Hauz Khas
A 14th-century reservoir and madrasa with a bar village stapled to it — smaller than its reputation, still the best-looking south Delhi base.
Fourteenth-century madrasa arches above the Hauz Khas reservoir with a deer park and city skyline beyond
Why people stay in Hauz Khas
Hauz Khas is two things wedged together. The first is the Hauz Khas Complex: a royal tank dug in the 13th century, then a madrasa and Firoz Shah Tughlaq's tomb built around it in the 1350s, with domed pavilions stepping down to the water and green parakeets in the arches. It is free, it opens around sunrise and closes at sunset, and at 5pm in December the light on the reservoir is the single best thing in south Delhi. The second is Hauz Khas Village, the lane of bars, boutiques and restaurants that grew up against the ruin walls in the 1990s.
Be honest about the Village. Its peak was roughly 2010 to 2016; a licensing crackdown, a fire-safety purge and the pandemic closed a lot of it, and the crowd that used to come here largely moved to Aerocity, Greater Kailash and Gurugram. What survives is decent rather than legendary — a dozen rooftop bars with reservoir views, beer at ₹300 to ₹450, a handful of long-running kitchens like Gunpowder for Kerala food and Coast Café for seafood. Weekend nights are still busy until about 1am. Midweek it can feel half-empty by 11pm, which some people will consider an improvement.
The wider area is better than the Village alone. Deer Park, immediately west, is 60 acres of lawn, a rose garden and an enclosure of spotted deer, open roughly 5am to 8pm and free. SDA Market and Yusuf Sarai, five minutes north on Aurobindo Marg, are proper working markets with cheap South Indian food — Naivedyam does a thali in the ₹300 range. Green Park is the residential quarter with the guesthouses. The Yellow Line runs the length of Aurobindo Marg, which makes this the best-connected part of south Delhi.
Who this suits: travellers who want ruins, trees and bars in walking distance, and who are using Delhi as a base for Qutub Minar, Lodhi Garden and the southern museums. Who should skip it: anyone whose priority is Old Delhi and the walled city, which is 40 minutes away, and anyone expecting Hauz Khas Village to be the nightlife district the guidebooks described a decade ago. Also skip it if you need a lift and a car park — much of the Village is walk-up buildings with narrow stairs and no parking whatsoever.
Green Park and Safdarjung Development Area are the sensible bases: quiet residential streets, boutique guesthouses and serviced apartments at ₹3,500 to ₹7,000, and a five-minute walk to Green Park or Hauz Khas metro. The lanes immediately behind Aurobindo Marg near Yusuf Sarai have cheaper options from ₹2,200. Inside Hauz Khas Village itself there are a handful of small boutique stays with ruin views at ₹6,000 to ₹10,000, and they are loud on Friday and Saturday nights — take one only if you intend to be part of that noise. Avoid the single-entrance walk-up rooms on the Village's main lane above bars: no lift, no fire exit worth the name, and the music runs to 1am. If you want quiet with the same metro access, look one stop south at Malviya Nagar or at Saket.
Things to do in Hauz Khas
Enter through Hauz Khas Village's main lane; the complex is free and closes at sunset, so aim to be inside by 5pm in winter and 6.30pm in summer. Sit on the stepped terraces above the reservoir. Kites and parakeets circle the domes, and the water reflects the whole Tughlaq colonnade.
Entered from the Village lane or from the Aurobindo Marg side, open roughly 5am to 8pm and free. Spotted deer, rabbits and peacocks in a fenced section, plus a rose garden and an old Mughal-era tomb in the trees. Best between 6.30am and 8am, when the walking clubs are out.
Top floor of a walk-up on the Hauz Khas Village lane, reached by four flights of narrow stairs, with a window over the reservoir. Appams, meen moilee and pork chilli fry, most mains ₹450 to ₹700. Small, no lift, and worth booking. Lunch here is far calmer than dinner.
On the Aurobindo Marg service road opposite Hauz Khas market, a dim wood-carved room serving Karnataka food since the 1990s. The banana-leaf thali runs about ₹350, filter coffee ₹80, and the free extra helpings keep coming. Opens around 11am. Cash and card both fine, queue on weekend evenings.
At the Lodhi Road junction, 10 minutes north by cab. The last great Mughal garden tomb, built 1754, with a char-bagh layout and almost no crowd — entry around ₹25 for Indian nationals and ₹300 for foreign visitors, open sunrise to sunset. Twenty minutes' walk covers it comfortably.
The bars on the western side of the Village lane have terraces facing the tank; a beer runs ₹300 to ₹450 and cocktails ₹550 upward. Happy hours typically run 4pm to 8pm. Come Thursday or Sunday for a view without a crowd; Friday and Saturday the stairwells are genuinely packed.
What to see
Hotels near Hauz Khas
No hotels are listed in Hauz Khas yet. The nearest ones are on the region page.
Every hotel we cover in Hauz Khas
Getting around Hauz Khas
Hauz Khas station is a Yellow and Magenta Line interchange on Aurobindo Marg — one of the deepest in the network, so allow eight minutes just to reach the platform. Rajiv Chowk is about 22 minutes and ₹40; the Magenta Line runs direct to Terminal 1 at the airport in roughly 35 minutes. From Terminal 3, take the Airport Express to Dhaula Kuan and a ₹200 cab, or a direct taxi for ₹550 to ₹800 in 30 to 45 minutes. Green Park station is closer to SDA Market and the guesthouse streets. The Village itself is a 1.5 km walk from either station or a ₹60 auto; there is essentially no parking, so arrive on foot.
Questions about Hauz Khas
For a rooftop drink over a floodlit 14th-century reservoir, yes — that view has no equivalent in Delhi. As a nightlife destination in its own right it has been eclipsed by Aerocity, Greater Kailash and Gurugram, and midweek it can be quiet. Go Friday or Saturday if you want a crowd, and go before 8pm if you want a table with a view.
At sunset, which means around 5.30pm in December and 7pm in June, and guards start clearing the terraces about twenty minutes before. Entry is free and the gate is inside Hauz Khas Village. This trips up a lot of visitors who arrive at 8pm expecting to walk among the ruins after dinner — you cannot.
Very good for the southern half. Qutub Minar is 15 minutes by metro, Mehrauli Archaeological Park a short cab, Lodhi Garden and Safdarjung's Tomb 10 minutes north, Humayun's Tomb about 20. Old Delhi and the Red Fort are the weak point at roughly 40 minutes each way on the Yellow Line. If Mughal Delhi is your priority, Connaught Place is a better compromise.
Boutique guesthouses and serviced apartments in Green Park and SDA run ₹3,500 to ₹7,000 a night, which buys a quiet residential street and a five-minute metro walk. Village-side rooms with reservoir views are ₹6,000 to ₹10,000. Budget rooms behind Yusuf Sarai start near ₹2,200. Rates climb about 30 percent through the December and January wedding season.
