Two nights is the minimum and three is the honest number. One for the old city on foot - the Jama Masjid steps, Chandni Chowk before the shutters go up, a rickshaw through Ballimaran. One for the Lodi tombs, Humayun's garden and the Qutb complex, which most itineraries compress into an afternoon and should not. A third buys Mehrauli, the National Museum, and a morning with nothing in it.

Hotels run from the large diplomatic-enclave houses to a handful of small properties in Nizamuddin and Sunder Nagar that put you inside walking distance of the tombs. The difference matters more here than anywhere else in India, because Delhi traffic decides how much of the day you actually get.

Almost every journey starts or ends here, so the question is usually which end. Arriving guests do better with two nights at the start while the body clock settles; guests flying home late are better served by a day room and a driver who knows when to leave for the airport.