Delhi 3-day Itinerary
India
Where to go and what to see in Delhi to get the most from your trip – a 3-day itinerary from destination expert and leading travel writer Amar Grover.
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Overview >Bucket list experience:
National Museum of India
Credit Shutterstock.com/suronin
Last updated: 10 November, 2022
Casting the curatorial net to embrace not just modern India but the wider subcontinent and parts of its immediate hinterland, this excellent museum provides a fine overview of several millennia of the region’s arts and history.
While its main strength is an array of sculpture depicting the vast pantheon of Hindu gods and goddesses, exhibits encompass Silk Road artefacts, various schools of miniature painting, tribal arts and crafts, weaponry, textiles and jewellery.
The museum also houses the Sacred Relics of Buddha (5th-4th century BC), unearthed in Uttar Pradesh, and an exceptional collection of rare musical instruments from the 15th to 19th centuries.
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Destination Guide >Price from: £7
Minimum age: Any
Age suitable: 13+
When: All year around
Getting there & doing it
The museum is located south of Connaught Place on the main Janpath road. The nearest metro station is Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhawan.
Entry tickets for foreign visitors include a useful 75-minute audio tour, but you’ll need to leave some ID (or a deposit) for the headset. There’s a museum shop but no café.
When to do it
Open all year round Tuesday-Sunday. Closed Mondays and national holidays.
Delhi’s climate means that for much of the year many visitors opt to visit during the hottest part of the day, when the air-conditioning offers some relief. Earlier or later is quietest.
Recommended itineraries by our writers that include this experience
Our writer’s picks of the best places to stay near this experience, closest first
Imperial New Delhi Hotel
Delhi, India[1.5 miles]
Superb, centrally-located property whose refined ambience and vintage decor distills the glamour and flair of the Raj’s high-point in creating New Delhi.
Official star rating:
Leela Palace
Delhi, India[4.6 miles]
Modern, high-rise and self-consciously palace-styled hotel, set beside the capital’s genteel diplomatic enclave with an ‘Indo-baroque’ vibe, slick service and rooftop infinity pool.
Official star rating:
Haveli Dharampura
Delhi, India[4.8 miles]
Elegant boutique hotel in the heart of Old Delhi which lends a more immersive experience to this fascinating corner of the capital.
Official star rating:
ITC Maurya Hotel
Delhi, India[4.8 miles]
A solid and dependable luxury hotel with top-notch facilities, including an ayurvedic spa, a lovely swimming pool and famous restaurants.
Official star rating:
Destination guides including or relevant to this experience
Delhi
India
India’s intense sight- and monument-filled capital is a compelling blend of the modern Raj-influenced New Delhi, and the sights, sounds and smells of Old Delhi’s heaving and exotic lanes and bazaars.
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India’s Golden Triangle
India
India’s cultural essence combined with its most iconic sights and greatest bucket list experiences, all distilled into one compact, diverse and vibrant region.
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Overview >Our writer’s recommendations of other bucket list experiences our writer says you must do in this destination, closest first
Humayun’s Tomb
Delhi, India[3.7 miles]
Stunning mausoleum and precursor to the Taj Mahal, with tranquil well-maintained gardens.
Best for ages: 13+ | £1
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Friday Mosque
Delhi, India[4.5 miles]
Completed in 1656 by Emperor Shah Jahan, this is one of India’s largest and most beautiful mosques.
Best for ages: 18+ | £3
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Red Fort
Delhi, India[5.3 miles]
Vast sandstone-walled fort with gardens, audience halls and royal apartments – a high point of Mughal military architecture.
Best for ages: 13+ | £5
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Akshardham Temple
Delhi, India[5.6 miles]
An extraordinary modern temple complex, drawing on traditional religious architecture and design.
Best for ages: 13+ | Free
Other worthwhile experiences near this experience if you have time or interest..
Experience
National Gallery of Modern Art
Delhi, India[1.5 miles]
Formerly a palace belonging to the Maharaja of Jaipur, the gallery is now a superb repository of Indian paintings, sculpture and even photography.
Best for ages: 18+ | £5
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Overview >
Experience
Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum
Delhi, India[1.9 miles]
The former bungalow residence of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is now a slightly macabre museum. Assassinated here in 1984 by her bodyguards, even that very spot remains spotted with blood.
Best for ages: 18+ | Free
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Experience
Lodi Garden
Delhi, India[2.1 miles]
Among Delhi’s quietest and leafiest parks, Lodi Gardens contain several 15th- and 16th-century tombs and monuments, most relating to the Afghan Lodi dynasty, which was eventually replaced by the Mughals.
Best for ages: 13+ | Free
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Qawwali singing
Delhi, India[3.2 miles]
A unique opportunity to experience traditional devotional music, performed in the courtyard of an ancient Sufi tomb-shrine in south Delhi.
Best for ages: 13+ | Free | 1 hour
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