From Delhi: Agra & Jaipur in 3 Days with Car, Guide & Hotels

Three days, three cities, no wasted afternoons

This is the compact Golden Triangle: one night in Agra, one in Jaipur, and the driving arranged so that each day ends where the next one starts.

Day one: Delhi and the road to Agra

Delhi sightseeing in the morning — Qutub Minar, Humayun's Tomb, India Gate — then the Yamuna Expressway south, about three and a half hours.

If the light is still good, Mehtab Bagh across the river for the reflection view of the Taj before the sun goes.

Day two: Agra to Jaipur

The Taj Mahal at sunrise, when the gates open half an hour before the sun and the crowd is a fifth of what it becomes. Your guide will show you the calligraphy cut larger as it rises so it reads evenly from the ground, the pietra dura flowers of dozens of inlaid stones, the minarets tilted outward to fall clear of the tomb in an earthquake, and the one deliberate asymmetry in the building.

Then Agra Fort — Akbar's red sandstone of 1565 with Shah Jahan's marble palaces inside, and the Musamman Burj where he died a prisoner of his own son.

Fatehpur Sikri on the drive to Jaipur: the Buland Darwaza, the Panch Mahal, and the marble dargah of Salim Chishti where people still tie threads to the screens.

Day three: Jaipur

Amber Fort early, before the coaches. Then Jal Mahal from the causeway, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar and the Hawa Mahal, and back to Delhi in the evening.

Four options

Private car, driver and guides with your own accommodation; or the same with three, four or five-star hotels included.

Practical

The Taj is closed on Fridays, which determines how the three days are ordered.

Entrance fees are separate unless stated — budget roughly ₹2,600 a head across the three cities if you are a foreign national.