The 10 best free things to do in Delhi, ranked
Large street mural on a government housing block in Lodhi Colony, Delhi
Ten experiences that cost nothing at the gate, ranked by how much of Delhi they actually give you, plus the ₹10 to ₹300 charges that sneak in around the edges.
The rule I used to rank these
Free means free at the door. Getting there costs something — a metro ride is ₹10 to ₹60, an auto hop ₹50 to ₹120 — and a few sites levy a camera fee or expect a shoe-minding tip, all flagged below. Everything on this list is open to any visitor without a booking, without a guide and without a ticket, which rules out the Archaeological Survey monuments that charge ₹25 to ₹40 for Indian nationals and ₹300 to ₹600 for foreign visitors. It also rules out the National Museum and the Crafts Museum, both of which are cheap but not free.
I have ranked on substance rather than novelty: how long the thing holds you, whether it teaches you something about the city, and whether it stands up on a second visit. A surprising number of Delhi's headline experiences turn out to be free, including two of its most visited buildings. On a tight budget you can fill three full days from this list alone and spend under ₹500 a day including transport, water and the odd samosa. Closed days are the trap — Mondays close more of this list than any other factor.
1 and 2. Lodhi Garden with the Lodhi Art District, and langar at Bangla Sahib
Lodhi Garden is ninety acres of free parkland holding four fifteenth and sixteenth century tombs, a Mughal bridge and the best morning atmosphere in central Delhi, open from around 6am to 8pm. Do it at 6.30am with the walkers and parakeets, then stroll fifteen minutes southwest into Lodhi Colony, where more than fifty large murals by Indian and international artists cover the government housing blocks. That is India's first open-air public art district, free, permanently on view, and best photographed before 9am when the light is low and the lanes are empty.
Gurudwara Bangla Sahib on Ashoka Road costs nothing and gives more than most ticketed attractions in the city: a gold-domed shrine, continuous devotional music, a large bathing tank, and a community kitchen serving free vegetarian meals to tens of thousands daily. Cover your head with the free scarves at the door, leave shoes at the counter with a ₹10 tip, sit on the floor of the hall for as long as you want, then eat in the langar hall or help wash steel plates. Seven minutes on foot from Rajiv Chowk metro, open effectively around the clock.
3 and 4. Mehrauli Archaeological Park, and Thursday qawwali at Nizamuddin
Mehrauli Archaeological Park is the best free thing in Delhi that nobody queues for: two hundred-odd structures across a thousand years scattered through woodland beside the ticketed Qutub complex. Balban's tomb, the Rajon ki Baoli stepwell, the painted ceiling of Jamali Kamali's tomb, Metcalfe's colonial folly built into a Mughal grave. No ticket, no signage, no facilities. Enter from near Qutub Minar metro on the Yellow Line, allow two to three hours, come before 10am, and carry water because there is nowhere on site to buy any.
On Thursday evening, the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya holds qawwali in its courtyard after sunset prayer, sung by hereditary performers whose families have done it for generations. It costs nothing to attend, though a contribution of ₹100 to ₹500 when the tray comes round is the decent thing. Cover your head, leave your shoes at the lane, sit on the floor and stay put once the singing starts. The approach lane of rose-petal sellers and kebab stalls is worth twenty minutes on its own, and the whole thing is a fifteen-minute walk from JLN Stadium metro.
5 and 6. Jama Masjid and the Chandni Chowk lanes, and Kartavya Path after dark
Entry to Jama Masjid is free — the charge is about ₹300 only if you carry a camera, and around ₹100 for the minaret climb. Climb the eastern steps, cross the courtyard, look out over the old city, then walk down into Matia Mahal or west along Chandni Chowk into Dariba Kalan and Kinari Bazaar. Walking the lanes costs nothing and is the single densest hour available in Delhi. Go on a weekday between 10am and noon; skip Friday midday and skip Sunday, when most shutters stay down.
Kartavya Path, the ceremonial avenue from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, is free, floodlit from dusk, and at its best between 7pm and 9.30pm when Delhi families arrive with ice cream and picnic mats. The National War Memorial at the eastern end is free to enter and stays open into the evening. Add the outside of the North and South Blocks and the Parliament building on the walk up, which takes about twenty-five minutes end to end. Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhawan metro stations sit at the western end of the avenue.
7 and 8. Gandhi Smriti and the Indira Gandhi museum, and Agrasen ki Baoli
Gandhi Smriti on Tees January Marg is the house where Gandhi spent his last 144 days and was assassinated in January 1948, preserved with his room, his belongings and concrete footsteps marking his final walk to the prayer ground. It is free and closed on Mondays. Ten minutes away at 1 Safdarjung Road, the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum occupies her residence and garden, including the path where she was shot in 1984 and the blood-stained sari displayed in a case. Also free, also closed Mondays. Together they are ninety sobering minutes on modern Indian history.
Agrasen ki Baoli on Hailey Road, a two-minute walk off Connaught Place, is a 60-metre stepwell of 108 stone steps dropping into a shaded well shaft, probably rebuilt in the fourteenth century over something older. Free, open roughly 9am to 5.30pm, and completely incongruous between the office towers. It fills with photographers by mid-morning; get there at opening and you may have it alone for ten minutes. Two minutes further and you are on Barakhamba Road with the metro at the corner.
9 and 10. Delhi Metro Museum, and the Aravalli Biodiversity Park walk
The Delhi Metro Museum at Patel Chowk station on the Yellow Line is small, free with station entry, open roughly 10am to 4pm on most days except Monday, and genuinely good on how a city of this size built a rail network from nothing after 1998. Old tokens, tunnelling equipment, models and a working signalling display. Twenty minutes, and it makes the network you are riding legible for the rest of the trip. Combine with Connaught Place, four minutes up the escalator, or with Gandhi Smriti a short ride away.
The tenth slot goes to a nature walk in Aravalli Biodiversity Park near Vasant Kunj, where seven hundred acres of former mining scrub have been replanted with native Aravalli species. Free entry, free guided walks on weekend mornings from around 6.30am, butterfly and orchid conservatories, and birdsong of a quality you will not hear anywhere inside the Ring Road. There is no metro nearby, so budget ₹150 to ₹250 each way for a cab. Best from mid-February to April; unbearable and largely pointless between May and June.
The costs that sneak in
Budget ₹150 to ₹250 a day for metro fares if you are moving across the city; single rides cost ₹10 to ₹60, and the tourist smart card at around ₹200 for one day or ₹500 for three, plus a refundable ₹50 deposit, pays for itself if you make more than five hops. Shoe counters at religious sites are free but a ₹10 to ₹20 tip is customary. Camera fees apply at Jama Masjid at about ₹300. Bottled water runs ₹20 and you will drink two to three litres a day from April to July.
Two more warnings. Anyone at a free site who offers to be your guide will want ₹300 to ₹800 at the end, so agree the number first or say no clearly at the start. And anyone who tells you a free monument is closed today and offers an alternative is running the oldest scam in Delhi — check the official signage yourself. Akshardham deserves a mention as an eleventh entry: temple entry is free, the exhibitions cost ₹80 to ₹250, and phones and bags are banned entirely, which changes how you plan the day.
A free day, hour by hour
Start 6.30am at Lodhi Garden, walk to Lodhi Colony for the murals by 8am, then metro to Rajiv Chowk and walk to Bangla Sahib for 10am, staying for langar. Cut through Connaught Place to Agrasen ki Baoli at noon, then Patel Chowk for the Metro Museum. Metro to Chandni Chowk at 3pm for the lanes and Jama Masjid at 5pm. Total spend: about ₹120 in metro fares, ₹40 in shoe tips, ₹60 in water, and whatever street food you cannot resist. That is a full, honest Delhi day for under ₹400.
For a second free day, go south: Mehrauli Archaeological Park at 7.30am for three hours, cheap lunch in Saket or Hauz Khas market, then Kartavya Path and the National War Memorial from 6pm. If it is a Thursday, replace the evening with Nizamuddin qawwali instead, which is the best free hour in the city and worth restructuring a day around. Save Gandhi Smriti and the Indira Gandhi museum for any day that is not a Monday, and do not attempt any of it outdoors between 12noon and 4pm in May or June.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Connaught Place.
Gandhi Smriti, the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum and the Delhi Metro Museum all close on Mondays, as do the Lotus Temple and Akshardham, whose entry is also free. Lodhi Garden, Mehrauli Archaeological Park, Bangla Sahib, Jama Masjid, Agrasen ki Baoli and Kartavya Path are open every day.
Yes. The langar serves free vegetarian food to everyone who sits down, with no expectation of payment or belief. Cover your head, wash your hands, sit in a row on the floor of the hall and eat what is served. Donate at the box or volunteer in the kitchen if you want to reciprocate.
The metro. Single fares run ₹10 to ₹60 and a tourist smart card costs about ₹200 for one day or ₹500 for three, plus a refundable ₹50 deposit. Everything on this list except Aravalli Biodiversity Park sits within a fifteen-minute walk or a ₹60 to ₹90 auto ride of a metro station.
