2Day Agra & Fatehpur Sikri Tour from Delhi By Gatimaan Train

The fast train, and a night to use it properly

The Gatimaan Express covers Delhi to Agra in a hundred minutes at 160 km/h — India's fastest train, with breakfast served at the seat. Doing it as a day trip wastes that advantage on a rushed monument visit; doing it over two days means you get the Taj at sunrise and Fatehpur Sikri without a clock running.

Day one

Morning train from Hazrat Nizamuddin. A licensed guide and private air-conditioned car meet you at Agra Cantt.

Agra Fort in the afternoon — Akbar's red sandstone stronghold of 1565 with his grandson's marble palaces inside: the Diwan-i-Am, the Khas Mahal, the Sheesh Mahal, and the Musamman Burj, the tower where Aurangzeb imprisoned his father for the last eight years of his life with the Taj in view down the river.

Optionally Mehtab Bagh across the Yamuna at sunset, for the reflection view.

Night in Agra.

Day two

The Taj Mahal as the gates open, half an hour before sunrise. The marble goes grey, then pink, then white; in winter mist lies on the river behind the dome.

Then west to Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's capital of 1571, abandoned fourteen years later when its water supply failed and therefore preserved whole: the 54-metre Buland Darwaza, the Panch Mahal stepping back through five open storeys, the Diwan-i-Khas with its single carved central pillar, and the marble dargah of Salim Chishti, where people still tie threads to the jali screens asking for children.

Evening Gatimaan back to Delhi.

Three options

Train, car, driver and guide with your own room; or the same with a three-star or five-star hotel.

Practical

The Gatimaan does not run on Fridays, which is also the day the Taj is closed — the two line up neatly.

Train seats are limited and release on a fixed schedule; book early. Carry the passport you booked with, as Indian Railways checks ID against the ticket.