Golden Triangle Tour 4 Days From Chennai with Return Flights in Delhi

The Golden Triangle from south India

Chennai to Delhi is 1,750 km, so this runs with return flights and four days on the ground in the north. It suits travellers based in Tamil Nadu who want Delhi, Agra and Jaipur handled end to end.

Delhi

Qutub Minar, begun in 1193 — the tallest brick minaret in the world, standing in a courtyard built from the stone of twenty-seven dismantled temples, with the iron pillar that has not rusted in sixteen hundred years.

Humayun's Tomb, built in the 1560s by the emperor's widow: the first Mughal garden tomb in India, and the direct model for the Taj sixty-seven years later.

India Gate, and Old Delhi's Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk.

Agra

The Taj Mahal at sunrise, when the gates open half an hour before the sun and the marble runs grey to pink to white.

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

Agra Fort, and the Musamman Burj where Aurangzeb imprisoned his father for the last eight years of his life, the Taj visible along the river.

Fatehpur Sikri on the road west — Akbar's capital of 1571, abandoned after fourteen years when the water failed and standing complete because of it.

Jaipur

Amber Fort above Maota Lake with the Sheesh Mahal, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar's stone instruments and the Hawa Mahal.

Three options

Four-star hotels with transport; flights with transport and guiding; or five-star hotels with transport.

Practical

The Taj is closed on Fridays, which fixes the departure dates.

Check whether your option includes the Chennai–Delhi flights or expects you to book them.