Delhi
Delhi's name is popularly linked to Raja Dhillu, a semi-legendary king said to have ruled here around the 1st century BCE — one guess among several competing origin stories for a city that has simply existed too long to have one certain answer. It has been built and rebuilt as a capital at least seven times, from the Rajput city of Lal Kot to the Delhi Sultanate, Shah Jahan's Shahjahanabad, and Lutyens' imperial New Delhi. Few cities anywhere carry an unbroken thread of political power spanning a thousand years — visible today from the Qutub Minar to the Red Fort, where India's Prime Minister still addresses the nation every Independence Day.
5 landmarks worth knowing before you set out.