From Delhi: 4 Days Golden Triangle Tour with Ranthambore

Ranthambore sits between Agra and Jaipur, which is what makes a four-day itinerary with a safari in it possible at all.

Day 1: Delhi to Agra

Morning pickup, then the Yamuna Expressway — three and a half hours.

The Taj Mahal: Shah Jahan began it in 1632, the year after Mumtaz Mahal died bearing their fourteenth child. Twenty thousand workers and twenty-two years; marble hauled 400 km from Makrana.

Your guide covers the calligraphy cut in increasing sizes so it reads uniformly 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 in the whole building.

Then Agra Fort, and the Musamman Burj where Aurangzeb imprisoned his father for eight years with the Taj in view along the river.

Day 2: to Ranthambore via Fatehpur Sikri

Akbar's capital of 1571, abandoned after fourteen years 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 3: the safari

Open gypsy or canter, in a zone the forest department allocates. 1,300 square kilometres of dry forest around a tenth-century hill fort, with around seventy tigers, unusually habituated to vehicles.

Certain regardless: sambar chest-deep in the lakes, chital, nilgai, langur, and marsh crocodiles.

Day 4: Jaipur, then Delhi

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 and the safari included.

Practical

Ranthambore closes 1 July to 30 September. Permits are limited — book early. The Taj is closed on Fridays.