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| Home > City Guide - Delhi - Sightseeing | ||
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Sightseeing Sightseeing Overview The best-known sights are the two buildings that dominate Old Delhi, the Red Fort and Jama Masjid. A stroll through the chaotic, raucous, smelly alleyways of the Old City – also known as Shahjahanabad, after the 17th-century Mughal emperor who built it – is a fascinating experience. The bazzars of Chandni Chowk are a riot of colourful exoticism and frenetic activity. The Old City is decaying rapidly but it is still possible to glimpse a mosque here or the courtyard of a proud old townhouse there, hidden behind a shop front. To the south of Old Delhi and in complete contrast to it, is Rajpath and the buildings on Raisina Hill – Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Secretariat – which form the centrepiece of British New Delhi. After the clamour of the Old City, the calm elegance and baroque vistas of this most splendidly laid-out scheme is a welcome relief. Between Old Delhi and Rajpath is Connaught Place, the arcaded bull’s eye of New Delhi, where shops, banks, bars, restaurants and hotels tout loudly for business. Heading south once more, through the leafy enclaves of New Delhi – which have an allure all of their own, as they are spacious, shady and lusciously green – the visitor will find the bulk of the ancient monuments of medieval Delhi. Humayun’s Tomb and the Lodhi Gardens are readily accessible from the centre of the city. The Qutb Minar complex, the vast and formidable Tughluqabad and the remains at Haus Khaz are located deeper in the southern suburbs. The swingeing increases in admission charges to the monuments in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), imposed in October 2000, have now been moderated, as a result of protests from the tourist industry. As before, the new rates apply, somewhat controversially, only to foreigners. The easiest way for one to get from site to site is by taxi or auto-rickshaw. Sightseeing in Delhi can be exhausting – negotiating the urban sprawl and traffic is a long-drawn-out and tiring business, particularly in the heat. But it is an experience that no traveller will regret. Tourist Information Government of India Tourist Office 88 Janpath Tel: (011) 332 0005. Fax: (011) 332 0109. E-mail: newdelhi@tourisminindia.com Website: www.tourisminindia.com Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1800, Sat 0900-1400. Passes There are no tourist passes currently available in Delhi. |
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