Lahore Gate: The main gate to the fort takes its name from the fact that it faces towards Lahore, now in Pakistan. You enter the fort here and immediately find yourself in a vaulted arcade now given over to small shops. This was once the Meena Bazaar - the shopping centre for ladies of the court. The arcade of shops leads into the Naubat Khana which used to be a gallery for musicians but is now just an open courtyard.

Moti Masjid: Built in 1659 by Aurangzeb the Pearl Mosque is next to the baths.Other The Rang Mahal pavilion or ‘Painted Palace’ took its name from the painted interior which has now gone. The Khas Mahal was the private palace of the emperor and was divided into rooms for worship, sleeping and living. There is a small Museum of Archaelogy in the Mumtaz Mahal. The Delhi Gate to the south of the fort led to the Jami Masjid.

Jami Masjid: The great mosque of old Delhi is both the largest mosque in India and the final architectural extravagance of Shah Jahan. Commenced in 1644 the mosque was not completed until 1658. The mosque has three great gateways, four angle towers and two minarets which stand 40 metres high and are constructed of alternating vertical strips of red sandstone and white marble.There’s also a fine view of the Red Fort from the east side of the mosque. The Jami Masjid has a capacity of 25,000 people.

Raj Ghat:North-east of Feroz Shah Kotla, on the banks of the Yamuna, a simple square platform of black marble marks the spot where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated following his assasination in 1948. A ceremony takes place each Friday, the day he was killed. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister, was also cremated here in 1964. The Raj Ghat is now a beautiful park.

Feroz Shah Kotla: Erected by Feroz Shah Tughlaq in 1354 the ruins of Ferozabad, the fifth city of Delhi, are between the old and new Delhi’s. In the fortress-palace is an Ashoka pillar with Ashoka’s edicts (and a later inscription) on the 13 metre high column. The ruins of an old mosque and a fine well can also be seen in the area but the ruins were used for the construction of later cities.

Connaught Place: At the northern end of New Delhi, Connaught Place is the business and tourist centre of New Delhi. It’s a vast traffic circle with an architecturally uniform series of buildings around the edge - mainly devoted to shops, airline offices and the like. It’s spacious but busy and you’re continually approached by people willing to provide you with every imaginable necessity from an airline ticket to Timbuktu to having your fortune read.

Jantar Mantar: Only a short stroll down Parliament St from Connaught Place this strange collection of salmon coloured structures is another of Maharaja Jai Singh II’s observatories. The ruler from Jaipur constructed this observatory in 1725 and it is dominated by a huge sundial known as the ‘Prince of Dials’. Other instruments plot the course of heavenly bodies, the paths of stars and predict eclipses.

Laxmi Narayan Temple: Due west of Connaught Place this garishly coloured modern temple was erected by the industrialist Birla in 1938. It’s dedicated to Vishnu and his consort Laxmi, the goddess of wealth.

India Gate: The 42 metre-high stone arch of triumph stands at the eastern end of the Raj Path. It bears the name of 90,000 Indian Army soldiers who died in the campaigns of WW I, the North-West Frontier operations of the same time and the 1919 Afghan fiasco.

Rashtrapati Bhavan: The official residence of the President of India stands on Raisini Hill, at the opposite end of the Raj Path to India Gate. Completed in 1929 the palace-like building has an elegant Moghul garden and occupies 130 hectares.Prior to independence this was the Viceroy’s House, the residence of the Viceroy of India. At the time of Mountbatten, India’s last Viceroy, the number of servants needed to maintain the 340 rooms of the building and its extensive gardens was enormous. There were 418 gardeners alone, 50 of them boys whose sole job was to chase away birds!

Parliament House: Sansad Bhavan, the Indian Parliament Building, stands at the end of Sansad Marg, Parliament St, just north of the Raj Path. This is one of the key elements in the design of New Delhi. A straight line drawn from the parliament building, down Parliament St, passes through the centre of Connaught Place and extended beyond it intersects the Jami Masjid. The building is a circular colonnaded structure 171 metres in diameter.

Jantar Mantar: One of several astronomical observatories raised by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur, it is close to the Raj-era commercial complex Connaught Place. The abstract structures within are, in fact, instruments used to track of celestial bodies.

Qutub Minar: The Qutub Minar in Mehrauli is the highest stone tower in India. It was built by Qutubuddin Aibak in 1192 to celebrate Mohammad Ghori’s victory over the Rajputs. It reaches 73 metres high and tapers from a 15 metre diameter base to just 2.5 metres at the top. More…

Humayun’s Tomb: It is generally regarded as the forerunner to the exquisite Taj in terms of style and architecture. It uses high arches; double domes and formally laid out gardens to great effect.

Jama Masjid: Built by Emperor Shahjahan as part of his new city in 1658, it boasts of three grand gateways, four angled towers and two 40 m high minarets. People of all religions can visit the mosque but must not offend religious sensibilities.

Bahai Temple:This unique lotus-shaped marble temple looks stunning at dusk when it is floodlit.Built as recently as in 1986, it is set amidst pools and gardens and just about anybody is free to visit the temple, pray or meditate silently on the premises.

Hazrat Nizamuddin: Thousands of devotees-both Muslim and Hindu-throng to the tomb shrine of the suf i saint Nizamuddin Auliya every year. Thursdays are really special as the dargah comes alive with music and qawwalis at night.

Lakshmi Narayan Temple: This temple devoted to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity was built by one of India’s leading business families, the Birlas in 1938.

ISKON Temple: This grand cult temple is built on a hill in South Delhi and is dedicated to Lord Krishna. The USP here is the tech-savvy Bhagavad Gita Experience, an animatronics show with robots depicting Krishna and Arjuna.

Gurudwara Bangla Sahib: The 8th Sikh Guru Harkishan Dev visited Delhi in 1664 and stayed at a magnificent bungalow that later became a place of Sikh pilgrimage.

Art Galleries
National Gallery of Modern Art, Jaipur House
Lalit Kala Akademi, Firoz Shah Road
Triveni Kala Sangam, Tansen Marg
Dhoomimal Art Gallery, 8 A, Connaught Place
Vadhera Art Gallery, Defence Colony
Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, 4, Siri Fort Institutional Area