Destination OS · Old Delhi at dawn, tombs by afternoon
Delhiदिल्ली
Delhi is a dawn-and-dusk city: do Old Delhi and the Red Fort in the first morning hours, hide from the heat and the smog indoors, take the metro or an app car between clusters — and never follow a stranger's 'it is closed' story.
- Local time
- --:--
- Weather
- forecast below
- Currency
- INR
- Best months
- Feb · Mar · Oct
- Airport
- DEL
Cash need
4/5
Heat risk
5/5
Stroller
1/5
Friction
78/100
Rules in force · 7
- South Asia ↗Trekking regions, border districts and several Indian states need separate permits on top of the visa; check the permit before you book transport into them.
- South Asia ↗Remove shoes (and in many Jain and Hindu temples, leather) before entering; cover shoulders and legs; ask before photographing people or rituals.
- India ↗Apply for the e-visa only on the official government portal (indianvisaonline.gov.in); lookalike sites charge extra. Check the current rules, fees and how far ahead to apply.
- India ↗Do not follow anyone who says your hotel is closed, the station ticket office is closed or a road is shut; use the prepaid taxi counter, the metro or an app car.
- India ↗Carry Indian rupees in small notes (10, 20, 50, 100); change for 500 is often refused.
- India ↗Parts of the Northeast, Sikkim, Ladakh, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and all border belts need a Protected or Restricted Area Permit or an Inner Line Permit for foreigners; check before you book the route.
- Delhi and NCR ↗November smog and May–June heat both cut a day's walking: plan the outdoor sights first thing.
At a glance
- Clusters
- 4
- Places
- 2
- Day plans
- 1
- Places to eat
- 1
- Sleep areas
- 2
- Gateways
- DEL
Right now
Checking the weather…
Working out what is open near you…
Decide
Who it suits, the trade-offs and when to go
Overview
The city in one paragraph, who it fits, and how many days it takes.
Delhi's sights are good and far apart; the city is hot, loud, dense and, in winter, smoggy. Old Delhi is a maze, the metro is fast and cheap, and touts work the airport, New Delhi station and the main tourist streets. Four clusters cover a first visit, tied together by the metro and prepaid or app cars.
Fits
- First-time India visitors
- History and food trips
- Early risers
Does not fit
- Strollers and wheelchairs (pavements, stairs)
- Travellers sensitive to noise, crowds and touts
- Midday walkers in May–June
- Anyone with lung conditions in November
- 2 days
- Old Delhi and the Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb
- 3 days
- Four clusters, mornings and evenings only
- 5 days
- Four clusters + Agra day trip + one slow day
- Don't confuse
- Old Delhi (Shahjahanabad, the walled city) and New Delhi (Connaught Place and the government quarter) are different areas 5 km apart; Delhi is also a state, and NCR includes Gurugram and Noida.
Hover, tap or tab to an area to see what it is like. Pins are sleep areas; arrows at the edge point to the airport.
Where’s what, as a list:
- Connaught Place: Base cluster: circular colonnades with cafés and the metro; flat and shaded by the arcades; watch for touts and shop-taking rickshaw drivers.
- Old Delhi: Chandni Chowk & Jama Masjid: Dawn cluster: the mosque, the food lanes and the spice market before the crowds; narrow, uneven and busy; no bags.
- Red Fort: Morning cluster: the fort at opening while it is cool; open lawns and long walks in the sun; closed one day a week.
- Humayun's Tomb & Sunder Nursery: Late-afternoon or morning cluster: the tomb garden and the nursery next door; flat, open and shaded by trees; a car ride from the centre.
- Sleep area Connaught Place: suits Families, older travellers, price band $$.
- Sleep area Paharganj: suits Solo on a budget, price band $.
- Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), about 16 km from the centre, 50–90 min by the usual route.
Decide
The honest trade-off: what you will enjoy, what will wear you down.
You will like
- Old Delhi food lanes
- Mughal monuments
- The metro
You will hate
- Touts and hard sells
- Heat in May–June
- Smog Oct–Feb
When
Best months: Feb, Mar, Oct. Month-by-month verdicts below, with the live forecast first.
Delhi: next 7 days
Loading forecast…
Forecast: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), model data for this point.
Air quality
Loading…
Model estimate (CAMS via Open-Meteo), not a street-level station; readings near busy roads run higher.
Cold mornings, fog, smog; Jan 26 closures.
Mild and clearer; best month for walking.
Warm; Holi some years.
Heat builds; outdoors before 10:00 only.
Extreme heat, 40°C and above.
Extreme heat, then early monsoon.
Monsoon: humid, flooded roads.
Monsoon; Aug 15 closures.
Monsoon tail, humid.
Clearing, warm days; smog starts late in the month; Diwali some years.
Worst air quality; smog days.
Cold, fog, smog; flights and trains delayed.
Arrive & move
Getting in, getting around, and your bags
Arrive
Each gateway has its own airport-to-bed page with timings and the last safe connection.
Move
The default way around, when a pass pays off, and when the last trains go.
- Default
- Walk inside a cluster; metro between Old Delhi and Connaught Place; app car or prepaid taxi to Humayun's Tomb.
- Passes
- No pass. The metro is the cheapest fast link; short car rides are cheap; agree or see the fare before you ride.
- Last trains
- The metro stops at night (field-verify the last train on the DMRC site); app cars run later but surge in rain.
- Other modes
- Other modes (Rome2Rio) ↗
Luggage
Where big bags are a problem, and how to get rid of them for the day.
Rule
- Lockers
- Cloakrooms at some stations and metro points; hotels hold bags after check-out.
- Forwarding
- No forwarding culture; keep the big bag at the Delhi hotel for trips away.
- Dead zone
- Late flights: ask the hotel to hold bags and for a shower room; many do for a fee.
See & do
Walking clusters, day plans and the places worth the time
Clusters
Plan by cluster: each is a walkable area with a rescue point and a bag rule.
Base cluster: circular colonnades with cafés and the metro; flat and shaded by the arcades; watch for touts and shop-taking rickshaw drivers.
rescue 100% · max p90 5.4′ · 90m
Dawn cluster: the mosque, the food lanes and the spice market before the crowds; narrow, uneven and busy; no bags.
rescue 100% · max p90 5.5′ · half
Morning cluster: the fort at opening while it is cool; open lawns and long walks in the sun; closed one day a week.
rescue 100% · max p90 5.5′ · half
Late-afternoon or morning cluster: the tomb garden and the nursery next door; flat, open and shaded by trees; a car ride from the centre.
rescue 100% · max p90 5.7′ · half
Days
Ready-made day plans, timed against opening hours and walking distances.
Places
Each place gets a verdict and the time to be there, not a star rating.
Eat & sleep
Where to eat and which area to sleep in
Eat
A short list of places worth crossing the city for, each with how to get a seat.
Vegetarian-friendly score
2.5 / 5 · Workable
- Country diet noteOur country guide rates vegetarian eating as easy.2 / 2
- Places to eat in this guideToo few places with a known answer (1) to judge.0 / 1.5
- Budget eating lines0 vegetarian lines in "Eat by budget".0 / 0.6
- Meat-free national dishes8 meat-free dishes in the country food list.0.4 / 0.4
- Dedicated vegetarian kitchens0 mentions of vegetarian restaurants, Buddhist or fasting kitchens.0 / 0.5
Country note: The easiest country on Earth: 'veg' and 'non-veg' are marked on menus with a green or red symbol.
Vegetarian places near me →Make a diet card →
How we score
- Country diet note (up to 2): easy 2, workable 1, mixed 0.75, hard 0; no note 0.5.
- City places to eat (up to 1.5): 1.5 × (vegetarian-friendly + half of partly friendly) ÷ places with a known answer; needs 3 or more known places.
- Budget eating lines marked vegetarian (up to 0.6): 0.2 each.
- Meat-free national dishes (up to 0.4): 0.1 each.
- Dedicated vegetarian kitchens mentioned — Buddhist chay, shōjin ryōri, Jain, fasting food, vegan cafés (up to 0.5): 0.1 each.
- Total rounded to the nearest half point, 0 to 5. Built from our own pages only, not from reviews.
Sleep
Pick the area first: it decides your walk home at night and your first morning.
Practical
Money, essentials, safety and the pocket card
Money
What a day costs at three comfort levels, and how to pay.
- Budget
- ₹1,500–3,000 (≈ US$18–35) excl. bed / day
- Mid
- ₹3,000–8,000 (≈ US$35–95) excl. bed / day
- High
- ₹8,000 (≈ US$95)+ excl. bed / day
- IC card
- The metro uses a smart card or single-journey token; app cars and prepaid taxis need no card.
- Cash rule
- Keep ₹2,000 (≈ US$25) in small notes; withdraw at ATMs inside banks or malls in daylight; UPI needs an Indian number, so do not rely on it.
Survive
Safety basics, the lines not to cross, and practical habits that save the day.
Safety
- Touts: the airport, New Delhi station and Connaught Place are the hot spots; use prepaid taxi counters, app cars or the metro.
- Heat (Apr–Jun): sights before 10:00, indoors midday, ORS and water.
- Air quality (Oct–Feb): check the index daily; wear an N95 or better outdoors on bad days.
- Emergency: 112 (single national number); police 100, ambulance 102.
Red lines
- Do not photograph military, police or metro security points.
- Mosques and temples: cover shoulders and knees, shoes off, ask before photographing people.
- Do not buy from anyone who takes you to a shop you did not choose.
Practical
- Toilets: malls, metro stations and hotels; carry tissues.
- Tap water is not for drinking; use sealed bottles or filtered water.
Deep dive
History, reading, photos and every source
Sources
- officialIncredible India (official tourism)
- officialDelhi Metro Rail Corporation (official)
- secondaryWikivoyage — Delhi