One of the oldest cities in the world, Delhi is also one of the largest. Emblematic of India in the paradoxes it holds, the city is a modern metropolis where you encounter antiquity at every bend. With a history spanning over 5000 years that saw several dynasties, invasions, migrations, destruction, construction and the Partition, Delhi is a cultural conundrum. The best way to relish Delhi is not to try to unravel its idiosyncrasies but enjoy the cultural patina it offers.
One of the oldest cities in the world, Delhi is also one of the largest. Emblematic of India in the paradoxes it holds, the city is a modern metropolis where you encounter antiquity at every bend. With a history spanning over 5000 years that saw several dynasties, invasions, migrations, destruction, construction and the Partition, Delhi is a cultural conundrum. The best way to relish Delhi is not to try to unravel its idiosyncrasies but enjoy the cultural patina it offers. more You haven't seen Delhi if you haven't seen its monuments. Ubiquitous as the ruins are, scattered over the city, do visit tomes such as the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Qutab Minar and Humayun's tomb. Even though they are a bit of a cliche, the breadth of history they represent will leave you dizzy with cultural overload. If you manage to be in Delhi when the weather is cooler, walk through the city - battle your way through the maze of Chandni Chowk and then amble along the Janpath savouring the incredible sense of space in Lutyens' tree-flanked Delhi. Pad across the grass at the Lodhi Gardens littered with ruins or haul your way up the Ridge area also called the lungs of Delhi, offering dense forests and an occasional fox. They city has so much to offer that the smell of tarmac later will always remind you of your Delhi days. Whatever be the season, do not forget to sample the food here. Astounding variety and outstanding flavours. What you cannot miss are the kebabs around Jama Masjid, the chaat at Chandni Chowk, momos at various shacks around the city and the sinfully indulgent Mughlai and Punjabi food. What Delhi also offers is exemplary shopping. Traditional wear, ethnic-chic, trinkets, furnishings, antiques, ostentatious jewellery, chromatic pajamas, designer wear and labels, posh bookshops and second hand treasures, flea markets, curios, handicrafts - Delhi has it all. It is, after all, the capital of the republic of India.

Simply put, Delhi is a shopper's paradise with trendy boutiques, flea markets, swanky malls, tiny kiosks, upscale shopping areas, pavement shops, modern art galleries, Tibetan markets, centuries old bazaars and second hand street markets. For a fun filled shopping trip visit Dilli Haat, preferably in the evening. It's an open air complex housing artisans who sell their indigenous wares. Expect a riot of colours from kitsch to ethnic fabrics, shoes, trinkets and furnishings. Top it up with a meal from one of the various restaurants offering indigenous cuisine from each state of India.

For shoes, bags, jewellery and skin care products visit the M Block Market at Greater Kailash (GK) – one of the hippest markets of the city. Also on offer are posh malls all over Delhi offering braded goods and labels. For designer wear, visit the Garden of Five Senses near the Qutab Minar.

For shoppers on a shoe string budget, Pahar Ganj is perfect with its junk jewellery and trippy clothing. For some serious trousseau shopping and gold-diamond jewellery, visit Chandni Chowk, Karol Bagh and Rajouri Garden. For affordable fakes, go to Lajpat Nagar.

Go to Janpath for curios and bronzes, mirror studded bed covers and stained glass lanterns, and haggle till exhaustion. Visit Palika Bazaar for CDs and software.

For real time handicrafts and prices to match them, visit one of the many emporia lining Janpath, especially the Cottage Industries Emporium, the ones on Baba Kharag Singh Marg and the Hauz Khas Village. Indo-Western outfits and fabrics in beautiful colours and also some stunning furnishings are available at Fabindia and Anokhi. Sunder Nagar Market offers art and antiques.

If flea markets are what you enjoy, visit Sarojini Nagar to buy export surplus of branded clothes available at dirt cheap prices, even though you have to delve into the piles of clothes.

If you are a book lover, you cannot not go to the second hand book bazaar at the Kabaadi Bazaar pavement. Look out for books with unbelievably low prices, and if you are lucky, a precious first edition.

And remember, when in bazaars and flea markets, haggle, haggle, haggle.

With a rising income and a steadily increasing cosmopolitan workforce, Delhi's youth are always ready to party. Delhi has a thriving nightlife with pubs, lounge bars, discotheques and clubs dotting the city, offering everything from live music, adventurous cocktails, foreign DJs, state of the art technology to theme based nights. The pubs and clubs are choc a bloc throughout the week and it's the weekend when the discotheques really go wild with the PYTs of Delhi gyrating on the floor. With London's 'Ministry of Sound' now open in the city, Delhi seems to have arrived.