Delhi, India

Delhi is where most of Voldeluxe's USA-India bookings actually land: it has the densest nonstop network of any Indian city from the US, with Air India and United both flying it direct from multiple gateways. For a first trip to India, it's the easiest city to fly into and the easiest to build a longer circuit around afterward.

Old Delhi and New Delhi read as two different cities stitched together — Mughal-era forts and mosques a few miles from British-built government boulevards and India Gate. We usually route two full days here before a traveler continues on to Agra (under two hours by train) or Jaipur, rather than trying to see all of Delhi in one rushed day between flights.

October through March is comfortable, cool, and dry, and it's when we book the large majority of Delhi arrivals. April through June turns genuinely hot, and the monsoon (July-September) brings humidity and occasional flooding delays — we steer family bookings toward the cooler months whenever the traveler's dates are flexible.

Delhi splits into Old Delhi, home to the Mughal-era Red Fort and Jama Masjid within a dense, historic quarter, and New Delhi's broader colonial-era boulevards built by the British around India Gate and Connaught Place. The city anchors India's Golden Triangle circuit alongside Agra and Jaipur, and Delhi's metro system makes moving between its historic and modern districts considerably easier than navigating by road alone.

Two to three nights, typically as the start of a longer Golden Triangle or wider India trip. It suits history-focused travelers, and hiring a driver for the day is generally more practical than self-navigating the city's traffic.

Getting there: 13.5-15h nonstop from JFK, EWR, ORD, or SFO on Air India or United. Voldeluxe compares routing and cabin options for Delhi, India rather than booking the first itinerary a search engine surfaces, and times the trip against October to March (cool, dry season) rather than whatever dates happen to be cheapest.

Delhi has served, in various forms, as the capital of successive empires for roughly a thousand years, and the city's layout today reflects that layering directly — Old Delhi, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (the same emperor who commissioned the Taj Mahal) as Shahjahanabad in the 1600s, sits beside New Delhi, designed by British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker in the 1910s and 20s as the grand administrative capital of the British Raj, its wide boulevards and colonial-government buildings deliberately built to project imperial authority. The Red Fort, the Mughal Empire's primary residence for roughly two centuries starting in 1639, gives its name to India's Independence Day tradition — the Prime Minister still delivers a national address from its ramparts every August 15th, a ritual dating to India's actual 1947 independence from British rule. Delhi's Jama Masjid, completed in 1656 and among the largest mosques in India, and the earlier Qutub Minar, a roughly 73-meter minaret begun in 1192 and the tallest brick minaret in the world, each mark distinct chapters of the city's Islamic architectural history predating the Mughals themselves. Delhi's street food culture, centered on Old Delhi's Chandni Chowk — chaat, parathas, kebabs from stalls and small shops operating for generations — is considered by many Indians to be the most concentrated and authentic expression of North Indian street food anywhere in the country.