Old Delhi Food Tour: Street Eats, Spice Markets & Bazaars
Old Delhi is the beating culinary heart of the capital — a maze of Mughal-era lanes where paratha, jalebi, kebabs and chaat have been perfected over generations. Here is how to eat your way through Chandni Chowk and the spice bazaars in a single delicious day, with the best-rated street-food tours, market walks and cooking classes to book.
At a glance
- 1Chandni Chowk street-food crawl
- 2Asia's largest spice market
- 3Tuk-tuk ride through the lanes
- 4Hands-on home cooking class
Morning: a Chandni Chowk street-food crawl
Begin in Chandni Chowk, the 17th-century market laid out by Shah Jahan, where a guided street-food walk is the best way to eat safely and widely. Follow a local expert past hidden shops for stuffed parathas, spicy chaat, silky lassi and crackling jalebi, with a dozen or more tastings that add up to a full breakfast. A guide knows which stalls locals trust.
Midday: spice markets and hidden bazaars
From the food lanes, dive into Khari Baoli, Asia's largest wholesale spice market, where sacks of chilli, cardamom and turmeric perfume the air. Heritage walks weave through the surrounding bazaars, silver alleys and crumbling havelis, telling the stories behind the trade. A cycle-rickshaw or tuk-tuk ride is the classic way to thread the narrowest lanes without losing your bearings among the crowds.
Afternoon: cook what you tasted
Round off the day with a hands-on Indian cooking class, often in a local family home, learning to make the curries, breads and street snacks you sampled that morning. It is a relaxed, air-conditioned counterpoint to the bustle of the bazaar, and most classes end with a generous sit-down meal of everything you cooked. You leave with recipes and techniques to recreate the flavours of Old Delhi long after the trip is over.
Book the experiences in this itinerary
Top-rated tours for exactly what this plan recommends in New Delhi — prices per person.
