri. A vast state-built hotel of the 1950s on 25 acres, dated in parts but solidly locatedMid-range
Evenings out and culture
| Place | What it is |
|---|---|
| Thursday qawwali at Nizamuddin Dargah | Devotional Sufi singing in a packed marble courtyard after dusk; no ticket, cover your head |
| India Habitat Centre | Free and low-cost concerts, dance recitals and documentary screenings most evenings of the week |
| Kamani Auditorium | The capital's stage for Kathak, Bharatanatyam and Hindustani classical seasons |
| The Piano Man Jazz Club | Live jazz and blues six nights a week in Safdarjung Enclave and a larger Gurugram room |
| Hauz Khas Village | Rooftop bars and small live-music rooms overlooking a Sultanate ruin and its lake |
| Connaught Place terraces | Colonnaded colonial arcades with rooftop bars, old coffee houses and all-night kebab counters |
Getting to Delhi by air
| Airport or route | Detail |
|---|---|
| Indira Gandhi International (DEL), Terminal 3 | India's busiest airport, 16 km from the centre; all long-haul and most premium domestic flights |
| From the USA | Non-stop from New York, Newark, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco on Air India and United, 14 to 16 hours |
| From the UK | Non-stop from London Heathrow and Gatwick on British Airways, Air India and Virgin Atlantic, about 8 hours 30 minutes |
| From Europe | Non-stop from Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Vienna, Milan and Istanbul; one-stop from everywhere else via the Gulf |
| Airport transfer | Airport Express metro to New Delhi station in 20 minutes, or 45 to 75 minutes by car depending on traffic |
| Onward domestic | Hourly departures to Srinagar, Leh, Dehradun, Amritsar and Chandigarh, almost all before 11am |
Trains and road to Delhi
| Route or station | Detail |
|---|---|
| New Delhi (NDLS) | The main station, with the Airport Express below it; arrive 40 minutes early, platforms are crowded |
| Gatimaan Express to Agra | India's fastest train by top speed, 100 minutes to Agra Cantt with a hot breakfast served at seat |
| Vande Bharat to Varanasi and Ajmer | Chair-car day trains with bookable meals; the Ajmer service stops at Jaipur in under five hours |
| Shatabdi to Chandigarh, Amritsar and Kathgodam | Early-morning departures reaching Chandigarh in 3 hours 20 minutes and Amritsar in about 6 |
| Hazrat Nizamuddin (NZM) | Southbound Rajdhani and Duronto services to Mumbai, Goa and Chennai leave from here, not NDLS |
| Palace on Wheels | Luxury week-long Rajasthan circuit departing Delhi Safdarjung most Wednesdays between September and April |
Weather, seasons and best time to visit Delhi
October to March is the season, with February and early March the sweet spot for long walks at 25°C and clear skies. Avoid May and June, when afternoons pass 43°C, and expect smog in November.
| Months | Season | Day temperature | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| December to February | Winter | 14-23°C / 57-73°F | Cold mornings near 6°C, brilliant afternoons, and fog that can delay flights in late December |
| March to April | Spring | 26-36°C / 79-97°F | Flame trees in flower and comfortable mornings; sightseeing works best before 11am |
| May to June | High summer | 38-45°C / 100-113°F | Severe dry heat with dust storms; only worth it for a transit night with a pool |
| July to November | Monsoon and autumn | 28-35°C / 82-95°F | Heavy July and August showers, then clear warm October days, the best month overall |
Delhi tour packages
Per person, twin sharing, excluding international flights. Hotels, private transport, guides, entries, your trip manager and 24-hour support are included.
Festival · Fixed dates - Oct/Nov 2027
Diwali in the Walled City
Light lamps on a rooftop with a Chandni Chowk family, shop the lamp markets by night and see the Taj on a clear autumn morning
From US$1,438 per person
Tradition · Sep - Apr
Qawwali, Kebabs and Calligraphy
Thursday night Sufi singing at Nizamuddin, a dawn breakfast crawl in the lanes and a morning learning Urdu letterforms
From US$1,100 per person
Season · Nov - Feb
Seven Lost Capitals on Foot
Walk Tughlaqabad, Mehrauli, Shahjahanabad and Lutyens' Delhi with archaeologists and conservation architects
From US$1,200 per person
Food & wine · Oct - Mar
Delhi Kitchens and Spice Lanes
Eat across Chandni Chowk, cook nihari with a Purani Dilli household and taste Nashik wines with a sommelier
From US$850 per person
Wellness · Oct - Mar
Sufi Nights and Ganga Mornings
Ayurvedic consultation and sunrise yoga above the Ganga, bracketed by Delhi's shrines and gardens
From US$1,612 per person
Take part, don't just watch
Add any of these to a tour. A host stays beside you and tells you what is happening and why it is done that way.
Cooking Sunday lunch in a Punjabi home
A family in Rajouri Garden hands you the rolling pin for rajma chawal and stuffed paranthas, then sits you down to eat with three generations. Their daughter, a food writer, explains how Partition refugees rewrote Delhi's menu after 1947.
Volunteering in the Bangla Sahib kitchen
You join the Sikh langar line for an hour, rolling chapatis and washing steel plates alongside bankers and rickshaw drivers. A gurudwara volunteer walks you through the sacred tank, the music gallery and why nobody there is ever charged for food.
Dawn conservation walk at Humayun's Tomb
Before the ticket gates open, a conservation architect from the restoration team takes you onto the plinth to show the lime plaster, the recut sandstone and the surveyor's marks. You end with chai among the craftsmen at their work shed.
A Thursday evening with a qawwali family
A hereditary singer at Nizamuddin explains the poetry and the call-and-response before you sit on the carpet for the night's performance. Afterwards he takes you for mutton korma in the basti lanes where the cooks know him by name.
Questions travellers ask about Delhi
Why should I visit Delhi?
Nowhere else in India puts 800 years of building in one taxi ride. You can stand under a 1199 minaret in the morning, eat a breakfast stew invented for Mughal courtiers, and hear Sufi singing in a shrine that same evening. Delhi also makes every onward journey simple, with the Taj Mahal only 100 minutes away by train.
When is the best time to visit Delhi?
Mid-October to mid-March. October brings clear 30°C days after the rains, December and January are cool at 14 to 23°C with foggy mornings, and February warms gently to the mid twenties, which is ideal for walking. Skip May and June, when afternoons sit between 40 and 45°C, and expect poor air in November.
Is Delhi safe for tourists and for solo female travellers?
Monuments, metro, hotel districts and markets are fine in daylight, and the metro has a women-only first coach. Solo women report that the main risks are staring and pushy touts rather than violence. Use app-based cabs instead of hailing at night, avoid empty areas after dark, and book guides through your tour operator rather than at monument gates.
Do US, UK and EU citizens need a visa for India?
Yes. Citizens of the USA, UK and all EU states can apply for the Indian e-Visa online, usually a 30-day double-entry or one-year multiple-entry tourist visa. Apply four to seven days before travel with a passport scan and photo, and carry the printed approval. Your passport must have six months of validity and two blank pages.
How much does a Delhi tour cost?
Our ground cost runs from about US$680 per person for three nights of city walks and food to US$1,480 for a seven-night Golden Triangle with Agra and Jaipur. A five-night Diwali departure sits at US$1,150. Those figures cover hotels, private car, guides, entry tickets and most meals, but not international flights.
How many days do I need in Delhi?
Three full days is the honest minimum: one for Old Delhi and the Red Fort, one for Qutub Minar, Humayun's Tomb and the Mehrauli park, and one for museums, gardens and markets. Five days lets you add a day trip to Agra and still keep an afternoon free to recover from the flight.
Is Delhi food too spicy, and can I eat vegetarian or vegan?
Chilli heat is adjustable and every kitchen will cook mild on request; ask for kam mirch. Vegetarian eating is effortless, since much of the city eats meat-free by choice. Vegans should watch for ghee, butter, paneer and cream, which are everywhere in North Indian food, and say no dairy clearly when ordering.
What is Diwali like in Delhi?
Diwali falls in October or November on the lunar calendar, and the city lights up for about five days. Markets stay open past midnight, houses line their parapets with oil lamps, and families exchange sweets. Fireworks are legally restricted but still noisy, and the air quality drops sharply for a few days afterwards.
How do I get to Delhi from the USA, UK or Europe?
Delhi has non-stop flights from New York, Newark, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco, from London Heathrow and Gatwick, and from Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Vienna and Milan. From smaller European cities, connect through Dubai, Doha or Istanbul. Most arrive between 1am and 5am, so book the hotel night before you land.
Is Delhi's air pollution a problem for visitors?
It is real and worth planning around. Air quality is worst from early November to late December, when crop burning and still air combine. Those weeks suit indoor-heavy itineraries, and we supply N95 masks. January to March and September to October are markedly cleaner, and hotels in our range run air purifiers in the rooms.
Cities and towns in Delhi
Each has a full guide of its own, with its own food, heritage, hotels, trains and tours.