One Week in Delhi: An Offbeat Itinerary
A full week inside Delhi itself, no Agra or Jaipur day trip stealing a day, covers Old and New Delhi properly, then works through a free stepwell, a mural district, a toilet museum, and a quieter fort before saving Akshardham’s evening water show for the last night. If a week feels like too much, the 2 day weekend version covers the essentials alone; if the Golden Triangle is the actual goal, see Delhi as the gateway to Agra and Jaipur instead.
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | Old Delhi on foot and by rickshaw, the spice market included |
| 2 | New Delhi’s monuments and Humayun’s Tomb’s Sufi neighbor |
| 3 | Qutub Minar’s 100-plus forgotten neighbors in Mehrauli |
| 4 | A free stepwell, Delhi’s mural district, and Lodhi Garden |
| 5 | A quieter fort, a lake, and a nightly light show |
| 6 | The world’s only toilet museum, plus a market crawl |
| 7 | The Lotus Temple, Akshardham’s water show, and departure |
Book these before you go
- Reserve an Old Delhi heritage walk with rickshaw ride , the easiest way through Chandni Chowk’s lanes
- Book the Qutub Minar and Humayun’s Tomb skip-the-line combo ticket , covering two of the week’s monuments in one booking
- Reserve Purana Qila’s sound and light show with dinner , skipped on Fridays so check the date first
- Book a guided Sulabh Museum visit if the outskirts near the airport feel daunting alone
- Compare Delhi hotel rates on Agoda before picking a neighborhood for the week
Day 1: Old Delhi on foot and by rickshaw
Start at the Red Fort, roughly 550 rupees for foreigners, open 9:30am to 4:30pm Tuesday through Sunday and closed Mondays; book directly through ASI to skip the walk-up queue. Walk or rickshaw to Jama Masjid next, free to enter the courtyard, though a 300 rupee photography permit and 100 rupee minaret climb are genuine separate charges and the mosque closes to visitors during its five daily prayer times. Finish at Khari Baoli, reportedly Asia’s largest wholesale spice market, best before 10am, then dinner at Karim’s near the mosque, serving Mughlai food since 1913.
Day 2: New Delhi’s monuments and Humayun’s Tomb’s Sufi neighbor
Morning at India Gate and along Kartavya Path, the ceremonial boulevard renamed from Rajpath in 2022, both free and open-air. Then Humayun’s Tomb, bookable directly through ASI at roughly 550 rupees for foreigners, open daily sunrise to sunset with no weekly closure. A short auto ride away, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah hosts free qawwali most evenings, best on a Thursday after Maghrib prayer if the calendar allows it; donations are customary and a head covering is expected inside.
Day 3: Qutub Minar’s 100-plus forgotten neighbors in Mehrauli
Qutub Minar’s interior stairwell has stayed closed since a December 1981 stampede, so today’s roughly 550 rupee foreigner ticket, bookable directly through ASI , buys ground-level viewing only, still worth it for the 12th-century carving detail. What most visitors skip next door is Mehrauli Archaeological Park, free and ASI-protected, scattering more than 100 tombs and step-wells through actual forest rather than a manicured lawn. Spend the afternoon at Hauz Khas Village, a 13th-14th-century madrasa and tomb complex ringing a reservoir, now surrounded by cafes and a deer park.
Day 4: A free stepwell, Delhi’s mural district, and Lodhi Garden
Agrasen ki Baoli, a 108-step 14th-century stepwell five minutes from Connaught Place, still costs nothing to enter as of mid-2026, though ASI has signaled a move toward ticketed entry, so carry small cash just in case. Walk Lodhi Colony’s open-air mural district next, India’s first, free and gateless, then close the day in adjacent Lodhi Garden among its Sayyid and Lodhi-era tombs. All three sit within a comfortable walking loop and cost nothing beyond a rickshaw or Metro fare.
Day 5: A quieter fort, a lake, and a nightly light show
Purana Qila, Delhi’s older fort a few minutes from India Gate, charges foreigners roughly 300 rupees, a fraction of the Red Fort’s crowd. Boating on the fort’s lake runs about 100 rupees for 20 minutes between 7am and 6pm, and the nightly “Ishq-e-Dilli” sound and light show costs 100 rupees adult, 50 concession, skipped on Fridays. Spend the rest of the afternoon at Dilli Haat’s crafts market before the evening show.
Day 6: The world’s only toilet museum, plus a market crawl
The Sulabh International Museum of Toilets, out near Dabri-Palam Road in Mahavir Enclave, tracks sanitation history from the Harappan era to Sulabh’s own compost-toilet designs, free to enter, open 10am to 6pm Monday through Saturday and 10am to 5pm on Sundays and holidays. It’s further out than the week’s other stops, so pair the trip with an afternoon at Sarojini Nagar Market for budget shopping, then an evening in Hauz Khas Village for dinner and a slower pace.
Day 7: The Lotus Temple, Akshardham’s water show, and departure
Why save Akshardham for the last night instead of an earlier day? Because its evening water show, about 90 rupees and starting near sunset, makes a genuinely better finale than a jet-lagged first morning would. The Lotus Temple, a Baha’i house of worship rather than a Hindu temple, is free and open 9am to 7pm April through September, 9am to 5:30pm the rest of the year, closed Mondays. Akshardham’s temple complex is also free to enter; the exhibitions run roughly 250 rupees adult and 150 child, and phones, cameras, and bags are barred inside, so use the entrance lockers.
Check current AQI readings before this trip if it falls between November and February, since Delhi’s post-harvest smog season is a genuine health consideration, not travel-blog caution. Head back via the Airport Express Metro , about 60 rupees and under 20 minutes from New Delhi Railway Station to Terminal 3, rather than fighting traffic on the ring road with bags. A week is enough time to leave Delhi having spent more on Metro fares and spice-market snacks than on a single hotel buffet, which is the whole point of doing it this way.