Tughlaqabad Fort is a vast, crumbling stone fortress built by the Delhi Sultanate's Tughlaq dynasty, its massive sloping ramparts stretching across a rocky escarpment in South Delhi. Legend holds that the city was cursed to remain uninhabited by a Sufi saint angered by the sultan's demands for labour, and whatever the truth, the fort was indeed abandoned within just a few years of its completion.
Today the fort's scale — far larger than most visitors expect — and its genuinely wild, unrestored state make it one of Delhi's more atmospheric ruins, with relatively few other visitors compared to the city's better-known monuments. Climbing what remains of the walls offers sweeping views over the surrounding rocky terrain, giving a strong sense of the fortress's original defensive purpose.
Built by Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq in the 1320s as his new capital, Tughlaqabad was abandoned within a decade of its completion due to a combination of water shortages and the curse attributed to Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya, whose own shrine remains an active pilgrimage site elsewhere in Delhi.
October to March.
Near Tughlaqabad metro station on the Violet Line.
No reviews yet — be the first.
Sign in to leave a review — reviews are posted under your account name.