From Delhi: Taj Mahal Sunrise & Agra Day Tour with 5* Lunch

Sunrise, and lunch worth stopping for

Two things separate this from the standard Delhi day trip: the early departure that gets you to the Taj as the gates open, and a five-star lunch instead of a roadside stop at two in the afternoon when everyone is already flagging.

Pickup from Delhi, Gurugram, Noida or nearby, in a private air-conditioned car.

The Taj at first light

The gates open half an hour before sunrise. The marble reads grey, then pink, then a cold white as the sun clears the far bank of the Yamuna, and in December and January there is mist on the river behind the dome. The crowd at that hour is a fifth of what it will be by ten.

Shah Jahan began it in 1632, the year after Mumtaz Mahal died bearing their fourteenth child — twenty thousand workers, twenty-two years, marble carted 300 km from Makrana.

Your local guide covers what is easy to walk past: the calligraphy cut in increasing sizes so it reads the same height from the ground; the pietra dura inlay, where a single flower can hold sixty stones; the four minarets, leaning fractionally outward so an earthquake would drop them clear of the tomb; and the one deliberate break in the symmetry — Shah Jahan's own cenotaph, placed off-axis by Aurangzeb.

Agra Fort

Two kilometres upriver. Akbar's red sandstone city of 1565 with his grandson's marble palaces inside: the Diwan-i-Am, the Khas Mahal, the Sheesh Mahal.

And the Musamman Burj, the octagonal tower where Aurangzeb imprisoned his father for the last eight years of his life, with the Taj visible along the river. He died there, and was carried across to be buried beside his wife.

Four options

An Agra-start version with driver and guide; from Delhi with car and guide; the same with entry fees; or with entry fees and the five-star lunch.

Practical

Around nine hours of touring plus the road. The Taj is closed on Fridays.

Tell us about vegetarian, Jain or no-chilli needs when you book.