Dilli Haat is one of the most popular shopping gateways in New Delhi, where music, food, fun, and festivities converge in one place. Extending over the area of six-acre, this ethnic marketplace is symbolic of the lifestyle and culture of the people living in this city.
It has carved the top spot for being the most visited destination by tourists as it presents a vivid world of cultural activities, craft, and cuisine.
It invokes the vibes of a traditional village fair and is a haven for foodies and shopaholics. This market offers a wide range of handloom products and traditional crafts, including sandalwood and rosewood carvings, beads, gems, metalcrafts, and brassware items.
It also offers scrumptious food cuisines from different states of India, such as kebabs from Jammu, momos from Nepal, and Puran Poli from Maharashtra.
Dilli Haat is the ideal spot that allows you to experience a new perspective of the ethnic background of the country through the diverse stalls that have been set up over here. These shops have been set up in thatched cottages to create the atmosphere of the village.
Dilli Haat has been successful in making rural crafts accessible to the city folks as a wide range of skillfully crafted handicraft items from each part of the country are available over here.
The shops here are rented to the skilled craftsmen from all across the country on a rotational basis, thus ensuring that a varied range of handicraft items are available to the visitors at each visit.
Many interesting shows promoting the handlooms and handicrafts are also held at the exhibition hall in this marketplace. Dilli Haat offers you an incredible experience of India in a microcosm and is a window to the diversity and vibrant contrast that exists in our country.
History of Dilli Haat
Jointly established by Delhi Tourism (DTDC), Government of Delhi and NDMC, D.C. (Handicrafts) & D.C. (handlooms), Ministry of Textiles & Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India, Dilli Haat was open for public visit in March 1994. In around nine years, by 2003, the market has developed into a flourishing hub of foodies and compulsive shoppers, owing to its handcrafted products, exotic clothing range and scrumptious food. It also got a full wheelchair facility in addition to a bathroom. Soon after, in 2008, another branch was opened in Pitampura spreading over 7.2 hectares. And not much later in July 2014, another Dilli Haat was inaugurated in Janakpuri. Over the years the market has become an exotic cultural hub and lately, Delhi’s most fun festival- the Comic-Con is also organized here at the INA branch.
Desi Day Out at Dilli Haat
1. The stupendous Tanjore paintings make their place at Dilli Haat, all the way from Tamil Nadu. Dating back to 1600 AD, the paintings made on solid wood are ornamented with gold foil giving it just the right amount of dazzle and elegance.
2. You can also find the very famed Madhubani paintings here, tracing its roots to the ancient Bihar.
3. The market houses some of the best collections of chic-metal ware from Orissa. The junk jewellery is tastefully done in brass and copper, and is a must-pick product.
4. Dilli Haat offers a vast collection of leather products as well. The spectrum of tans and styles to choose from, and a diverse variety of totes, bags, belts and wallets are bound to steal your heart.
5. Not to forget, the elegant Lucknowi chikankari suits and the gorgeous Punjabi phulkari dupattas are sure to satiate your shopping pangs.
6. This trip is not complete if you don’t pick up something from the home decor department. They have a plethora of beautifully engraved furniture, brass-wares, vintage style antiques, storage units etc.
7. And lastly how can we forget the sumptuous gourmet food stalls- offering all there is in from the lands far and wide. From Mughlai biryani to Sikkimese thukpa and Gujarati thepla, Dilli Haat has got it all.
Architecture of Dilli Haat
Dilli Haat has been designed in the traditional north Indian architectural style in brick latticework and stone roofs. The complex houses a large hall which conducts exhibitions and displays of handlooms and handicrafts. This is also the place which occasionally hosts cultural events like folk dances, drama etc. A tiny souvenir shop sells mainstream souvenirs of Delhi for the tourists to take home.
The stalls are built in kiosks and cottages with thatched roofs to give a village feel to the entire set-up. Also, the shops set on a slightly elevated platform are connected through a stone pathway and are interspaced with grass; with courtyards in between to retain the harmonious village environment and give a flowery appeasing look to the place.
