Taj Mahal, Agra & Delhi travel guides

Written by guides who work these monuments and streets every week — the timings, the gates, the trains, and the practical details that decide how a day goes. Agra and Delhi both, and no booking required to read any of it.

Arriving in India

The things that decide how your first few days go — the visa, the airport, the water, the money and the questions nobody answers straight.

3 guides

First Time in India

Updated 29 Sept 2026

First Time in India

The visa, the airport, the SIM, the cash and the scams — the first forty-eight hours, handled before you land.

Read guide

Delhi

Planning a day, working out the transport, and the honest answer on safety — from guides who work the city every week.

7 guides

Getting Around Delhi

Updated 17 Sept 2026

Getting Around Delhi

The Metro is excellent and the traffic is not. When to use which, what things cost, and the mistakes that cost visitors time.

Read guide
Old Delhi vs New Delhi

Updated 24 Sept 2026

Old Delhi vs New Delhi

Two cities three hundred years apart, what each is actually like to walk, and the part of Delhi that is older than both.

Read guide
Best Time to Visit Delhi

Updated 28 Sept 2026

Best Time to Visit Delhi

Month by month on heat, fog and the winter pollution season — and the two windows that get you clean air and comfortable days together.

Read guide

Delhi, monument by monument

Timings, closure days, what each ticket actually costs and how long to allow — for the sights a Delhi day is built around.

8 guides

Red Fort

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Red Fort

Open 9:30 to 4:30, closed Mondays, around ninety minutes inside — and what the British left of it after 1857.

Read guide
Qutub Minar

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Qutub Minar

Open daily, about an hour inside, no climbing — and the oldest thing in Delhi standing in the courtyard beside it.

Read guide
Humayun's Tomb

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Humayun's Tomb

Open daily, about ninety minutes, and the building the Taj Mahal was modelled on — commissioned by a widow, eighty years earlier.

Read guide
Jama Masjid

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Jama Masjid

Free to enter, closed to visitors at prayer times, and the one place in Old Delhi where the etiquette matters more than the ticket.

Read guide
Akshardham Temple

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Akshardham Temple

Free to enter, closed Mondays, no phones or bags inside — and the security queue, not the temple, decides your afternoon.

Read guide
Lotus Temple

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Lotus Temple

Free, closed Mondays, and an hour-long weekend queue for a silent hall with nothing in it — which is either the point or a reason to photograph it from the garden.

Read guide
India Gate

Updated 29 Sept 2026

India Gate

Free, always open, best after dark — and shut off for most of January while Republic Day is rehearsed.

Read guide
Chandni Chowk

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Chandni Chowk

Six markets in one, best between ten and one, largely shut on Sundays — and the lane-by-lane map most visitors never get.

Read guide

Agra & the Taj Mahal

Gate times that move through the year, the Friday closure, and every way of covering the road between Delhi and Agra.

7 guides

Taj Mahal Sunrise Guide

Updated 28 Sept 2026

Taj Mahal Sunrise Guide

The gate time changes every month. Here is when to arrive, which gate to choose, and an honest account of the first hour.

Read guide
Taj Mahal on Fridays

Updated 16 Sept 2026

Taj Mahal on Fridays

Yes, every Friday, no exceptions. Here is what is still worth doing in Agra that day — including the view most visitors never see.

Read guide

Agra, monument by monument

Ticket prices, gate times, the Friday closure and how long each one needs — for the Taj Mahal and everything around it.

4 guides

Taj Mahal

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Taj Mahal

Gate times that move through the year, what a ticket really costs, the three-hour limit, and what gets taken off you at security.

Read guide
Agra Fort

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Agra Fort

Open daily including Friday, around ninety minutes, and only a quarter of it open — including the tower Shah Jahan died in.

Read guide
Fatehpur Sikri

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Fatehpur Sikri

A complete Mughal capital abandoned within fifteen years, two to three hours on foot, and the most persistent touts in Agra.

Read guide

Jaipur

Forts, palaces and the observatory — with the elephant ride question answered, and the one landmark you cannot actually go inside.

6 guides

Amber Fort

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Amber Fort

Two to three hours, best before nine, and the elephant ride question answered honestly.

Read guide
City Palace Jaipur

Updated 29 Sept 2026

City Palace Jaipur

Ninety minutes, two ticket tiers that differ by a great deal of money, and the largest silver objects ever made.

Read guide
Hawa Mahal

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Hawa Mahal

953 windows, one facade, and an entrance nowhere near the side you came to photograph.

Read guide
Jantar Mantar

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Jantar Mantar

Nineteen instruments, a sundial accurate to two seconds, and the one site in Jaipur that is wasted without a guide.

Read guide
Nahargarh Fort

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Nahargarh Fort

An hour, the best view over Jaipur there is, and nine identical apartments built so that no queen outranked another.

Read guide
Jal Mahal

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Jal Mahal

Free, five minutes, and closed to the public — a photo stop that people plan an afternoon around by mistake.

Read guide

Rather have someone plan it?

Every guide above links to the tour that solves the same problem. If you would rather describe your dates and let us build the day around them, we do that too.