4-Day Golden Triangle Tour (Delhi–Agra–Jaipur)

Four days, and the arrival day is not wasted

Met at the airport or railway station, and straight into Delhi sightseeing rather than a hotel and a lost afternoon.

Day 1: Delhi

Qutub Minar, 73 metres of fluted red sandstone begun in 1193 — the tallest brick minaret in the world. The iron pillar in its courtyard is 4th century and still barely rusted, which metallurgists continue to publish on.

Humayun's Tomb, commissioned in 1565 by Bega Begum for her husband and designed by a Persian architect: the first great Mughal garden tomb in India, with the four-part charbagh and double dome that the Taj repeated sixty-seven years later.

Lotus Temple, the Bahá'í house of worship of 1986 — nine sides, twenty-seven marble petals, and silence inside. Closed Mondays.

India Gate and the Lutyens axis.

Day 2: Agra

The Taj Mahal at sunrise, and Agra Fort with the Musamman Burj where Shah Jahan spent his last eight years imprisoned by his own son, looking downriver at his wife's tomb.

Day 3: Jaipur via Fatehpur Sikri

Akbar's capital of 1571, abandoned fourteen years later when the water gave out, and standing complete because of it: the Buland Darwaza, the Panch Mahal, and the marble dargah of Salim Chishti.

Day 4: Jaipur, then Delhi

Amber Fort early, then Jal Mahal from the causeway, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar and the Hawa Mahal.

Included

Private air-conditioned vehicle and driver throughout, with licensed local guides for sightseeing.

Practical

The Taj is closed on Fridays, which sets how the days fall.

Entrance fees are separate — roughly ₹2,600 a head for a foreign adult across the three cities.