Connaught Place

A 14th-century stepwell, 108 steps deep, wedged between office blocks two minutes off Hailey Road behind Barakhamba Road metro. Entry is free, it opens roughly 9am to 5.30pm, and pigeons boom in the arcaded walls. Go before 10am; by noon it is an Instagram queue.

Second floor of Mohan Singh Place, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, opposite the Hanuman Mandir. Waiters in fan-tailed turbans, formica tables, a masala dosa around ₹90 and filter coffee at ₹40. It is scruffy, hot in summer, and the last genuinely unrenovated thing in Connaught Place.

Ashoka Road, an eight-minute walk from C Block. Open 24 hours, free, cover your head and leave shoes at the counter. The kitchen serves tens of thousands daily and you are welcome to sit and eat, or to volunteer washing steel plates. The sarovar tank at 6am is the best half hour in central Delhi.

The government emporium on Janpath, opposite The Imperial, open about 10am to 7pm. Prices are fixed and printed, which makes it the honest benchmark for pashmina, Kashmiri papier-mâché and sandalwood before you bargain anywhere else. Ignore the men outside offering "the same thing cheaper" in a nearby lane.

Sansad Marg, five minutes from Palika Bazaar. The 1724 masonry observatory costs around ₹25 for Indian nationals and ₹300 for foreign visitors. The pavement outside is Delhi's designated protest ground — farmers, pensioners, wrestlers, teachers — and often more instructive than the instruments.

Behind the Inner Circle near Connaught Lane, Shankar Market is fabric wholesale, tailors and a row of tiny chai stalls. Two minutes further, Rivoli and Odeon are surviving single-screen cinemas from the 1930s. Tickets from ₹150. Combine with a bhelpuri from the carts on the Middle Circle pavement.

From Terminal 3, take the Airport Express (Orange Line) to New Delhi station — about 20 minutes for ₹60 — then one stop on the Yellow Line to Rajiv Chowk, or simply walk 15 minutes down Chelmsford Road. A prepaid taxi from T3 is ₹700 to ₹900 and takes 35 to 55 minutes. Rajiv Chowk is the Blue and Yellow Line interchange and the busiest station in the network; use the correct exit gate number (there are 15) or you will surface on the wrong side of the ring. Inside Connaught Place, walk — the whole circle is 1.2 km. Autos refuse short hops or quote ₹150 for a ₹40 ride; use an app.

Yes, by Delhi standards it is among the safest central areas after dark. The Inner and Outer Circles stay busy until at least midnight, there is heavy police presence around Rajiv Chowk metro, and taxis are constant. The exception is the quieter stretch of Janpath Lane and the underpasses after 11pm, where it is worth taking a cab rather than walking.

Book trains only on the IRCTC website or app, or at the International Tourist Bureau on the first floor of New Delhi railway station. No official office sends staff onto the pavement to intercept you. If a driver says your hotel is closed, flooded, or unreachable, get out and call the hotel yourself. The words "Government Approved" on a shopfront mean nothing at all.

For shopping, no — it is largely counterfeit electronics, copy clothing and opening quotes at three to four times the real price. As a piece of 1970s underground urbanism it is mildly interesting for ten minutes. If you want cheap phones or accessories, Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh is a better market with more honest pricing.

Realistically about ₹3,500 to ₹4,500 for a small, clean, air-conditioned room with a lift and a 24-hour desk, usually in the Outer Circle blocks or on Radial Road 5. Below ₹3,000 in this postcode you are generally paying for the address rather than the room. If your budget is under ₹1,500, walk to Paharganj instead — it is a 15-minute walk and half the price.