Why go
Use the history to choose a route: Qutb Minar and Mehrauli point to the early Delhi Sultanate, Tughlaqabad to a later fortified capital, and Old Delhi to Shah Jahan’s Mughal city. The planned avenues of New Delhi add the colonial and post-independence chapters.
The full story
Delhi grew through a series of political centers rather than a single continuous plan. Around Mehrauli, the Qutb complex marks the early Delhi Sultanate, while older fort remains recall the area’s pre-Sultanate rulers. The Khilji period left traces around Siri and Hauz Khas. Farther south, the large walls of Tughlaqabad belong to another attempt to establish a fortified capital. Shah Jahan later developed the Mughal city now called Old Delhi, where the Red Fort, Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk still form a useful group for visitors. In the twentieth century, British planners laid out New Delhi south of that older city. After independence, its government precinct became the center of the Indian republic. These places are spread across the metropolis: seeing them in historical order is rewarding, but it calls for separate outings rather than a single monument walk.
Useful to know
- Give Mehrauli and the Qutb complex their own outing rather than attaching them to an Old Delhi walk.
- Use the Red Fort, Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk to see the Mughal chapter together.