How Many Days in Delhi? — Trip Planner

What first-timers get wrong in Delhi

Prepaid taxi counters at the airport and railway stations exist for a reason: touts outside will tell you your hotel has burned down or closed, then offer an alternative. It is a scam with a script. Buy a Delhi Metro tourist card, INR 200 for one day or INR 500 for three. Monument ticket counters shut an hour before the site itself does.

What's actually worth your time in Delhi

Humayun's Tomb is the one to prioritise: it prototyped the Taj, opens six to six daily, costs foreigners INR 600, and carries a fraction of the Red Fort's crowds. The Red Fort at INR 550, closed Mondays, is more history than spectacle now that most pavilions stand stripped. Qutub Minar's INR 550 buys a startling twelfth-century minaret and the uncorroded iron pillar beside it.

Delhi's museums, and which one to pick

The National Museum on Janpath shuts Mondays and gazetted holidays and charges foreigners INR 650; its Harappan rooms hold the Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro and a relic casket attributed to the Buddha. For twentieth-century painting, the National Gallery of Modern Art at Jaipur House has the Amrita Sher-Gil holdings. The Crafts Museum beside Purana Qila is quieter, cheaper and more tactile.

Delhi with kids, realistically

The Metro is the family's best asset here: air-conditioned, cheap, with a women-and-children coach at the front, though most stations mean stairs and a security queue. The National Rail Museum in Chanakyapuri lets children board steam engines and ride a toy train. Lodhi Garden is the good free run-around. Air quality collapses from late October into January, so check readings before outdoor days.

When the weather turns in Delhi

Delhi's problem is less steady rain than the July or August cloudburst that drowns underpasses within minutes. The National Museum works, and the Humayun's Tomb site museum opened in 2024 is largely sunken underground and dry throughout. Select Citywalk in Saket fills an indoor afternoon. The Metro keeps running when roads do not, and Chandni Chowk's lanes flood first, so postpone them.

When to go to Delhi

The month to avoid is July — around 34°C (93°F) with roughly 22 rain days. Prices and crowds track the weather here: February is the sweet spot, July the month most people skip.

Pack for peak season: Summer clothes, plus one light layer for air-con and evenings, Comfortable walking shoes — every guide on this site assumes you'll use them.