New Delhi: Red Fort Tour with Transfers :Choose form Option

Shah Jahan's second capital, and what the British did to it

He had already built the Taj when he decided Agra was finished. The Red Fort went up between 1638 and 1648 as the palace of a brand-new city, Shahjahanabad, with two kilometres of red sandstone wall on what was then the bank of the Yamuna.

What you walk through now is about a fifth of what stood in 1650. After 1857 the British demolished much of the interior — palaces, gardens and pavilions — and put barracks in their place, which is why the courtyards feel oddly empty between the surviving marble buildings.

Knowing that makes the visit make sense.

Inside

Chatta Chowk, the vaulted covered bazaar inside the Lahori Gate, which sold silk, brocade and gems to the imperial household.

Naubat Khana, the drum house, where musicians announced arrivals and where everyone but the emperor's closest circle dismounted.

Diwan-i-Am, the hall of public audience. Shah Jahan heard petitions here daily from a marble alcove inlaid with pietra dura — panels looted in 1857 and partly returned from the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1903.

Diwan-i-Khas, which held the Peacock Throne until Nadir Shah carried it to Persia in 1739. The Persian couplet on its wall still says that if there is a paradise on earth, it is this.

Rang Mahal, Khas Mahal, the hammam, and Aurangzeb's small marble Moti Masjid.

The museums

The on-site museums include the 1857 archaeological collection and the Indian War Memorial Museum in the Naubat Khana — both included on the ticket and both usually empty.

Three options

Guide only; Red Fort with guide and transfers; or with transfers and tickets.

Practical

Three hours. Closed Mondays. Entry is ₹600 for foreign nationals.

The Prime Minister raises the flag over the Lahori Gate every 15 August, and the fort shuts for several days around it.