Delhi, India 4 Day Itinerary

Within thirty seconds of clearing customs at IGI Airport, someone will offer you a “tourist office” recommendation. Ignore it. The only government tourist office in Delhi sits at 88 Janpath, and anyone flagging you down near baggage claim or Connaught Place is working commission, not the public interest. Four days is enough time to get a real feel for Old and New Delhi if you plan the heat and the traffic into your schedule rather than around it.

Getting In

Skip the arrivals-hall taxi touts entirely. The Airport Express Metro line runs from Terminal 3 to New Delhi Railway Station in about twenty minutes for roughly 60 rupees, and it beats any car during evening rush hour on the NH8. If you’re arriving with heavy luggage or landing after the line’s last train around 11:30pm, use the prepaid taxi counter inside the terminal rather than hailing anything outside; expect around 800-900 rupees to central Delhi, with a 25% surcharge after midnight. Do not use an app-based ride from touts loitering by the exit doors claiming their app is “broken today.”

Day 1: Old Delhi on Foot

  • Morning: Breakfast at Karim’s near Jama Masjid, running continuously since 1913. The mutton burra and seekh kebabs are the reason people put up with the brusque service and a bill that can feel steep for what’s still fundamentally a no-frills diner, budget around 900 rupees for two. Go early, before 9am, or you’ll be fighting tour groups for a table.
  • Visit Humayun’s Tomb in Nizamuddin East. This is the structure that set the template for the Taj Mahal a century later, complete with the same charbagh garden layout, and foreign-visitor entry runs about 600 rupees.
  • Walk or take a short auto to the Red Fort on Netaji Subhash Marg. The site closes on Mondays, so check your day-of-week before building this into the itinerary.
  • Lunch at Paranthe Wali Gali in Chandni Chowk, a single lane of parantha stalls that has fed this neighborhood for well over a century. Order the stuffed cauliflower or mixed vegetable parantha with the pickle plate that comes free with it.
  • Afternoon: Khari Baoli, Asia’s largest spice market, sits at the western end of Chandni Chowk. Go for the smell and the color, not to buy, unless you enjoy negotiating shipping regulations for saffron.
  • Evening: Chaat at one of the small stalls threading through Chandni Chowk’s side lanes. Skip anything with cut fruit sitting in the open; stick to food cooked to order in front of you.
  • Stay in the Connaught Place or Paharganj area rather than deep inside Old Delhi itself. You want easy metro access more than you want to be inside the walled city after dark.

My honest take: Old Delhi rewards walking over any guided rickshaw tour. The narrow lanes are exactly where cycle-rickshaw drivers want to detour you toward a “cousin’s” textile shop, so agree on a fixed price and destination before you get in, or just walk.

Day 2: New Delhi and Colonial Grandeur

  • Morning: The Lotus Temple in Kalkaji is free to enter and the queue moves fast before 10am. Dress modestly since it’s an active Bahai house of worship, not a photo backdrop.
  • Head to Connaught Place, laid out by British architects in the 1930s on a Georgian-style circular plan. The inner and outer circles hold a mix of chain stores and old-Delhi institutions.
  • Lunch at one of the CP-area restaurants serving Mughlai and North Indian fare; expect upscale spots here to run considerably higher than Old Delhi prices for a similar dish.
  • Afternoon: Qutub Minar in Mehrauli, a 73-metre minaret begun in 1193 and the tallest brick minaret in the world. Foreign-visitor entry is around 550 rupees, and the surrounding complex, including the Iron Pillar that hasn’t rusted in over 1,600 years, easily fills two hours.
  • Evening: Select Citywalk in Saket for air-conditioned shopping and a break from the heat, or Hauz Khas Village if you want bars and boutiques instead.
  • Dinner at a Hauz Khas Village restaurant overlooking the 14th-century reservoir and Feroz Shah Tughlaq’s tomb, lit up after dark.

Opinion: Connaught Place is worth an afternoon, not a full day. The real texture of Delhi is in the older neighborhoods; CP is where you go to decompress with wifi and air conditioning between them.

Day 3: Faith, Food, and the National Museum

  • Morning: Gurudwara Bangla Sahib on Ashoka Road never closes and welcomes everyone regardless of religion. Cover your head with the cloths provided at the entrance, and if you’re hungry, join the langar hall where volunteers serve a simple free meal to thousands daily, a genuinely moving thing to witness and take part in.
  • Head to Dilli Haat near INA Market for state-by-state handicrafts and regional food stalls; there’s a small entry fee, usually under 100 rupees.
  • Lunch at one of the regional food counters inside Dilli Haat itself rather than searching outside; the variety covers most of India’s states in one compact space.
  • Afternoon: The National Museum on Janpath houses one of the country’s best collections of Indian art and archaeology, including Harappan artifacts that predate most of what you’ve seen so far by two thousand years.
  • Evening: Hauz Khas Village again if you skipped it, or Lodhi Garden for a sunset walk past 15th-century tombs scattered through manicured lawns, free and far less crowded than the major monuments.

The langar at Bangla Sahib is the single most memorable stop of the trip for most first-time visitors to Delhi, and it costs nothing. Don’t skip it for a paid attraction instead.

Day 4: Markets and Departure

  • Morning: Sarojini Nagar Market for export-surplus clothing at a fraction of retail price. Haggle hard; the first quoted price is a starting offer, not a real one.
  • Lunch at Bukhara inside the ITC Maurya in Chanakyapuri if your budget allows it. It has hosted more heads of state than most embassies and the dal bukhara alone justifies the reservation, though a meal here runs many multiples of what you paid at Karim’s on day one.
  • Depending on your flight time, use the Airport Express back to T3 rather than risking road traffic, particularly if you’re flying out during evening rush between 5 and 8pm.

Practical Notes

Carry small-denomination rupee notes; UPI apps are everywhere for locals but foreign cards often won’t link to them, and small vendors rarely have change for a 500-note. Dress modestly at religious sites and cover shoulders and knees generally. April through June runs brutally hot, well above 40 Celsius some afternoons, so October through March is the better window if your dates are flexible. The metro is the most reliable way to move around the city and has a separate coach for women at the front of each train. If an autorickshaw driver insists the meter is broken, get out and find another one; it isn’t, he’s angling for a flat fare well above the metered rate.