An inevitable stopover during your trip to India, Delhi will quickly take you in its stride - its clamorous noise as people try to get your attention and offer to take you shopping, not least so they can get a commission for bringing the customers in.
But despite that, Delhi is a shopper's paradise, with thousands of clothes, jewelry and furnishing shops. You can pick up some great deals and prices are often lower than in the rest of the country.
As for when to go, there's barely a month when the weather is tolerable. In summer Delhi melts under temperatures of 50°C or more and in winter it gets as cold as Europe. Having only been there during hot, summer months, when you feel listless during the day, I suggest you head out in the evening, just like the local families who wait until it's cool enough before heading down to India Gate (inspired by Paris's Arc de Triomphe) to picnic as the sun goes down.
Delhi was the first city I visited when arriving in India. I clearly remember the journey from the airport to Paharganj, a neighborhood full of guesthouses. It's where I first became acquainted with this incredible country and from which I began my adventure! Cows wandering the streets, women dressed in vibrantly colored saris, the smell of curry mixed with incense, monkeys in the trees...welcome to another world.
Delhi boasts a large number of monuments that you can visit and you'll need to stay a while in order to see them all. Three of them are classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites - the Qutb Minar, a minar that stands over 70 meters high, Humayun's tomb, the burial site of the second Moghul emperor and the Red Fort, a classic piece of Moghul architecture. So what do you plan to see in Delhi, during your trip to India ?
I have actually lived in Delhi. I both loved the city and at times hated it. Most travelers have memories, from their time in India, of a big, ugly city they would have preferred not to have stopped at. For me, however, Delhi is everything that contemporary India is – the beauty, the horrors and the contradictions – all condensed in one place.
I enjoyed wandering the little streets of Old Delhi, which teem with people, and offer the spectacle of daily life taking placed all around, and also the darga, in the Muslim quarter of Nizamuddin West, a veritable city within a city.
I advise against walking alone after sundown if you are a young woman, whether Western or Indian. New Delhi has a bad reputation where assaults are concerned.