NEW DELHI · INDIA
Mughal forts, market lanes, and the Taj at dawn.
Old Delhi food walks, the Red Fort and Humayun’s Tomb, sunrise at the Taj Mahal, and the Golden Triangle road to Agra and Jaipur.
The big three
Three days that define a Delhi trip.
City tours and day trips you can book in any capital. The walled Mughal city, the Taj at first light, and eight centuries of monuments in a single city are Delhi’s own.
The walled city
Old Delhi & Chandni Chowk
Shah Jahan’s Shahjahanabad still runs on its 17th-century logic: cycle-rickshaws threading Chandni Chowk, the spice stalls of Khari Baoli, the steps of the Jama Masjid, a paratha fried in the same lane since 1872. You eat your way through it, by rickshaw and on foot.
- 1 The Great Indian Food Tour: Old Delhi Food and Heritage Walk
- 2 Old Delhi Food, Heritage&Cultural Walk with Rickshaw ride to Masterji Kee Haveli
- 3 Old Delhi Street Food Tour
Worth the early start
The Taj Mahal at Sunrise
Leave Delhi in the dark and reach Agra as the white marble turns rose and gold at first light, ahead of the crowds and the haze. Shah Jahan’s tomb for Mumtaz Mahal is 230km south, and the dawn run is how most people choose to see it.
- 1 Private Sunrise Taj Mahal Trip from Delhi all Inclusive
- 2 From Delhi: Private Taj Mahal Sunrise, Baby Taj & Fort Tour
- 3 Private Taj Mahal at Sunrise and Agra Day Tour from Delhi
Eight centuries
The Monument Trail
Three World Heritage Sites sit inside one city: the Qutub Minar of 1199, Humayun’s Tomb of 1570 (the Taj’s blueprint) and the Red Fort of 1648. Few capitals stack this much dynasty, sandstone and marble within a single day’s driving.
- 1 Delhi: Private Old & New Delhi Guided Half- or Full-Day Tour
- 2 Old & New Delhi Private Tour – Half or Full Day (Rated Excellent)
- 3 Delhi: Private Full-Day City Tour of Old and New Delhi
The one most people book
The experience most Delhi trips are built around.
More travellers start here than with anything else in the city.
The classics
New Delhi’s Most Popular Tours
The Taj at sunrise, Old Delhi by rickshaw, the Golden Triangle and the Qutub Minar. The days most travellers come for.
Plan the trip
The days worth building a Delhi trip around.
The Taj and Agra, the Golden Triangle, Old Delhi on foot, the Pink City of Jaipur. The handful of trips most itineraries are built from, and the best way to do each.
The big day trip
How to do the Taj Mahal from Delhi.
Agra is 230km south, so the how matters as much as the if. Three ways to stand in front of the Taj, by the time you have and the pace you want.
Golden Triangle
Delhi, Agra, Jaipur: the first trip everyone takes.
The classic India loop starts at the capital: the Taj and Agra Fort, then the pink palaces and the Amber Fort of Jaipur, and back to Delhi. Two to six days by private car or train, with the great Mughal forts and the desert’s edge in between.
- 1 3-Day Delhi, Agra and Jaipur Private Tour – India Golden Triangle
- 2 Four-Day Private Luxury Golden Triangle Tour to Agra and Jaipur From New Delhi
- 3 5 Nights 6 Days Private Golden Triangle Tour – Delhi Agra Jaipur
The blueprint
The tomb that taught the Taj.
Built in 1570 for the second Mughal emperor, Humayun’s Tomb was the first of the great garden-tombs: red sandstone, a high white dome, a charbagh garden quartered by water. Eighty years on, Shah Jahan’s architects carried the same plan to Agra and built it in marble. The Taj has a first draft, and it stands in Delhi.
Explore Delhi’s monuments →A morning south
Jaipur, the Pink City.
Two hundred and sixty kilometres from Delhi, the old city of Jaipur was washed terracotta-pink to welcome a prince in 1876 and never changed back. The Amber Fort on its ridge, the honeycomb Hawa Mahal, the City Palace and the gemstone bazaars: the third corner of the Golden Triangle, and the easiest leap into Rajasthan.
See the best Jaipur tours →By pace
Pick your pace.
Delhi rewards the slow morning and the packed week alike. A single bazaar on foot, a full day across the capital, or a road trip through the Golden Triangle.
A slow morning
One quarter, on foot.A heritage walk through Old Delhi or Mehrauli, a cooking class, a morning spent in one bazaar. The unhurried way in.
A full day
The whole city in a day.Old and New Delhi end to end, or the dawn run to the Taj and back. One big day, well spent.
The grand tour
Delhi, Agra and beyond.The Golden Triangle and the longer road trips: several days, several cities, the whole north in one sweep.
By place
Point the day somewhere.
Old Delhi for the bazaars and the food. New Delhi for the monuments and the avenues. Agra for the Taj. Jaipur for the palaces. The Golden Triangle when you want all three, Ranthambore for the tigers.
By experience
Pick how to explore.
On foot through the old lanes. By rickshaw through the bazaar. In a kitchen over a cooking class. Or out late, when the monuments light up.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in the capital? A three-day run through the old city, the new one and the Taj, without a wasted morning.
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