Best hotel

Stay at the Shangri-La Eros New Delhi and you’ll enjoy fantastic views over the city and easy access to Connaught Place’s highlights. It’s also great for food lovers – its restaurants include Tamra, for delicious south-east Asian cuisine, and Sorrento, for Italian dishes (we recommend the wood-fired pizzas). We’re also huge fans of Mister Chai, a lobby cafe where you can feast on sumptuous afternoon teas. Keep an eye out for Tea Time Tales with Laxman Rao events, when you’ll be able to sip chai while chatting with Laxman Rao, a novelist and chai master who once owned a humble roadside chai stall in Delhi.

Best cultural site

The Agrasen Ki Baoli stepwell isn’t the easiest place to find – it’s just off Hailey Road, near the centre of Connaught Place – but we promise it’s worth the effort. Here, 108 steps descend towards an ancient well. Built in the 14th century, it’s surrounded by three levels of archway-lined hallways. Head here for a moment of calm – it rarely gets crowded, and often the only noise is the sound of birds swooping down for a sip of water – and to take in the juxtaposition of this ancient stepwell against the backdrop of Delhi’s modern architecture.

Best guided tour

Book a tour with Delhi Food Walks to get the low-down on local street food, the history of Delhi’s most popular dishes and the restaurants which should be on your radar. Don’t be surprised by the number of people who stop to request selfies with your host – Delhi Food Walks founder Anubhav Sapra is one of Delhi’s most popular food bloggers and an absolute expert on its food scene. A range of tours is available, but the New Delhi Lunch Tour is the one which covers Connaught Place.

Picture: Tamara Hinson

Best place to eat

Connaught Place is where you’ll find some of Delhi’s best street food. If you’re nervous about diving in, do a street food tour, such as the one offered by Delhi Food Walks, then come back the next day to enjoy more of the ones that tickled your taste buds the most. Trying multiple dishes? Stop by one of the many paan stalls you’ll see throughout Connaught Place. Here, the speciality (unsurprisingly) is paan – small mouth-freshening parcels filled with ingredients such as cardamom and cloves and wrapped in betel leaves. They’re somewhat of an acquired taste, but they’re a Delhi institution and a great way to cleanse the palate between dishes.

Best bar

Lord of the Drinks is a slick bar in the heart of Connaught Place. Step inside and you’ll find feel-good slogans spelled out in neon and nailed to the bare concrete walls. The drinks menu is enormous, although it’s the cocktails which create the biggest buzz. Bag a seat on the rooftop and order the LIIT with kaala khatta – a rum and tequila-based concoction flavoured with kala khatta syrup, which is made with the fruit of the jamun (Indian blackberry) bush.

Best museum

The National Charkha Museum focuses on the charkha – the spinning wheel which evolved from a humble tool to a symbol of India’s independence. You’ll find the world’s largest one outside the museum – made of stainless-steel, it weighs five tonnes and is four metres high. Exhibits inside include antique charkhas dating back to the early 1900s, and information panels look at why this simple weaving tool played such an important role in Gandhi’s fight for independence. As an added extra, your INR 20 (36 cents) ticket comes with a colourful braid of cotton.

The writer was a guest of Shangri-La Eros.

What is the best way to travel around Delhi?

Download your taxi apps in advance – Uber is the most popular option in Delhi, although Ola can often offer cheaper fares. Both have a range of vehicle choices, including ultra-cheap tuk-tuks.

While travelling around, avoid any frustrating “lost-in-translation” scenarios by asking your hotel for a card listing the property’s address in Hindi, so that your driver will understand where to take you.

Is it best to carry cash in India?

Make sure you withdraw a small amount of cash before heading to India – finding a working cash machine in Delhi isn’t always easy and not everywhere takes card.

Need to get rid of unspent rupees? Opt to pay for Uber rides with cash (select the option on the app when you book).

How to get to Delhi from Australia

Melbourne and Sydney are the best departure points for direct flights to Delhi. Air India offers daily direct flights between Sydney and Delhi, while Qantas and Air India both operate regular direct flights to Delhi from Melbourne. Flight times are about 13 hours.