Golden Triangle Tour India - 5 Days Delhi, Agra and Jaipur

Five days, three cities, one car

The same vehicle and driver for the whole trip, licensed guides in each city, and enough time that the long drives fall between days rather than inside them.

Delhi

Qutub Minar, begun in 1193 by the first sultan of Delhi: 73 metres of fluted red sandstone and brick, the tallest minaret of its kind in the world. In the courtyard, the iron pillar — over 1,600 years old, still unrusted, and still the subject of metallurgy papers.

Humayun's Tomb, commissioned in 1565 by the emperor's widow and designed by a Persian architect. It is the first Mughal garden tomb in India: a tomb at the centre of a four-part garden divided by water channels, under a double dome. The Taj Mahal is that idea, sixty years later, in marble.

India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhavan from the road, and Old Delhi if the day allows.

Agra

The Taj Mahal, best at sunrise when the marble moves from grey through pink to white and the crowd is a fraction of the mid-morning one.

Agra Fort — a walled city rather than a fort, with two and a half kilometres of red sandstone wall, Shah Jahan's marble palaces inside, and the Musamman Burj where he spent his last eight years imprisoned by Aurangzeb, looking downriver at his wife's tomb.

Fatehpur Sikri on the drive to Jaipur: Akbar's capital of 1571, abandoned after fourteen years when the water supply failed and therefore preserved exactly.

Jaipur

Amber Fort above Maota Lake with the Sheesh Mahal mirror chamber. Jal Mahal from the causeway. The City Palace, Jantar Mantar's nineteen stone instruments, and the Hawa Mahal screen of 953 windows.

Three options

Car, driver and guide; or the same with a three-star or five-star hotel.

The Taj is closed on Fridays. Entrance fees are separate unless your option includes them.