Walking Purana Qila and Sunder Nursery in Delhi

Purana Qila, the zoo and the Crafts Museum

Purana Qila (Old Fort) sits on the mound locals call Indraprastha, behind thick rubble-and-sandstone ramparts you enter through the arched Bara Darwaza gate. Sher Shah Suri raised it in the 16th century. What stands inside the walls now is the red-and-white striped Qila-i-Kuhna mosque and the octagonal red sandstone Sher Mandal tower, both rising over dry lawns. Entry is ₹25 for Indians and ₹300 for foreign nationals, with boating on the moat lake charged separately. The site opens 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Tickets are sold per head at the counter or through the ASI portal, and licensed guides wait at the gate. The ITDC 'Ishq-e-Dilli' evening multimedia show is suspended for an upgrade, so keep the fort for daylight.

First-time visitors tend to assume the fort and the National Zoological Park (Delhi Zoo) come on one ticket. The two share a boundary wall and nothing more. Inside the zoo, shaded paths run right along the crumbling red fort wall, past white tiger and Asiatic lion enclosures and a large waterbird lake where migratory pelicans sit. Winter hours are 9 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., summer hours 8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., and it closes Fridays and national holidays. Entry is ₹80 for an Indian adult, ₹40 for a child or senior, ₹200 for SAARC visitors and ₹400 for other foreign adults. Battery-vehicle tours run inside. The zoo reopened after a precautionary avian-flu closure and keeps normal hours under extra hygiene rules. It suits families with a half day.

National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy (Bhairon Marg) is five minutes from the fort, and the artisans work in front of you rather than behind glass. The courtyards are built village-style in mud plaster and carved wood, with a painted Gond mural, terracotta horses, and craftspeople weaving and carving under thatched shelters. Galleries open 10 a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday, and the museum closes Mondays. Prices in the crafts bazaar vary by stall.

Humayun's Tomb, Sunder Nursery and the underground museum

Humayun's Tomb is the prototype for the Taj and the one thing in the precinct not to skip. The red sandstone mausoleum carries a white marble double dome on a high arcaded plinth and stands dead centre in a charbagh quartered by water channels. Isa Khan's octagonal tomb keeps its own walled garden by the entrance. The ticket alone is ₹35 for Indians and ₹550 for foreign nationals. Take the joint Tomb, Nursery and Museum ticket instead, since underground passages link the three sites. Timed entry through the ASI portal cuts the queue. The paths are wide, and the guides at the gate are licensed.

Sunder Nursery Heritage Park runs along a central axis of still water channels and fountains, clipped lawns on both sides, the domed Mughal tomb of Sunderwala Burj closing the vista. The Aga Khan restoration takes in 300 tree species and a lake where marsh birds feed. Adults pay ₹50 (Indian and SAARC), Indian children and seniors ₹25, foreign nationals ₹200. Gates stay open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., which makes this the only part of the precinct that still works after dark. The amphitheatre and lawns can be booked for events.

Humayun's Tomb World Heritage Site Museum opened in July 2024 and lies under the ground beside Sunder Nursery, entered down a ramp. Daylight drops in through courtyards cut into the earth, and more than 500 Mughal objects fill the dim vitrines: miniatures, manuscripts, coins, a brass astrolabe. Everything is indoors and air-conditioned, so save it for rain or the hot part of the afternoon. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with last entry at 8 p.m. It closes Mondays and national holidays, worth checking against your own dates. The joint ticket covers it.

Sair-e-Nizamuddin Heritage Walks leave from the coffee kiosk in Sunder Nursery at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. at weekends. The park walk is ₹200 per person for ages 6 and up, booked on +91 98710 66025 or 99119 49854. Guides are basti youth trained under the Aga Khan urban-renewal programme, and the fee stays in the neighbourhood. Seasonal variants include a spring Basant walk and a Ramzan iftar walk.

Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah and the basti monuments

Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah is reached through a tight bazaar alley that opens onto a small lamp-lit marble courtyard, the floor strewn with rose petals and green chadars, the white shrine standing behind a latticed jali screen and scalloped arches. Thursday evening qawwali after Maghrib is one of the great free things to do in Delhi. There is no ticket and no booking, and everyone is welcome regardless of faith. Cover your head and leave your shoes at the stalls; offerings and shoe-minding tips are all you pay. The courtyard is cramped on Thursdays, so arrive 45 minutes early and keep your group together through the alley. Men presenting themselves as guides will be persistent.

Chausath Khamba is a flat-roofed white marble pavilion of 64 slender square pillars, open in every direction, cenotaphs under its bays and Mirza Ghalib's tomb next door. It was built in 1623 for Akbar's foster brother, and the German-funded restoration is complete. Entry is free, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The small paved forecourt is the largest open space in the basti, and the qawwali and cultural programmes happen there.

Tomb of Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan stands on open lawn directly beside the roar of Mathura Road. The big square mausoleum sits on an arcaded plinth under a re-clad bulbous dome in red sandstone and buff stone, stripped of its original marble. Work finished in 2020, after the largest single-monument conservation project ever run in India, and the building is a direct architectural ancestor of the Taj. Almost nobody goes, so you will have the lawn to yourself. Tickets are ₹20 for Indians and SAARC visitors and ₹250 for foreign nationals, paid at the gate, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Where to eat in the precinct

Café Lota (inside the Crafts Museum grounds) seats you outdoors under mature trees on mismatched cane chairs and serves modern regional Indian on earthen plates, with terracotta and brass serviceware. Order the palak patta chaat. Two people spend ₹1,500 to ₹2,000. The room is famously packed and takes no reservations at peak, so eat off-hours or expect a wait. Hours are 8 a.m. to 9.30 p.m.

Carnatic Cafe (Sunder Nursery) sets a wooden deck on the park lake with ducks a metre from the tables, and sends out giant crisp ghee-roast dosas on steel plates with filter coffee. It is self-service, with no booking, and the easiest place in the park to eat without a plan. Two eat for ₹700 to ₹800. It opens 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Café Dori Bistro (Sunder Nursery and museum entrance) is Nappa Dori's pan-European café, pared back in pale wood and leather from the brand's own workshop, with plants and large windows onto the Sunder Nursery facility block. Flat whites and all-day eggs are what you come for before the gardens open up. It opens 8 a.m. Friday to Sunday and 9.30 a.m. Monday to Thursday. Two people spend ₹2,500. Dogs are welcome and have their own menu.

Nisaba (inside the Humayun's Tomb museum complex) opened in January 2026 as Manish Mehrotra's first solo restaurant and has been the hardest table in Delhi since. The glass-walled 120-seat room has greenery pressing against full-height windows, the food arrives on earthy hand-thrown pottery, and the pass is open with the chef out on the floor. Service is à la carte. Two people spend ₹5,000 and up, and you should reserve well ahead. Dinner in the precinct now means Nisaba.

Ghalib Kabab Corner (a narrow Nizamuddin lane near Lal Mahal) keeps a coal seekh grill smoking at the front of a tiny tiled shop under a hand-painted signboard, and plates mutton nihari and biryani on enamel. The menu runs to five or six items, done properly. The seekh kebabs and the nihari are the reason to eat in the basti rather than up in the park. The shop is small and walk-in only, so split a party across tables or take the food away. Two eat for ₹400, cash is easy here, and it trades from noon to 1 a.m.

Staying inside the precinct

B Nineteen (Nizamuddin East) is a low white 1950s house on a leafy residential street, with a rooftop breakfast terrace that faces the dome of Humayun's Tomb at sunset and a French press on the table. From the door you walk to the tomb, Sunder Nursery and the dargah. Rates are mid-range and sit well under the five-star prices next door, and you should book direct. The house is small, and it suits couples or families. The Oberoi New Delhi, 2 km west on Dr Zakir Hussain Marg, is the luxury alternative, with views over Humayun's Tomb and the Delhi Golf Club.

Planning the days

The Crafts Museum and the site museum close Mondays, the zoo closes Fridays, and both museums also shut on national holidays. Reserve Nisaba well ahead, phone ahead for the Sunder Nursery walk, and take Humayun's Tomb timed entry on the ASI portal. See the Delhi guide and the Delhi hotel search.