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Day 2 of 13 · Friday 30 Oct
Arrive Delhi — Mughal afternoon
Land at dawn, sleep until about 12:30, then Mughal Delhi in the afternoon and India Gate after dark.
where you sleep what you see · tap a marker for its deep dive
LO 071 arrives, Indira Gandhi Intl, Terminal 3.
e-Visa queue, rupees from the ATM, prepaid taxi or Uber to Janpath (~35 min at this hour).
Room is ready — the night of the 29th is paid so early check-in works. Sleep until ~12:30.
At the hotel, or 10 minutes on foot in Connaught Place.
The first great Mughal garden tomb (1570) — the building the Taj Mahal learned from, at its best in low afternoon light. ~20 min drive.
The story: The Seven Cities of Delhi →The restored Mughal heritage park next door — tombs among the flowerbeds, and a good chai stop.
The imperial axis lit up: India Gate, the lawns, Rashtrapati Bhavan up the hill. Busy with local families after dark.
Early night — tomorrow starts at 07:30.
On this day
What you are looking at, roughly in the order the day meets it.
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The mudra hands of Terminal 3 — above the immigration hall, nine giant copper hands each making a classical mudra (gesture) from Indian dance. The standard first photograph of India; T3 was among the world’s largest terminal buildings when it opened in 2010.
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Connaught Place — the hotel is on its edge: two concentric circles of white colonnades built in the 1930s as the commercial centre of British New Delhi, modelled loosely on Bath’s Royal Crescent. Still called “CP” and still the pivot of the city’s geography — the metro’s Rajiv Chowk station underneath is its busiest interchange.
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Humayun’s Tomb — the first great Mughal garden tomb (1570) and the building the Taj Mahal learned from: red sandstone with white marble trim, set in a charbagh (four-square paradise garden). The compound also holds the older octagonal tomb of Isa Khan, a complete little precinct of its own.
The story: The Seven Cities of Delhi → -
Sunder Nursery — the 90-acre Mughal-era garden next door, derelict for decades and reopened in 2018 after a model restoration: fifteen monuments, formal water channels, an arboretum, and the best chai stop in this part of town.
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India Gate & Kartavya Path — Lutyens’ 42-metre war memorial arch, carrying the names of some 13,000 soldiers of the Indian Army who died in the First World War. The two-mile ceremonial axis runs from here up Raisina Hill to Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace. After dark it turns into an enormous public picnic.
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Black kites — the wheeling raptors overhead all day, in their thousands. Delhi is reckoned to have the densest urban raptor population in the world; they thrive on the city’s open kitchens and butcher districts.
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Pre-Diwali Delhi — the festival is nine days out, and the build-up is already visible: string lights going up on facades, gift hampers stacked in shop windows, markets running late. The season runs on the Diwali bonus — the annual payout most Indian employers time to the festival — which is why the shopping peaks all at once.
Where to eat
Breakfast is at the hotel. Researched picks, not a directory — the small print names who recommends each. Names link to Google Maps.
Lunch
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Saravana Bhavan ₹ · Janpath — Delhi outpost of the Chennai vegetarian chain, five minutes on foot from the hotel — masala dosa, mini-tiffin thali, filter coffee. Afar city-guide pick; the standard first-night answer on traveller forums.
No alcohol; queues move fast. Right for a jetlagged early dinner.
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United Coffee House ₹₹₹ · Connaught Place, Inner Circle — High-ceilinged 1942 dining hall — kebab platters and butter chicken under the chandeliers. Same family since 1942; fixture of heritage-CP lists (TimeOut, LBB).
Unhurried — suits the last easy dinner before the 05:30 start.
Dinner
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Saravana Bhavan ₹ · Janpath — Delhi outpost of the Chennai vegetarian chain, five minutes on foot from the hotel — masala dosa, mini-tiffin thali, filter coffee. Afar city-guide pick; the standard first-night answer on traveller forums.
No alcohol; queues move fast. Right for a jetlagged early dinner.
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Kake Da Hotel ₹₹ · Connaught Place, Outer Circle — No-frills Punjabi dhaba on the Outer Circle — butter chicken, dal makhani, tandoori roti. CP institution since 1931; food-writer consensus for butter chicken.
Basic room, shared tables at peak times; open late.
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United Coffee House ₹₹₹ · Connaught Place, Inner Circle — High-ceilinged 1942 dining hall — kebab platters and butter chicken under the chandeliers. Same family since 1942; fixture of heritage-CP lists (TimeOut, LBB).
Unhurried — suits the last easy dinner before the 05:30 start.