3-Days Delhi, Agra and Jaipur Tour - India Golden Triangle (from $156.28)

The tightest version that still works

Three days, one night in Agra, one in Jaipur, with the two long drives falling between cities rather than inside sightseeing days.

Delhi

Qutub Minar, 73 metres of fluted red sandstone begun in 1193 by the first sultan of Delhi — the tallest brick minaret in the world. In its courtyard the iron pillar, made in the 4th century under the Gupta emperors and still barely rusted after sixteen hundred years in the open air, which metallurgists continue to publish papers about.

Humayun's Tomb, commissioned in 1565 by the emperor's widow and designed by a Persian architect: the first Mughal garden tomb in India, and the direct model for the Taj.

India Gate, and Old Delhi if the day allows.

Agra

The Taj Mahal with a licensed guide. Shah Jahan began it in 1632, the year after Mumtaz Mahal died. Twenty-two years, twenty thousand workers, marble from Makrana 400 km away.

The calligraphy cut in increasing sizes so it reads the same height from the ground; the pietra dura 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 — Shah Jahan's own cenotaph, added off-axis by Aurangzeb.

Agra Fort, and the tower where that imprisonment happened.

Jaipur, via Fatehpur Sikri

Akbar's abandoned capital on the road, then Amber Fort, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar and the Hawa Mahal.

Three options

Car, driver and guide; or with three-star or four-star hotels.

Practical

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