Delhi holds seven ruined capitals and one of Asia's densest art scenes inside the same 1,500 square kilometres. This route runs from Harappan bronzes at the National Museum to St+art murals in Lodhi Colony and Thursday-night qawwali in Nizamuddin Basti.
The 1960 rotunda on Janpath holds 200,000 objects across 5,000 years: the Harappan Dancing Girl from Mohenjo-daro, Buddha relics from Piprahwa, Chola bronzes and Mughal miniatures. Open 10:00–18:00, closed Mondays.
India's longest-running contemporary gallery, opened by Arun Vadehra in 1987 and representing Tyeb Mehta, Arpita Singh, Atul Dodiya and Anju Dodiya. Two spaces in Defence Colony, 11:00–19:00, closed Sundays.
The 1570 garden tomb by Mirak Mirza Ghiyas that rehearsed every idea the Taj Mahal later used — red sandstone, white marble inlay, a four-part char-bagh. Restored over a decade by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
India's first open-air public art district: more than 60 murals painted since 2015 across the 1940s government housing blocks, by St+art India with artists from Chile, Poland, Brazil and Kerala. Free, always open.
Jaipur House, the 1936 butterfly-plan palace of the Maharaja of Jaipur, holds 17,000 works: the world's largest Amrita Sher-Gil collection, Raja Ravi Varma oils and Rabindranath Tagore's ink drawings. Closed Mondays.
Charles Correa's 1975 museum, built as a village street rather than a hall: 33,000 pieces of folk and tribal craft, a transplanted Gujarati haveli facade, and artisans block-printing and weaving in the courtyards.
Joseph Allen Stein's 1957 brick-and-jaali arts campus: three galleries of contemporary Indian work, a sunken sculpture court, and studios where Bharatanatyam and Hindustani vocal classes run through the afternoon.
The 632-seat hall built in 1971 for the Bharatiya Kala Kendra stages Kathak and Odissi recitals, Hindustani vocal evenings and Sangeet Natak Akademi festivals most nights of the week. Tickets ₹300–2,000.
India's first private museum of modern and contemporary art, opened in 2010, showing 10,000-plus works — S.H. Raza, Nasreen Mohamedi, Bharti Kher, Subodh Gupta — from a mall basement in Saket. Closed Mondays.
Firoz Shah Tughlaq's 1352 madrasa and tomb step down to a 13th-century royal reservoir, now ringed by a village of designer studios, print shops and rooftop cafés built into old farmhouses. Sunrise to sunset.
The 700-year-old settlement around the Sufi shrine: Ghalib's tomb, the marble screens of Chausath Khamba, and stepwells restored by the Aga Khan Trust. Hope Project guides from the basti run two-hour walks.
After maghrib prayers on Thursdays and Fridays, hereditary qawwal families sing Amir Khusrau's Persian and Braj verses in the marble courtyard of the 1325 dargah — unamplified, harmonium and dholak, until late.