5-Day Historical Golden Triangle Tour of India-All Inclusive in Delhi

What the fifth day buys you

Three days covers the Golden Triangle. Five means you arrive in each city and then actually spend a day in it — an evening at Connaught Place, a second Taj visit at a different hour, an afternoon in the Jaipur bazaars that is not squeezed between a fort and a highway.

Day 1: arrival and Delhi

Check in, then India Gate — Lutyens's 42-metre arch carved with the names of over 13,000 soldiers. Then Qutub Minar, begun in 1193, the tallest brick minaret in the world, standing in a courtyard built from the stone of dismantled temples, with the iron pillar that has not rusted in sixteen centuries.

Lotus Temple or Jama Masjid depending on the day — the Bahá'í house of worship is closed on Mondays, and the mosque closes to visitors during prayers.

Evening at Connaught Place, and dinner with Delhi chaat if you want it.

Day 2: Delhi to Agra

The rest of the capital in the morning — Humayun's Tomb, the 1560s garden tomb that the Taj descends from — then the Yamuna Expressway south.

Day 3: Agra

The Taj Mahal at sunrise, and Agra Fort, with the Musamman Burj where Shah Jahan spent his last eight years as his son's prisoner looking at his wife's tomb along the river.

Day 4: Agra to Jaipur via Fatehpur Sikri

Akbar's capital of 1571, abandoned fourteen years later when the water failed and preserved intact because of it.

Day 5: Jaipur

Amber Fort early, then the City Palace, Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal, and back to Delhi.

Four options

Transport and guide only, or with a three, four or five-star hotel and breakfast.

Practical

The Taj is closed on Fridays, which sets the ordering. Entrance fees run about ₹2,600 a head across the three cities for a foreign adult unless your option covers them.