Ride in a cycle rickshaw through streets crowded with motorbikes, bicycles, honking taxi horns, buses, trucks, and tiny Tata automobiles as your furiously-pedaling rickshaw driver dodges stray cows and pedestrians. Tall, often tawdry storefronts with a mixture of familiar and foreign signage look down at you. Yet almost all that is forgotten amidst the clamor and hubbub of the human hordes jostling for space amidst the cinnamon, curry, and cardamom aromas as your rickshaw glides through the narrow marketplace streets.

Your money-saving New Delhi vacation rental home, condo, apartment, or B&B guest room and helpful hosts are possibly your only refuge from the sensory onslaught of this metropolis that the colonial British decreed the capitol of modern India. Even the most attentive luxury hotel is bound to feel antiseptic and isolating compared to a tastefully furnished New Delhi vacation rental with hosts who can provide a little guidance. Perhaps the best antidote is a bit of colonial indulgence at the Delhi Golf Club, where greens fees are ridiculously low and peacocks will watch you blast out of deep sand bunkers.

After getting patted down and paying a fee for each camera, including those embedded in cell phones, and handing your shoes and a few more rupees to the shoe caretaker, you can finally relax and enjoy Old Delhi’s spacious Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque). For a tranquil modern juxtaposition, visit the flower petal-shaped Lotus Temple. Spectacular Akshardham Temple, opened in 2005, includes a musical prayer fountain and a “boat-ride experience of 10,000 years of India's glorious heritage.” Qutub Minar dates back almost 1,000 years, and is near Chattarpur Temple and the Sanskriti Museum of Everyday Art on South Delhi’s Gurgaon-Mehrauli Road.

Humayun's Tomb in Nizamuddin is a 1565 Persian Mughal inspiration for the Taj Mahal. Nearby is the excellent Crafts Museum, old fort Puranja Qila, and the National Zoological Gardens. New Delhi’s National Museum is renowned for its Indus Valley and Silk Route antiquities, and much more. Old Delhi’s money-saving vacation rentals at Hauz Khas Village put you near forests with deer, Shankar's International Dolls Museum, and the magnificent Red Fort’s Peacock Throne room. Museums and memorials for Nehru and the Gandhi family are reminders of modern politics.

Bargain for rugs, silk scarves, papier mache ornaments, and much more at Central Cottage Industries Emporium, Khan Market, and Connaught Place. Dilli Haat has linens, wood and marble carvings, puppets, clothing, and silver and pearl jewelry from every region in India. Near Old Delhi's Red Fort, bustling Chandni Chowk is a colorful area to eat and shop with the money savings from your New Delhi vacation rental.