Delhi is celebrating its economic rise with gusto. Its silvery, sleek new metro system, in its latest stage of expansion, makes the city a much more straightforward place to visit, allowing passengers to zip about in air—conditioned comfort, avoiding its notoriously polluted and congested roads.
Unlike the world above, Delhi’s metro is quiet, clean, calm and incredibly cheap.
The main line of interest to visitors is the north–south Yellow line, which whisks you between the city’s tourist attractions, from Mughal bazaars and forts, to cutting–edge art galleries and fusion restaurants.
Here is our guide to the 10 best stops.
Central Secretariat
This stop deposits you in clean, calm imperial Delhi, a gentle, culture shock—free introduction to the city. You emerge on Rajpath, Delhi’s most impressive boulevard, with the mighty arch of India Gate, a 1931 war memorial designed by Edwin Lutyens at its head. Museum lovers are well catered for: the National Museum (Crafts Museum and Gallery of Modern Art are all a walk or a short rickshaw ride away. Off the standard tourist trail is Purana Qila, Delhi’s oldest Mughal monument, where 100 rupees will buy you half—an—hour’s pedalo ride on a beautiful boating lake in the shadow of the citadel’s walls.
Racecourse
Two stops further south will take you to the Gandhi Smriti Museum where Mahatma Gandhi spent his last days and was assassinated in 1948. The museum is a comprehensive record of his life, displaying photographs, quotes and video footage, along with the few possessions he left behind, including his trademark spectacles. Nearby is the Indira Gandhi Memorial, where the assassinated prime minister’s rooms are preserved.
Jarbagh
This busy stop is handy for a visit to Safdarjung’s Tomb, a mausoleum built in 1754 for one of the most important Mughal nobles. Nearby, and more diverting, is Lodi Gardens, a peaceful park dotted with the tombs of Sayyid and Lodhi rulers, and a haven for the city’s butterflies and birds.
INA
There’s only one reason to visit this stop: to shop. Dilli Haat a two–minute walk from the station, is a collection of more than 150 stalls selling artisan goods from across India. With strict rules about hassling and haggling, it’s by far the most relaxing shopping experience in the city.
Green Park
Hauz Khas, Delhi’s hippest hangout, is a short rickshaw ride away. Set by a deer park and the crumbling ruins of Mughal tombs, this compact urban village is crammed with galleries, boutiques, bars and restaurants. French love songs and Cuban salsa waft from bars, and students practise capoeira in the park, giving it an international feel.
Qutab Minar
Two stops down from Green Park and the most southerly of our destinations, this station is a short rickshaw ride from the Qutab Minar complex, home to a triumphal 72–metre minaret, built to celebrate the advent of Muslim dominance in Delhi.
Khan Market
Big–name western stores, tourist–friendly restaurants and cafes make traffic–free Khan Market a big draw for wealthy Delhiites and expats. This station, on the Violet line, one stop east from Central Secretariat, is the place to buy tailored clothes. Khan Market is also one of the closest stops to Humayun’s Tomb, a must–see.
Rajiv Chowk
At the heart of New Delhi’s commercial district, this stop drops you at Connaught Place, a series of colonnaded neo–classical Georgian crescents built by the British between 1929 and 1933. The arcades shade a mix of upmarket western shops and traditional Indian street stalls and restaurants.
Patel Chowk
Enter the doors of the 1911 restaurant at the Imperial Hotel and you’ll be jettisoned back to the days of the Raj. Oak—panelled walls are hung with hunting scenes and pre–independence state crests, while the chandeliers twinkle. The menu is stolidly British — tea and biscuits, fish and chips and club sandwiches are favourites.
Chandni Chowk The final stop on our whistlestop tour is our most challenging, and should only be attempted by those with a strong stomach, oodles of stamina and plenty of wet wipes. Chandni Chowk coughs you straight into Old Delhi, the oldest, most chaotic and colourful part of the city
Old Delhi is also where you will find two of the city’s most notable landmarks: the wonderfully atmospheric Lal Qila, or Red Fort, built from sandstone in 1639 for Shah Jahan; and Jama Masjid, India’s largest mosque and one of its finest buildings, with three huge domes, a pair of minarets and a courtyard that holds 25,000 worshippers. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2014
