India's second-largest city is often seen as a gateway city rather than a destination in itself. Even its name is believed to mean "threshold". But travellers on cheap flights to Delhi who then connect to other places in India are missing a colourful, cosmopolitan and fascinating city.
While Delhi is one of India's boom cities, the disparity between the old and the new - and the rich and poor - is staggering. New shopping malls share the city with street markets, cows and handcarts and gleaming SUVs share the roads, and, from newly built flyovers, the domes of Mughal temples are visible.
Old Delhi is a must-see, with snaking alleyways, busy markets, the Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque, and the Red Fort.
New Delhi, built on the orders of George V, has the important government offices and Parliament of India as well as the colonial-era India Gate and Connaught Place, a bustling shopping and commercial district.
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