Golden Triangle Tour: Delhi, Agra & Jaipur in 3 Days

Three days, and the order is what makes it work

Delhi in the morning, Agra that night, Jaipur the day after — which puts the two long drives at the end of sightseeing days rather than the start of them, and gets you the Taj at sunrise on day two.

Day 1: Delhi, then Agra

Pickup from your hotel or the airport.

India Gate, the 42-metre war memorial on Rajpath carved with more than 13,000 names. A drive past Rashtrapati Bhavan, 340 rooms under a dome Lutyens borrowed from a Buddhist stupa.

Qutub Minar, begun in 1193 — the tallest brick minaret in the world, standing in a complex assembled from the stone of twenty-seven dismantled temples, with the iron pillar that has stood over 1,600 years without rusting.

Lotus Temple, from outside or in depending on the day; it is closed on Mondays.

Then the Yamuna Expressway to Agra in the afternoon.

Day 2: Agra, then Jaipur

The Taj Mahal at sunrise. The gates open half an hour before the sun; the marble reads grey, then pink, then white, and the crowd is a fifth of what it will be by ten.

Your guide covers the calligraphy cut in increasing sizes so it reads evenly from the ground, the pietra dura flowers of dozens of inlaid stones, the minarets tilted outward so an earthquake would drop them clear of the tomb, and the one asymmetry in the whole composition.

Agra Fort afterwards, and Fatehpur Sikri on the road west.

Day 3: Jaipur

Amber Fort before the coaches arrive, then Jal Mahal from the causeway, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar and the Hawa Mahal. Back to Delhi in the evening.

Included

Private air-conditioned vehicle and driver for all three days, with licensed local guides in each city.

Practical

Around 700 km of driving in total. The Taj is closed on Fridays, which sets the ordering.