iXiGO's must roam places in New Delhi.

There was a question from our users, on what are the must see places in and around Delhi and we thought it would be a good idea to let people know about some of the ones we find are really interesting.

A little history about Delhi
Touring Old Delhi in itself would take a day or more, but then there are some historic places in the capital of India that one must see. Old Delhi, by the way, was the capital built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan during his reign.

People debate on how the word Delhi came out to be, as in quoted in the Wikipedia entry here,

The etymology of "Delhi" is uncertain. The most common view is that it is an eponym of Dhillu, a king who ruled the area in ancient times. Some historians believe that the name is derived from Dilli, a corruption of dehleez or dehali—Hindi for 'threshold'—and symbolic of city as a Gateway to the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Another theory suggests that the city's original name was Dhillika. The Hindi/Prakrit word dhili ("loose") was also used for the area, and gradually transformed into the local name "Dilli". The coins in circulation in the region under the Tomara Rajputs were called dehliwal"

Nevertheless, since then Delhi has remained our capital city and now houses all our central government buildings. New Delhi houses the Parliament of India, the supreme court and the Lok Sabha among various other buildings.

How's the weather here?
Delhi's weather is extreme. This means it is very hot in the summer and very very cold in the dinner. If the monsoon season is anything to go by, it seems to be raining just as much as well.
For travelers who have never been to the North regions of India, we would advise you to carry appropriate gear to arm yourself against the extremities of weather here.

How do you get to Delhi?
Delhi, being the capital, is very well connected with every major metro city. There is an excellent road, rail and air route that you can use to get yourself there.

By flight, we recommend flying in from the metros. You can search various flights to Delhi with the following links.

• Flights from Calcutta to Delhi
• Flights from Lucknow to Delhi
• Flights from Mumbai to Delhi
• Flights from Chennai to Delhi

These are some of the metros, but generally most of the searches are available easily through the iXiGO flight search page.

Bus Routes to Delhi
Almost every city is well connected to Delhi. And while usually getting there is more convinient by train and flights, we have bus searches that allow you to reach Delhi as well from any place.

Hotels in Delhi Well, it's the capital after all. There are many many places to stay here according to the fare you wish to search for and as usual you have one best stop to search all hotels in Delhi. And the diversity of the hotel price range from Rs 250 and odd to about 14,000. That's a huge range and we show you over 200 hotels in New Delhi itself.

Places to See
There are many places to roam around in Delhi, but it all depends on the amount of time you have on your hands. If you have just about a day to spare, then there are 3 things that you must see in Delhi.

Lotus Temple
Otherwise known as the "Bahá'í House of Worship", this is one of the architectural wonders of Delhi. They completed the building in 1986 and since then they have garnered so many awards for their splendid design.

It looks like this

Photo courtesy Peking Duck

The Qutub Minar

Swami from Flickr, has posted up some great information about the Qutub Minar.


Qutub Minar is the tallest brick minaret in the world, and an important example of Indo-Islamic Architecture. The tower is in the Qutb complex in South Delhi, India. The Qutb Minar and its monuments are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The Qutub Minar is 72.5 metres high (237.8 ft) and requires 399 steps to get to the top, although it has not been possible for visitors to ascend the tower for some years, due to safety reasons. The minaret is made of fluted red sandstone covered with intricate carvings and verses from the Qur'an.


India Gate

The India Gate is located in the Rajputh area in New Delhi, the India Gate was originally called the All India War Memorial. It was built as a monument to hail the Indian Soldiers who died in World War I and in the Afghan Wars. The foundation stone was laid down in 1921 and the whole monument was completed 10 years later in 1931. The names of the soldiers who died in these wars are inscribed on the walls. The road that leads to it is one of the most frequented relax areas with a nice green lawn on either side of it.

Photo courtesy Manav