From Delhi: Taj Mahal Sunrise, Agra Fort & Akbar’s Tomb Tour

Three Mughal tombs, and the third one is the surprise

Most Agra itineraries stop at two monuments. Adding Akbar's Tomb at Sikandra is what makes this one worth the extra hour, because it is where the whole Mughal architectural story starts — and there is almost nobody there.

Pickup

Between 2:30 and 3:00 am for the sunrise version, from Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad or Faridabad. Later pickups are available if the sunrise does not appeal.

The Taj at sunrise

Gates open half an hour before the sun. The marble goes grey, then pink, then white; in winter there is mist on the Yamuna behind the dome.

Your guide covers the calligraphy cut in increasing sizes so it reads uniformly from the ground, the pietra dura inlay of up to sixty stones per flower, the four minarets tilted outward so an earthquake would take them clear of the tomb, and the single asymmetry in the whole building.

Agra Fort

Akbar's red sandstone city of 1565 with Shah Jahan's marble inside, and the Musamman Burj where he spent his last eight years as Aurangzeb's prisoner with the Taj in view down the river.

Akbar's Tomb, Sikandra

Ten kilometres north-west. Akbar began his own tomb and his son Jahangir finished it in 1613, and it looks like nothing else in India: a five-tiered sandstone structure with an open marble pavilion at the top, more like a Buddhist vihara than a Mughal mausoleum.

The gateway is inlaid with white marble in patterns that anticipate the Taj by twenty years. Blackbuck and deer graze the 119-acre garden, and rhesus macaques work the paths — do not carry food in your hand.

Akbar was the emperor who abolished the tax on non-Muslims, married Rajput princesses, and convened debates between Hindus, Jains, Jesuits and Zoroastrians. Standing in his tomb after the Taj puts the dynasty in order.

Four options

Guide only; private AC car and guide; the same with monument tickets; or with meals as well.

The Taj is closed on Fridays.