New Delhi Travel Guide: The Planned Capital, Its Sights and Planning Your Day

The British announced the move of their capital from Calcutta to Delhi at the Delhi Durbar of 12 December 1911, chose Raisina Hill for the site, and opened the new capital officially on 15 February 1931, according to the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker led the planners, and what they laid out is still the government quarter: wide avenues, a ceremonial axis from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhavan, and open lawns. The sights below follow that axis first, then move to the tombs and observatories close to it. For the rest of the city, see our Delhi travel guide and our Old Delhi travel guide.

Rashtrapati Bhavan

The President's residence is a house of four floors with some 340 rooms, built to Lutyens's H-shaped plan with pink sandstone from the Fatehpur Sikri quarries and cream Dholpur stone. Building took more than seventeen years, and Viceroy Irwin was its first occupant, in April 1929. Its 44.2-metre Jaipur Column, a gift from the Maharaja of Jaipur, rises in the forecourt. Visits run in circuits that you book online on the official visit site: Circuit One covers the main building, while the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum and Amrit Udyan are booked separately.

Amrit Udyan and the Change of Guard

Amrit Udyan, the 15-acre garden of Rashtrapati Bhavan, has the Circular, Long and Bonsai gardens among others. It opens to the public only for announced periods, in recent years from early February, and booking online is mandatory; booking for a given day closes at 10:00 on the previous day. The Change of Guard is a ceremony by the President's Bodyguard, raised in 1773, and the official site says it is held on Saturdays except gazetted holidays. The same page gives more than one start time, so check the booking page before you plan around it.

Kartavya Path

Kartavya Path was inaugurated on 8 September 2022 and replaced the Rajpath, the old Kingsway. It runs from the National War Memorial to Rashtrapati Bhavan, and the redevelopment added lawns with walkways, refurbished canals, vending kiosks, pedestrian underpasses and better night lighting. A 28-foot granite statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose stands near India Gate. The Republic Day parade passes along the path every 26 January; tickets are sold on the Ministry of Defence's Aamantran website and at counters, in recent years from early January.

India Gate

India Gate is a 42-metre arch designed by Lutyens in memory of soldiers who died in the First World War and the Third Anglo-Afghan War, and it carries the dates 1914 and 1919. The Duke of Connaught laid its foundation stone in 1921, and Viceroy Lord Irwin dedicated it in 1931. Only 13,516 of the more than 83,000 Indians who died are named on it. Delhi Tourism lists it as open from morning to night with no closing day, and it is floodlit after dark.

National War Memorial

Inaugurated on 25 February 2019, east of India Gate, the memorial has a central obelisk with an eternal flame, six bronze murals and walls of granite tablets that name Indian soldiers who have died since 1947. The Amar Jawan Jyoti flame installed under the arch in 1972 was merged with this flame on 21 January 2022, so the eternal flame now burns here, not under the arch. The memorial's site gives hours of 9 am to 7.30 pm from November to March and 9 am to 8.30 pm from April to October, with entry restricted on certain days. Stay on the paths and keep phones on silent.

Humayun's Tomb

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) says Humayun's widow, Hamida Banu Begam, began the tomb in 1569, fourteen years after his death, and that the Persian architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyath designed it. It stands at the centre of a square garden divided into four by causeways, a charbagh, entered through double-storeyed gateways on the west and south. The ASI writes that it "set up a new vogue, the crowning achievement of which is the Taj at Agra", and it is a World Heritage Site. It opens at sunrise; listings give different closing times, so check on the day. Incredible India pairs it with Sunder Nursery, a heritage park.

National Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art

Delhi Tourism places the National Museum about 2 km from Parliament House and the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) at Jaipur House about 2 km on again; from the NGMA you can see India Gate. The gallery shows more than 150 years of changing Indian art. The National Museum is closed on Mondays.

Parliament House and Jantar Mantar

Delhi Tourism says visitors can enter Parliament House only with special permission, so for most travellers it is a building to see from outside. Jantar Mantar, on Parliament Street, is the observatory that Maharaja Jai Singh of Jaipur built in 1724, with large instruments that he made because he found the existing ones too small for accurate measurement. Delhi Tourism lists it as open from sunrise to sunset, and the nearest metro station is Patel Chowk.

Connaught Place and Gurudwara Bangla Sahib

Connaught Place is, in Delhi Tourism's words, a hub for speciality and multi-cuisine restaurants, and Janpath, nearby, is where it points visitors for cheaper shopping. Rajiv Chowk is the metro station for both. About half a kilometre away stands Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, which Delhi Tourism lists as open 24 hours; the langar there serves free meals to thousands of people daily, and you cover your head to go in.

Lodhi Garden and Safdarjung's Tomb

Lodhi Garden, on Lodi Road, is a park among the tombs of the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties, and the nearest metro station is JLN Stadium. Safdarjung's Tomb, built in 1753 and 1754 for the Mughal viceroy of Awadh, is the last enclosed garden tomb in Delhi in the tradition of Humayun's, though on a smaller scale; Jor Bagh is the nearest station. Both are open daily, in daylight hours.

Purana Qila

Purana Qila, the Old Fort, stands near Delhi Zoo on a site that Delhi Tourism links to Indraprastha, the earliest of Delhi's cities. Its walls run for nearly two kilometres, with thick ramparts crowned with merlons and three gateways, and it was once surrounded by a wide moat connected to the Yamuna. The northern gateway, the Talaqi Darwaza, combines an Islamic pointed arch with Hindu chhatris and brackets. Delhi Tourism lists no closing day.