Five days in Delhi without a car: a metro-only itinerary, station by station
Delhi metro train arriving at an elevated station platform with the city skyline behind
Five themed days on four metro lines, with every walk under 1.5 km from a platform and a total transport spend of around ₹900.
Why the metro beats a car in this city
Delhi's metro runs nearly 400 km across ten lines, trains come every two to five minutes on the core corridors, and it is air conditioned in a city that hits 45°C. A cab from Saket to Chandni Chowk takes 55 to 80 minutes in the evening peak and costs ₹450; the Yellow Line does it in 38 minutes for ₹50, unaffected by whatever is happening on the Ring Road. Add the winter pollution-control restrictions that periodically choke road traffic, and the parking situation around every monument, and the calculation stops being close.
Ticketing: single-journey QR tokens are bought at counters or through the DMRC app, fares ranging ₹10 to ₹60. Tourist cards cost about ₹200 for one day and ₹500 for three, both with a refundable ₹50 deposit, and give unlimited rides — worth it from four journeys a day upwards, which this itinerary comfortably exceeds. Services run roughly 06:00 to 23:00, with the first trains earlier on some lines and last departures posted at every station. Security screening at entry takes two minutes; there is a separate queue for women, and it is usually faster.
Day 1, Yellow Line north: Old Delhi
Ride to Chandni Chowk station and leave by the Gurdwara exit at 07:30. Walk the main bazaar street west while the shutters are still going up: Sisganj Gurdwara, the Town Hall, Fatehpuri Masjid at the far end, then left into Khari Baoli spice market. Breakfast is bedmi-aloo and jalebi on Dariba Kalan corner for under ₹150. By 10:00 head south through Dariba to Jama Masjid, whose southern minaret costs about ₹100 to climb and gives the only high view of the walled city that exists.
12:00, Red Fort, ten minutes on foot, closed Mondays. Two hours. Then either walk to Lal Qila station on the Violet Line or take an e-rickshaw for ₹20. Afternoon option, on the same line: Kashmere Gate for the Partition Museum in the Dara Shikoh Library building, a serious, well-curated hour. Evening, back to base. Sleep near Rajiv Chowk for this itinerary — the interchange between Yellow and Blue lines sits under Connaught Place, and hotels in the Outer Circle and side lanes run ₹5,500 to ₹11,000, with Paharganj guesthouses at ₹900 to ₹2,500 a ten-minute walk away.
Day 2, Yellow Line south: Qutub and the ruins
Qutub Minar station is a 1.5 km walk or a ₹30 e-rickshaw ride from the complex gate; go for 08:00 opening. Ninety minutes inside, then walk 15 minutes to Mehrauli Archaeological Park for Balban's tomb, Jamali Kamali and Rajon ki Baoli, all free and all empty on a weekday. Lunch in Mehrauli village or ride two stops north to Hauz Khas. The village there — madrasa, tomb, reservoir — is a 900 metre walk from Hauz Khas station via the Deer Park gate, which is a much nicer approach than the main road.
Late afternoon: Saket station for the Garden of Five Senses at about ₹35, or the malls if the air quality has collapsed. Evening: Hauz Khas Village rooftops for dinner and a drink, ₹1,200 to ₹2,500 a head with cocktails, and remember the last Yellow Line trains go around 23:00. Sleep tonight in the south if you would rather not commute back: Hauz Khas, Green Park and Saket have boutique guesthouses at ₹3,500 to ₹7,000 within 800 metres of a station, which is the real test of a no-car hotel.
Day 3, Violet and Pink lines: the Mughal middle
Start at JLN Stadium or Jangpura on the Violet Line for Nizamuddin. From Jangpura it is a 1.2 km walk to Humayun's Tomb; do the complex from 08:30, then cross the road into Nizamuddin Basti for Ghalib's tomb and the dargah lanes. On a Thursday, come back here after Maghrib for the qawwali at the dargah, which begins around 18:30 and is the best free hour in Delhi. Cover your head, remove shoes at the entrance, and leave a small offering rather than paying whoever asks at the gate.
Midday: Khan Market station on the Violet Line, lunch at ₹600 to ₹1,500, then Lodhi Garden, 700 metres away, and the Lodhi Art District murals in the surrounding colony. 16:00: two stops to Central Secretariat and walk Kartavya Path to India Gate as the light drops. Sleep near Khan Market or Jangpura if your budget stretches to ₹6,000 to ₹10,000; Lajpat Nagar, three stops down the Violet Line, has clean, plain hotels at ₹2,000 to ₹4,000 and a market that stays open until 21:00.
Day 4, Blue Line east: temples, museums and the river side
Akshardham station puts you 400 metres from the temple gate. Go early, closed Mondays, and know the drill: no phones, no cameras, no bags beyond the cloakroom, and the security line runs 20 to 40 minutes at weekends. The stone carving is the point; the paid exhibition halls at roughly ₹250 are skippable, the evening musical fountain is not. Two stops back west, Mandi House station is the museum interchange: the National Gallery of Modern Art at Jaipur House is 1.2 km south, and the theatre district sits directly above the platform.
Afternoon: Pragati Maidan station for the National Science Centre and the Crafts Museum on Bhairon Marg, both within 900 metres, both good on a hot day. Alternatively ride the Blue Line east to Noida Sector 18 for shopping and the food courts, 25 minutes from Rajiv Chowk. Evening, back to Rajiv Chowk for dinner in the Connaught Place Inner Circle at ₹700 to ₹2,000. Sleep at the same base; this is the day where a central hotel earns its price, because everything routes through one interchange.
Day 5, Magenta and Airport Express: the western arc and out
The Magenta Line is the underrated one. Chhatarpur station sits beside the enormous marble temple complex of the same name, worth 40 minutes. Two stops north, Hauz Khas connects back to the Yellow Line if you want a second run at the south. West again, Munirka and Vasant Vihar open the diplomatic quarter, and the Sanskriti museums on the Mehrauli–Gurgaon road are reachable by a ₹80 auto from Arjan Garh. Finish at Terminal 1 on the same line, or change at Dhaula Kuan for the Airport Express.
The orange Airport Express is the last-day trump card: New Delhi station to T3 in about 20 minutes for ₹60, running until roughly 23:30. Several airlines allow city check-in at the New Delhi and Shivaji Stadium stations up to a few hours before departure, which lets you dump bags and keep sightseeing. Sleep the final night in Aerocity, one stop from the terminal at ₹6,000 to ₹12,000, or stay put in Paharganj and take the train — from Main Bazaar to the departure gate is under an hour door to door.
The last mile, the rules and the honest limitations
Almost no Delhi monument sits directly above a station, so budget for the last mile. Battery e-rickshaws wait outside every exit and charge ₹10 to ₹30 for short hops, autos ₹40 to ₹120 by meter or negotiation, and app bike-taxis around ₹40 for 3 km if you are travelling alone and have a helmet-tolerant attitude. Agree the fare before sitting down. Between 06:00 and 09:00 these are quick; in the evening peak an e-rickshaw can be slower than walking 800 metres, so check the map first.
The metro's real limits: it does not run after 23:00, it does not reach Sunder Nursery, Purana Qila or Safdarjung's Tomb within a comfortable walk, and luggage is capped at one bag of modest size, so airport days need the Express rather than the ordinary lines. Liquids are confiscated at screening. Coaches at the front of each train are reserved for women and are consistently the least crowded. Avoid the Yellow Line between 18:00 and 19:30 southbound, when the office flow towards Gurugram makes the platform at Rajiv Chowk genuinely unpleasant.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Hauz Khas.
Yes on this itinerary. One-day cards cost about ₹200 and three-day cards about ₹500, plus a refundable ₹50 deposit, against single fares of ₹10 to ₹60. From four rides a day upwards you are ahead, and you skip the token queue at Rajiv Chowk, which is the real saving.
On the orange Airport Express, yes — it has luggage racks and is designed for it, ₹60 from New Delhi station to T3 in around 20 minutes. On the ordinary lines you are limited to one modest bag, and the turnstiles and stairs at older stations make a large case a genuine struggle.
Yes, including for women travelling alone. Stations are staffed, CCTV-covered and guarded by CISF personnel, and the first coach of every train is women-only. The weaker link is the walk from the station exit to your hotel after 22:00, so pick a base within 800 metres of a platform.
Chandni Chowk on the Yellow Line for the bazaar and Khari Baoli; Jama Masjid on the Violet Line for the mosque and the food lanes behind it; Lal Qila on the Violet Line for the Red Fort. All three are within a 15-minute walk of each other, so enter at one and leave from another.
