Delhi: Old & New city tour with guide + lunch

4.97

(29 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I didn’t expect the air to change so quickly — one minute we were weaving through the honking madness of Chandni Chowk in a tuk-tuk (our guide Raj grinning at my wide-eyed panic), and then suddenly it was all calm courtyards and the echo of footsteps inside Jama Masjid. The red sandstone felt warm under my hand. Raj told us 5,000 workers built this place, but honestly, it was the pigeons that caught my eye — they seemed to own the whole courtyard.

After squeezing past spice stalls and sari shops (the smells! cardamom and something frying), we rolled by the Red Fort’s huge walls. I tried to picture emperors living there — hard when there’s a chai vendor right outside. Later, at Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, we took off our shoes and dipped fingers in cool water from the tank. There was this quiet kindness in how people moved around us; even as an outsider, I felt oddly welcome.

The switch from Old Delhi to New Delhi is almost funny — like someone flipped a switch. Suddenly it’s wide roads and Parliament House glinting in the sun. We stopped for photos at India Gate (Raj insisted on snapping one for us), then wandered through Humayun’s Tomb gardens where kids chased each other between tombstones. Lunch was simple but good — dal, roti, something spicy I couldn’t name — and I probably ate too much because I nearly nodded off in the car after.

By late afternoon we reached Qutub Minar. The bricks looked almost pink in the low light. Last stop: Lotus Temple. It was quieter than I expected; people just sitting or walking slowly under those white petals. I’m not sure what I thought would happen here — maybe nothing big did, but I still think about that hush sometimes.