Lonely Planet Pocket Delhi & Agra

By Daniel McCrohan

Lonely Planet: The world's number one travel guide publisher*

Lonely Planet's Pocket Delhi & Agra is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Explore the magnificent Taj Mahal, marvel at the splendour of Old Delhi's remnants of former empires and sample the most delicious street food - all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Delhi & Agra and begin your journey now!

Inside Lonely Planet's Pocket Delhi & Agra:

• Full-colour maps and images throughout
• Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests
• Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots
• Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices
• Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
• User-friendly layout with helpful icons, and organised by neighbourhood to help you pick the best spots to spend your time
• Covers Delhi, Agra and more.

The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Pocket Delhi & Agra is our colourful, easy to use and handy guide that literally fits in your pocket, and is packed with the best sights and experiences for a short trip or weekend away.

Looking for more extensive coverage? Check out Lonely Planet's Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra for an in-depth guide to the region.

About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more.

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

*Source: Nielsen BookScan: Australia, UK, USA, 5/2016-4/2017

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Release date: Oct 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781788687294

Book preview

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Delhi & Agra

Top Sights

Eating

Drinking & Nightlife

Shopping & Markets

Spiritual Delhi & Agra

History

Activities & Tours

Museums

For Kids

Four Perfect Days

Need to Know

Delhi & Agra Neighbourhoods

Explore Delhi & Agra

Old Delhi (Shahjahanabad)

New Delhi

Sunder Nagar, Nizamuddin & Lodi Colony

South Delhi

Greater Delhi & Gurgaon (Gurugram)

Agra

Worth a Trip

Fatehpur Sikri

Survival Guide

Survival Guide

Before You Go

Arriving in Delhi & Agra

Getting Around

Essential Information

Language

Behind the Scenes

Our Writers

Welcome to Delhi & Agra

It’s no shock that Mughal India’s two great capital cities flaunt such incredible historical riches – not least the peerless Taj Mahal – but Delhi and Agra spring some surprises too. Heavenly street food, gloriously chaotic bazaars and, in Delhi’s modern suburbs, sky trains that zip shoppers from mall to mall, offer a tantalising glimpse of the India of the future.

Qutab Minar | AVIGATOR FORTUNER/SHUTTERSTOCK©

Delhi & Agra

Top Sights

1 Taj Mahal

The ultimate monument to love.

OLENA TUR/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Delhi & Agra Top Sights

1 Qutab Minar Complex

The world’s tallest brick minaret.

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Delhi & Agra Top Sights

1 Agra Fort

Awesome red-sandstone riverside fortress.

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Delhi & Agra Top Sights

1 Mehrauli Archaeological Park

Forested park scattered with ruins.

RAVI KRISHNAN GUPTA/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Delhi & Agra Top Sights

1 Humayun’s Tomb

Inspiration for the Taj Mahal.

CRS PHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Delhi & Agra Top Sights

1 Red Fort

Old Delhi’s immense Mughal fortress.

JANELLE LUGGE/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Delhi & Agra Top Sights

1 Hazrat Nizam-ud-din Dargah

Spiritual, atmospheric shrine.

TAHIR ANSARI/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO ©

Delhi & Agra Top Sights

1 Rajpath

Parade grounds of the British Raj.

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Delhi & Agra Top Sights

1 Purana Qila

Delhi’s prodigious ‘Old Fort’.

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Delhi & Agra Top Sights

1 Jama Masjid

Delhi’s principal mosque.

LUCIANO MORTULA - LGM/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Delhi & Agra Top Sights

1 Fatehpur Sikri

Emperor Akbar’s ghostly abandoned city.

DON MAMMOSER/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Delhi & Agra Top Sights

1 Akshardham Temple

Delhi’s largest Hindu temple.

FOTOS593/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Eating

While Delhiites graze all day on the city’s masterful, taste-tingling Dilli-ka-Chaat, the city’s dining scene is also becoming increasingly diverse. Creative cuisine at Delhi’s modern restaurants now sits alongside traditional purveyors of delicate dhals and meaty Mughal delights. In Agra, fans of street food should make a beeline for chaat galli (snack alley).

MRINALPAL/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Dilli-ka-Chaat

Old Delhi sizzles with the sound of Dilli-ka-Chaat (street-food snacks) being fried, boiled, grilled and flipped. Chaat to look out for include: dahi bhalle (fried lentil balls served with yoghurt and garnished with chutney); aloo tikki (spiced potato patties; pictured); shakarkandi (sweet potato) baked on coals on a flip-out table; and aloo chaat (fried pieces of parboiled potato mixed with chickpeas and chopped onions, and garnished with spices and chutney).

Breakfast in Delhi

Aside from Dilli-ka-Chaat, Delhi specialities include breakfast-favourite chole bhature (spicy chickpeas, accompanied by puffy, fried bread with a light paneer filling); and chole kulche, a healthier version of chole bhature made with boiled chickpeas and less-greasy baked bread. Nihari (goat curry eaten with roti) is a popular breakfast for Delhi’s Muslim population, and the only breakfast item at legendary Karim’s.

Street Sweets

Devilishly sticky jalebi (orange-coloured coils of deep-fried batter dunked in sugar syrup) are served hot from numerous holes-in-the-wall across the city; Old Delhi’s Jalebi Wala is the most famous of the lot.

Those with a sweet tooth should also seek out one of the old kheer (rice pudding) makers, and on a hot day you can do no wrong with a kulfi (traditional Indian ice cream), while some Old Delhi lemon-drink sellers still serve handmade lemonade from glass bottles sealed with a marble.

Best Budget Eats

Darbar Setting the bar for budget food in Paharganj, this all-veg restaurant isn’t dirt cheap, but is fabulously good value.

Sita Ram Dewan Chand The capital’s most famous supplier of Delhi’s go-to breakfast choice: chole bhature.

Tadka An all-veg Indian restaurant that’s a notch above its Main Bazaar competitors.

Andhra Pradesh Bhawan Canteen Expect long queues and table-sharing; that’s what you get when food is this good, and this cheap.

Best Midrange Eats

Karim’s Much loved by Delhi’s Muslim population, legendary Karim’s serves unrivalled goat, lamb and flatbreads.

Mama Chicken Agra’s superstar dhaba (casual eatery) with duelling veg and nonveg glorified street stalls that employ 24 cooks during the rush.

Naivedyam South Indian restaurant with an exquisite temple-like interior.

Best Fine Dining

Indian Accent Five-star restaurant serving contemporary Indian cuisine from the grounds of luxury Lodhi hotel.

Esphahan Agra’s finest restaurant in its finest hotel offers an exquisite menu chock-full of unique delicacies, but anything that comes out of the succulent North Indian tandoor is a showstopper.

Lakhori Mughlai delights in the courtyard restaurant of the charming Old Delhi hotel, Haveli Dharampura.

Old Delhi’s Delicious Street Food

JAYANT BAHEL/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Dilli-ka-Chaat Favourites

A chole bhature – spicy chickpeas, accompanied by puffy, fried bread with a light paneer filling; a breakfast favourite

A dahi bhalle – fried lentil balls served with yoghurt and chutney

A aloo tikki – spiced potato patties

A jalebi – orange-coloured coils of deep-fried batter dunked in sugar syrup

A kheer – rice pudding

Top Places for Delhi Street Food

Sita Ram Dewan Chand

A hole-in-the-wall serving inexpensive portions of just one dish – chhole bhature.

Natraj Dahi Balle Corner

This tiny place is famous for its dahi bhalle and deliciously crispy aloo tikki.

Jalebi Wala

Century-old Jalebi Wala does Delhi’s finest jalebis.

PT Gaya Prasad Shiv Charan

This is the most popular paratha joint in Old Delhi.

Bade Mia Ki Kheer

Family owned, serving superdelicious, creamy, cardamon-scented kheer.

Standing Room Only

Old Delhi is the place to come for your Dilli-ka-Chaat (street-food snacks). Most places are simple street-side stalls or hole-in-the-wall joints with nowhere to sit, but sometimes a couple of tables to stand beside. There’s rarely any menu as most places tend only to sell one or two items, which you can easily just point at to order. If in doubt, just have whatever the person next to you has ordered. It’s bound to be tasty.

Sweet jalebi | PRAVIN SONI/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Drinking & Nightlife

Delhi’s ever-growing cafe scene has given rise to artisanal coffee, while the city’s bar and live-music choices are also burgeoning. For the latest places to go at night, check out Little Black Book (https://lbb.in/delhi) or Brown Paper Bag (http://brownpaperbag.in/delhi). For drinks in Agra, seek out a hotel rooftop restaurant.

JEREMY SUTTON-HIBBERT/ALAMY ©

Bars

Delhi’s nightlife is very quiet when compared with similar sized cities in the West, but there are a few decent bars, some with live music, dotted across the South Delhi enclaves. In the centre, there are some cocktail and single-malt hangouts in five-star hotels, while bars in Connaught Place tend to be brash and a bit samey, with a few exceptions. Backpacker-centred Paharganj has some dives that are fun hangouts, with reasonably cheap beer.

A smart-casual dress code (no shorts, vests or flip-flops) applies at many places. Many bars have two-for-one happy hours from around noon till 8pm.

Alcohol-free nightlife

There are ubiquitous coffee chains, including Café Coffee Day, Costa and Starbucks, but Delhi also has independent cafes that are doing special things, with fine fresh-grind coffees and organic eats.

Many locals and domestic tourists, especially families, spend the evening enjoying a stroll along night-time promenades such as Rajpath or Connaught Place, buying Dilli-ka-Chaat and ice cream from pop-up stalls. Some street markets, such as Paharganj’s Main Bazaar, stay open after dark, and are buzzing places to go for an evening stroll even if you’re not intent on actually buying anything.

Best Bars

Unplugged A step up from the usual Connaught Place drinking dross, Unplugged offers live music and tables under a huge banyan tree.

Piano Man Jazz Club A funky, dim-lit speakeasy with the best live jazz in Delhi.

Hauz Khas Social Hauz Khas’s hippest bar has craft beer, cocktails and a friendly vibe.

Ek Bar Stylish bar with some serious mixology.

1911 Sip the perfect cocktail against a backdrop of maharaja murals in the Imperial’s classiest bar. (pictured)

Sam’s Bar The most laid-back dive bar in Paharganj.

Best for Coffee

Blue Tokai Delhi’s premier coffee roaster is hidden in the cool-as-cats art enclave of Champa Gali.

Ama Popular cafe with good food and strong coffee in the heart of Delhi’s Tibetan community.

Triveni Terrace Cafe French-press coffee overlooking an art