A princess plans a bazaar
Halfway along, the canal widened into an octagonal pool. Delhi people say the moon was reflected in it on clear nights, and the square around it was called Chandni Chowk, the moonlit square. Over time the name spread to the whole avenue.
The plan: when Shah Jahan moved his capital to Delhi in the 1640s, he built the Red Fort on the river and left Jahanara to plan the avenue leading west from its gate.
The richest woman in the empire: Jahanara, Shah Jahan's eldest daughter, spent her fortune on building.
- Built
- Around 1650
- Built by
- Princess Jahanara, Shah Jahan's daughter
- Open
- Daily; many wholesale markets shut Sundays
- Allow
- Three hours, five with the Red Fort
- Best time
- Seven in the morning, October to March
- Photography
- Ask before photographing people
- Getting there
- Drop at the edge, then walk or rickshaw
- A royal avenue: around 1650 she laid out a broad, straight bazaar with a canal down its centre, trees along both sides and shops in arcades.
- The caravanserai: she also built a great serai for travelling merchants beside the pool, with a garden behind it.
- What's left of it: the serai has long gone. The British-period Town Hall stands roughly where it was, and the garden survives in part as a public park behind it.
- The far end: Fatehpuri Begum, one of Shah Jahan's wives, built the mosque that bears her name. The street was a royal project from end to end.
- A great market of Asia: for two centuries traders came from Persia, Central Asia and every corner of India.
- Rajput shoppers: Rajput nobles in Mughal service kept houses in the lanes nearby, and their families shopped here for silks, jewels and horses.
- 1739: the Persian invader Nadir Shah ordered a massacre of the city's people from the roof of a mosque on the avenue.
- 1857: the street was fought over lane by lane during the uprising.
- The British years: they filled in the canal in the nineteenth century, ran a tram down the middle, and added banks, a clock tower, the Town Hall and a church among the havelis.
- After Partition: families who fled Lahore and the Punjab in 1947 opened shops and kitchens here, and much of what the world calls Delhi food grew up in these lanes.
- Rebuilt in 2021: the main avenue got wide stone pavements and a central strip, and was closed to motor traffic during the day. It is calmer to walk now than it has been for decades.
A mile of faiths, side by side
- East end
- Lal Mandir, opposite the Red Fort
- West end
- Fatehpuri Masjid, 1650
- Sis Ganj Sahib
- Marks the martyrdom of 1675
- Jama Masjid
- 1650 to 1656, just south
- Cover
- Head, shoulders and knees
The Digambar Jain Lal Mandir
Where: opposite the Red Fort, at the eastern end of the avenue.
Origins: a red sandstone temple going back to Shah Jahan's time, when Jain merchants and officers settled in the new city.
- Visiting: leave shoes and leather items at the gate, then climb to a beautiful painted shrine.
- The bird hospital: behind it, a charitable hospital cares for injured pigeons, sparrows and parrots.
- For children: the gentlest place in Old Delhi, and children are always moved by it.
The Gauri Shankar temple
Where: a narrow doorway a few steps west leads to this old Shiva temple.
- Inside: flower sellers, bells and devotees, busiest on Mondays, the day sacred to Shiva.
- Prasad: you may be offered a small blessed offering of sweets. Accept it with your right hand.
Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib
What it marks: the place where the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was executed in 1675 on the orders of Aurangzeb.
Why it matters: Sikhs believe he gave his life defending the right of others to practise their faith.
- The building: white marble with golden domes.
- Visiting: everyone is welcome. Cover your head, leave your shoes and wash your feet at the entrance.
- The langar: the free community kitchen serves a simple meal to anyone who sits down.
- Lend a hand: half an hour volunteering in the kitchen is a lovely way to understand the Sikh idea of service.
The Sunehri Masjid
The golden mosque: a small eighteenth-century mosque with gilded domes, beside the gurdwara.
- 1739: the story goes that Nadir Shah sat on its roof and watched his soldiers kill thousands of the city's people.
- Why we stop: it is sobering, and a reminder of how much this street has survived.
The Fatehpuri Masjid
Built: in 1650 by Fatehpuri Begum, at the western end of the avenue.
- The building: red sandstone, with a single great dome and a quiet courtyard around a pool.
- Sold and returned: after 1857 the British sold it to a Hindu merchant, and returned it to the Muslim community some twenty years later.
- Today: an oasis of calm at the noisiest end of the street.
The Jama Masjid, just to the south
Where: off the main avenue, on its own rise above the old city.
- Built: by Shah Jahan between 1650 and 1656. It is among the largest mosques in India.
- Timing: go before or after the walk, never at prayer time.
- Etiquette: dress modestly and leave your shoes at the steps.
The lanes of the traders
- Gali
- A lane
- Kucha
- A lane of one community or trade
- Katra
- An enclosed market
- Haveli
- A courtyard mansion
- Old compounds: a katra was often once a single merchant's compound.
- Divided mansions: the old city is full of havelis, many now split into workshops, warehouses and homes.
Dariba Kalan, the silver lane
Where: turning south off the avenue near the gurdwara.
- For centuries: silver and jewellery. The name is usually said to come from a Persian word for a peerless pearl.
- In the windows: heavy silver anklets, old coins, filigree and attar bottles.
- Prices: by weight. A guide who knows the families can show you which shops are trusted.
Kinari Bazaar and the Naughara
Kinari Bazaar: it glitters with wedding trimmings, gold and silver ribbons, sequins, turban bands and garlands of currency notes for the groom.
- The Naughara: just off it, a tiny lane of nine painted Jain havelis with carved doorways and a white marble temple at the end.
- Few find it: one of the most beautiful corners of the old city, and very few visitors get there.
Paranthe Wali Gali
Since the nineteenth century: a narrow lane of family shops frying stuffed parathas.
- Fillings: potato, paneer, radish, lentils and more unusual ones such as banana or bitter gourd.
- How they're made: fried in ghee in deep iron pans, served with pickles and potato curry.
- When we come: mid-morning, because lunchtime is very busy.
Ballimaran and Ghalib's house
The lane: on the north side of the avenue, home to spectacle makers and shoe sellers.
- Ghalib's haveli: in a side lane, the great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib spent the last years of his life.
- Today: part of it is a small memorial, with his verses on the walls. Our guides often recite a couplet or two.
Bhagirath Palace and Begum Samru
The market: a busy electrical bazaar.
- The mansion beneath: it grew up around the house of Begum Samru, a dancing girl who became ruler of a small principality near Meerut in the late eighteenth century.
- Look closely: her palace is buried among wiring shops, but its columns are still visible if you know where to look.
Khari Baoli, the spice market
Where: at the western end, beyond the Fatehpuri Masjid.
- Scale: one of the largest wholesale spice markets in Asia.
- The scene: porters carry sacks of chillies, turmeric, cardamom and dried fruit through the crowds, and the air makes everyone sneeze.
- The roof: with a guide, climb the stairs of Gadodia Market for an extraordinary view of kites wheeling and pigeon flocks circling over the old city.
Chawri Bazaar and Nai Sarak
Where: two trading streets between Chandni Chowk and the Jama Masjid.
- Chawri Bazaar: brass, copper and printed wedding cards.
- Nai Sarak: booksellers, mostly school and college books, piled to the ceiling.
- Walk, don't shop: neither is a shopping stop for most visitors, but both are wonderful to walk through.
Behind the doors, the havelis of Shahjahanabad
Look up: above the crowd in almost any lane are carved stone doorways, wooden balconies and rows of arched windows over the phone shops.
The idea: a mansion closed to the street and open to the sky, built around one or more courtyards.
Familiar plan: the same idea shaped the merchant houses of Shekhawati and the townhouses of our walled city in Jaipur. Our piece on what a haveli is explains it.
- Plan
- Rooms around open courtyards
- Entrance
- A bent passage, no view in
- Courtyards
- Men's in front, women's behind
- Above
- Terraces and rooftop pavilions
- Today
- Homes, workshops, a few hotels
- Behind the heavy front door: a bent entrance passage meant no one could see in from the street.
- Who built them: nobles of the Mughal court, including Rajput chiefs in imperial service, built great havelis. The city's rich bankers and jewellers built smaller ones.
- The decline: after 1857, and again after 1947, most families moved to the new city. The houses were divided among dozens of tenants, and many decayed.
- Revival: some are being restored by their owners and by conservation groups, and a few have become small hotels and restaurants.
- Opening doors: with a family's permission, a good guide may take you into a courtyard with carved pillars and painted ceilings.
- From the roof: water tanks, kites and pigeon coops in every direction, with the domes of the Jama Masjid rising above.
- Private homes: treat them as homes, not monuments, and never wander in uninvited.
- Walks built on this: our heritage walks in Jaipur and Delhi are built around exactly these visits.
What to eat on the walk
Jalebi: spirals of fermented batter fried and soaked in syrup. The Old Famous Jalebi Wala at the corner of Dariba Kalan has served them for generations, with rabri, thickened sweet milk.
Parathas: next, the stuffed breads of Paranthe Wali Gali.
Dahi bhalla: lentil dumplings soaked in yoghurt with sweet and sour chutneys, a dish Chandni Chowk does better than anywhere.
- Breakfast
- Jalebi with rabri
- Mid-morning
- Parathas in Paranthe Wali Gali
- Chandni Chowk's best
- Dahi bhalla
- Winter only
- Daulat ki chaat, November to February
- Towards the Jama Masjid
- Nihari, kebabs, kormas
- Natraj Dahi Bhalle Wala: a tiny counter on the avenue, and the name everyone knows.
- Chaina Ram: a famous sweet shop near the Fatehpuri Masjid, founded by a Sindhi family who came from Lahore at Partition.
- Daulat ki chaat: a cloud of sweetened milk foam whipped by hand in the cold night air, sold from brass trays until the morning sun melts it. Roughly November to February only.
- Meat lanes: south of the avenue, towards the Jama Masjid, come slow-cooked nihari, kebabs and kormas.
- Karim's: it has fed the old city since 1913.
- Stay well: eat food cooked fresh in front of you, avoid raw salads and cut fruit, and drink only bottled or filtered water.
- Let your guide choose: they know each kitchen.
- Go further: our Old Delhi food walk has our own route, and our food of Delhi guide moves on to the grand dining rooms of the new city.
How we walk Chandni Chowk
- Start
- Seven, at the Jama Masjid
- Finish
- About ten, at Khari Baoli
- Getting around
- On foot and by cycle rickshaw
- After
- Red Fort, unless it's Monday
Seven o'clock, the Jama Masjid
- On the steps: we begin as the old city wakes, with woodsmoke and cardamom tea in the lanes around.
- Then: a short visit to the courtyard, and breakfast in the lanes nearby.
Eight o'clock, by cycle rickshaw
The route: through Chawri Bazaar and the lanes to the eastern end of the avenue.
- The classic way: from the seat you see over the crowd.
- Fair pay: we choose the rickshaw pullers ourselves and pay them fairly.
Nine o'clock, along the avenue
From the Lal Mandir: we walk west along the pedestrian avenue, visiting the gurdwara and the temples.
- Into the lanes: Dariba Kalan, Kinari Bazaar and the Naughara.
- Snack stop: jalebis and parathas.
Ten o'clock, the spice market and the roof
The finish: the Fatehpuri Masjid and Khari Baoli, then the roof of Gadodia Market for the view.
- The car: it meets you at the edge of the old city.
- What next: if it is not a Monday, the Red Fort can follow. Or go back to the hotel for lunch and a rest.
The best hour, day and season
Come early: the lanes, food stalls and temples are alive well before the avenue's shops open, and the light in the narrow streets is soft and golden.
Why it matters: you see Old Delhi going to work rather than selling to visitors.
Sundays: the lanes are quieter, and some of the trading life is missing.
- Best hour
- From seven in the morning
- Shops open
- From around ten
- Sundays
- Wholesale markets mostly closed
- Mondays
- Bazaar fine, Red Fort closed
- Best months
- October to March
- Best of all
- February and March
- November and December: smoke and the winter inversion can make the old city hazy and hard on the throat. We shorten the walk, add temple time and keep a mask in your bag.
- December and January: mornings can be foggy and cold, which is when the daulat ki chaat sellers appear.
- April to June: the heat in the lanes is intense, so we start at dawn and finish by nine.
- Monsoon: the lanes can flood briefly after heavy rain.
- Before Diwali: the trimmings and sweet shops are at their most dazzling.
- Ramzan: the lanes near the Jama Masjid fill with food stalls after sunset.
- 15 August: the rooftops are crowded with kite flyers.
- Month by month: our best time to visit Delhi guide has the detail.
How to visit Chandni Chowk well
Go with a private guide: one who grew up in or knows the old city, and knows which lanes to take, which shops are honest and which kitchens are clean.
Wear closed shoes: the lanes can be wet, uneven and dirty. Slip-ons are easiest, as you take them off at the temples, gurdwara and mosques.
Dress modestly: shoulders and knees covered, with a scarf to cover your head at the gurdwara and the mosques.
- Guide
- Private, and knows the old city
- Shoes
- Closed, slip-on
- Dress
- Shoulders and knees covered
- Carry
- Small notes and a scarf
- Leave behind
- Jewellery and valuables
- Guard your things: wear a small bag in front, keep your phone in an inside pocket and leave jewellery at the hotel.
- Small notes: for rickshaws, shoe keepers and snacks.
- Photographs: ask before photographing people, especially women and in places of worship. Most traders are happy to pose if you ask with a smile.
- Limited mobility: the main avenue is now flat and wide, and a cycle rickshaw can carry you through the lanes.
- Wheelchairs: some side lanes are too narrow and busy, so we plan the route around you. Our accessible travel notes explain more.
- Special shops: don't follow anyone who offers to take you to one. Our shopping guide explains commission shopping and how we avoid it.
What to buy, and what to save for Rajasthan
A market for Delhi families: Chandni Chowk sells almost everything, so shop the way they do.
Buy what the old city made: silver, spices, ribbons and attar, the traditional oil-based perfumes, have always been traded here.
- Silver and old coins
- Dariba Kalan
- Spices, dried fruit, tea
- Khari Baoli
- Wedding trimmings
- Kinari Bazaar
- Attar
- Old perfumers near the Jama Masjid
- Paper kites
- Before Independence Day
- Save some for Rajasthan: block-printed cottons, blue pottery and gemstones are better bought in Jaipur's bazaars, from the families who make them.
- Tie-dye: leheriya and bandhani are at their best in Jaipur and Jodhpur. Our textile shopping experience takes you to the workshops.
- Bargaining: normal in the lanes, less so in established shops with fixed prices.
- How to bargain: be polite, smile and walk away if the price is wrong. Your guide can tell you what a fair price looks like.
Where to stay for an Old Delhi morning
The Imperial: on Janpath, the grand hotel closest to Old Delhi, and the early-morning drive is usually short.
Its prints: the hotel's colonial-era prints of Delhi make a lovely end to the walk.
- Closest grand hotel
- The Imperial, Janpath
- Inside the walls
- Haveli Dharampura
- From south Delhi
- An easy drive at seven
- Inside the walled city: Haveli Dharampura is a restored mansion in the lanes near the Jama Masjid, run as a small heritage hotel with views from its roof.
- South Delhi: guests at The Oberoi, New Delhi and The Leela Palace simply leave a little earlier.
- Compare them all: our guide to luxury hotels in Delhi.
What we tell our cousins about Chandni Chowk
Go early, go hungry and go with a guide: the three rules we give everyone.
Don't try to drive: cars stop at the edge of the old city, and the walk or the rickshaw is part of the joy.
- Go
- Early, hungry, with a guide
- Don't
- Drive into the old city
- Eat
- Little, often, freshly cooked
- After
- Lunch and a swim at the hotel
- Get lost: accept it. The best things in Old Delhi are found by turning into the wrong lane.
- Eat little and often: and only freshly cooked food.
- Respect the faiths: take shoes off when asked, cover your head and keep your voice low. Our temple etiquette guide has the details.
- Check the air: in November and December, be ready to swap your Old Delhi day for a clearer one.
- Rest afterwards: three hours in Old Delhi equals a day anywhere else.
- Compare with Jaipur: when you reach Jaipur, notice that both cities were planned by kings with grids and trade lanes, a century apart. The differences are fascinating.
