Places to Visit Delhi

Places to Visit in Delhi is the capital of India, and as a tourist, offers plentiful opportunities for sightseeing & having an enjoyable time. It served as the capital of British & Mughal empires in the past, both of which built magnificent structures during their rule. Many of them are top tourist attractions in Delhi, including Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Qutub Minar, Humayun’s Tomb, India Gate, Parliament House & Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Besides going on a sightseeing tour of Delhi to explore its historical legacy, shopping is one of the most enjoyable things to do in Delhi. The most famous shopping places in Delhi are Dilli Haat, Janpath Market, Khan Market, Sarojini Market, Lajpat Nagar & Chandni Chowk.

Connaught Place, with its colonnaded Georgian style buildings, global chain stores, stylish restaurants & bars. Taking a ride in the Delhi Metro is an easy & convenient way of exploring Delhi, since several ptourist attractions are located in close proximity to the metro stations.

Delhi also offers ample scope for those tourists who possess a spiritual bent of mind & wish to visit religious places. The most famous religious places in India visited by tourists are Lotus Temple, Akshardham Mandir, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah, Kalkaji Mandir, Chhatarpur Temple, Sri Aurobindo Ashram & Gurudwara Bangla Sahib.

Akshardham Temple
Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi epitomizes 10,000 years of Indian culture in all its breathtaking grandeur, beauty, wisdom an d bliss. It brilliantly showcases the essence of India’s ancient architecture, traditions and timeless spiritual messages. The Akshardham experience is an enlightening journey through India’s glorious art, values and contributions for the progress, happiness and harmony of mankind.
The Swaminarayan Akshardham complex was built in only five years through the blessings of HDH Pramukh Swami Maharaj of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) and the colossal devotional efforts of 11,000 artisans and thousands of BAPS volunteers. Heralded by the Guinness World Record as the World’s Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple, the complex was inaugurated on 6 November, 2005.

Lotus Temple
East of Nehru place, this temple is built in the shape of a lotus flower and is the last of seven Major Bahai's temples built around the world. Completed in1986 it is set among the lush green landscaped gardens.
The structure is made up of pure white marble The architect Furiburz Sabha chose the lotus as the symbol common to Hinduism, Buddhism,
Jainism and Islam. Adherents of any faith are free to visit the temple and pray or meditate.
Around the blooming petals there are nine pools of water, which light up, in natural light. It looks spectacular at dusk when it is flood lit.

Humayun's Tomb
Located near the crossing of Mathura road and Lodhi road, this magnificent garden tomb is the first substantial example of Mughal architecture in India.

Humayun's Tomb
It was built in 1565 A.D. nine years after the death of Humayun, by his senior widow Bega Begam. Inside the walled enclosure the most notable features are the garden squares (chaharbagh) with pathways water channels, centrally located well proportional mausoleum topped by double dome.
There are several graves of Mughal rulers located inside the walled enclosure and from here in 1857 A.D; Lieutenant Hudson had captured the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II.

India Gate
At the centre of New Delhi stands the 42 m high India Gate, an "Arc-de-Triomphe" like archway in the middle of a crossroad. Almost similar to its French counterpart, it commemorates the 70,000 Indian soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the British Army during the World War I. The memorial bears the names of more than 13,516 British and Indian soldiers killed in the Northwestern Frontier in the Afghan war of 1919.
The foundation stone of India Gate was laid by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Connaught in 1921 and it was designed by Edwin Lutyens. The monument was dedicated to the nation 10 years later by the then Viceroy, Lord Irwin. Another memorial, Amar Jawan Jyoti was added much later, after India got its independence. The eternal flame burns day and night under the arch to remind the nation of soldiers who laid down their lives in the Indo-Pakistan War of December 1971.
The entire arch stands on a low base of red Bharatpur stone and rises in stages to a huge moulding. The cornice is inscribed with the Imperial suns while both sides of the arch have INDIA, flanked by the dates MCMXIV (1914 left) and MCMXIX (1919 right). The shallow domed bowl at the top was intended to be filled with burning oil on anniversaries but this is rarely done.
During nightfall, India Gate is dramatically floodlit while the fountains nearby make a lovely display with coloured lights. India Gate stands at one end of Rajpath, and the area surrounding it is generally referred to as 'India Gate'.

Jama Masjid
This great mosque of Old Delhi is the largest in India, with a courtyard capable of holding 25,000 devotees. It was begun in 1644 and ended up being the final architectural extravagance of Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort.

Jama Masjid
The highly decorative mosque has three great gates, four towers and two 40 m-high minarets constructed of strips of red sandstone and
white marble. Travellers can hire robes at the northern gate. This may be the only time you get to dress like a local without feeling like an outsider so make the most of it.

Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar (Yantra - instruments, mantra - formulae) was constrcted in 1724. Maharaja Jai Singh of Jaipur who built this observatory went on to build other observatories in Ujjain , Varanasi and Mathura. Jai Singh had found the existing astronomical instruments too small to take correct measurements and so he built these larger and more accurate instruments.

Jantar Mantar
The instruments at Jantar Mantar are fascinating for their ingenuity, but accurate observations can no longer be made from here because of the tall buildings around.

Lodi Tomb
The old Lady Willington Park, now known as Lodhi Garden, is dotted with monuments of Sayyid and Lodhi Periods, which include tombs mosques, and bridges. The tombs of Muhammad Shah and Sikandar Lodhi are the good examples of octagonal tombs. Shish and Bara Gumbad are square tombs with imposing dome, turrets on corners and facades giving false impression of being double storeyed. It is a favourite point for early morning walkers from the posh south Delhi colonies.

Purana Quila
One does not have to go far to see the old fort or Purana Quila standing stoically amidst wild greenery.Built on the site of the most ancient of the numerous cities of Delhi, Indraprastha, Purana Quila is roughly rectangular in shape having a circuit of nearly two kilometers.
The thick ramparts crowned by merlons have three gateways provided with bastions on either side. It was surrounded by a wide moat, connected to river Yamuna, which used to flow on the east of the fort. The northern gate way, called the Talaqui darwaza or the forbidden gateway, combines the typically Islamic pointed arch with Hindu Chhatris and brackets; whereas the southern gateway called the

Purana Quila
Humayun Darwaza also had a similar plan. The massive gateway and walls of Purana Quila were built by Humayun and the foundation laid for the new capital, Dinpanah. The work was carried forward by Sher Shah Suri,who displaced Humayun, Purana Quila is the venue for the spectacular sound and light show held every evening.

Qutab Minar
Qutab Minar is a soaring, 73 m-high tower of victory, built in 1193 by Qutab-ud-din Aibak immediately after the defeat of Delhi's last Hindu kingdom. The tower has five distinct storeys, each marked by a projecting balcony and tapers from a 15 m diameter at the base to just 2.5 m at the top. The first three storeys are made of red sandstone; the fourth and fifth storeys are of marble and sandstone. At the foot of the tower is the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, the first mosque to be built in India. An inscription over its eastern gate provocatively informs that it was built with material obtained from demolishing '27 Hindu temples'. A 7 m-high iron pillar stands in the courtyard of the mosque. It is said that if you can encircle it with your hands while standing with your back to it your wish will be fulfilled.
The origins of Qutab Minar are shrouded in controversy. Some believe it was erected as a tower of victory to signify the beginning of the Muslim rule in India. Others say it served as a minaret to the muezzins to call the faithful to prayer.