Golden Triangle Tour India 2026: Delhi, Agra and Jaipur Complete Guide

People often arrive at the Golden Triangle expecting postcard monuments and leave surprised by how much exists between them: the saffron smoke drifting from a temple courtyard at dawn, the noise of a wholesale spice market at ten in the morning, the absurd scale of a Mughal fort seen from the inside. The landmarks are genuinely extraordinary. But the best travel on this route happens in the gaps between them.

This guide is written for travellers who want to move through the three cities with real understanding rather than ticking boxes. It covers the headline attractions in proper depth, the food worth seeking out, the practical logistics that most guides skip, and a day-by-day framework you can adapt to your own pace. It draws on multiple visits across different seasons, and it tells you what is actually worth your time.

What Makes the Golden Triangle Route So Compelling

India is a country that can defeat a traveller with its scale and complexity. The Golden Triangle solves that problem elegantly. The three cities form an approximate equilateral triangle roughly 200 to 240 kilometres on each side, making day travel between them manageable. More importantly, they are culturally complementary rather than repetitive.

Delhi is a palimpsest of civilisations. Eight distinct cities have been built and abandoned on this land over two thousand years, and traces of all of them are still accessible. The result is a city of jarring contrasts where a crumbling Mughal caravanserai can sit next to a glass tower, and where one metro stop separates the medieval density of Shahjahanabad from the colonial geometry of Lutyens' New Delhi.

Agra is tighter, more focused. The city exists essentially in the shadow of three Mughal masterworks: the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and the Tomb of I'timad-ud-Daulah. Each one is exceptional. Taken together they represent the full arc of Mughal aesthetic ambition, from the rough red sandstone pragmatism of the fort to the white marble perfection of the Taj.

Jaipur, 237 kilometres southwest of Agra, brings you into a different cultural world entirely. Where Delhi and Agra are defined by Mughal legacy, Jaipur is Rajput in its bones. The Rajputs built for permanence and spectacle in equal measure, and the city's walled old quarter, its forts and its bazaars reflect a confidence that is distinctively Rajasthani. The broader state of Rajasthan beyond Jaipur rewards exploration, but the city alone can occupy three full days without effort.

Suggested Golden Triangle Itinerary Day by Day

The framework below is for a 7-night trip, which is the sweet spot for seeing the major attractions without feeling rushed. It can be extended by adding an extra night in any city, or compressed to 5 nights if time is genuinely short.

Transport tip: the Gatimaan Express between Delhi Hazrat Nizamuddin and Agra Cantonment is the fastest train on this route, covering 188 kilometres in under two hours at 160 km/h. For Agra to Jaipur, road is the most practical option. A well-maintained highway connects the two, and most drivers will offer to stop at Fatehpur Sikri on the way at no extra cost if you arrange it in advance.

Red Fort: The Command Centre of an Empire

The Red Fort stands at the northern end of Chandni Chowk and announces its presence before you are anywhere near it. The main walls of red sandstone rise 33 metres on the riverside facade and 18 metres on the city side, enclosing a complex that once housed a city within a city. Shah Jahan commissioned the fort in 1638 and moved the Mughal capital here from Agra in 1648. For the next two hundred years it remained the seat of Mughal power, and the 73 hectares inside the walls contained palaces, mosques, markets, workshops, baths and gardens.

The British dismantled much of the interior after 1857, but what survives is still absorbing. The Diwan-i-Aam (Hall of Public Audience) where the emperor received petitions is a long colonnaded pavilion of red sandstone. The Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audience) is smaller but far more lavishly decorated, built from white marble inlaid with precious stones. The famous Peacock Throne once stood here before it was carried to Persia by Nadir Shah in 1739. The Moti Masjid, a small pearl mosque built by Aurangzeb within the fort complex, is all white marble and quietly extraordinary.

Every evening the fort hosts a sound and light show that traces its history in Hindi and English, running for about 60 minutes. It is a reasonable way to orient yourself before exploring in daylight. The fort is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is where the Prime Minister of India delivers the Independence Day address each year on 15 August.

Chandni Chowk: The Oldest Functioning Market in Asia

Chandni Chowk was laid out by Shah Jahan's daughter Jahanara in 1650 as a planned commercial district of the new Mughal capital. The name translates loosely as moonlit square, a reference to a central pool that reflected the moon. The pool and the formal geometry are long gone, replaced by one of the densest and most energetically chaotic markets anywhere in the world. Roughly 5000 shops operate in the area, dealing in everything from wedding jewellery to wholesale spices to surgical instruments.

The food alone justifies making Chandni Chowk the first thing you do in Delhi. Paranthe Wali Gali, a narrow lane that has been producing stuffed flatbreads since the 1870s, still has its oldest establishments operating from the same addresses. Gyan Chand Paranthe Wala, which dates to 1882, produces paranthas stuffed with combinations most people have never considered: dry fruit, khoya, rabri. Old Famous Jalebi Wala on the corner of Dariba Kalan has been frying jalebis in pure desi ghee from the same kadai since 1884.

Natraj Dahi Bhalle Wala near the Town Hall has been making dahi bhallas since 1940 and the balance of textures is remarkable. Karim's near Jama Masjid, established in 1913 by descendants of the royal Mughal kitchens, remains the definitive address for mutton korma and seekh kebabs in Old Delhi.

Beyond food, Chandni Chowk divides into specialist wholesale markets: Dariba Kalan for silver jewellery, Kinari Bazaar for embroidery and trim, Khari Baoli for spices and dry fruit, Ballimaran for eyewear, and Nai Sadak for books. Navigating it without purpose is half the pleasure.

Humayun's Tomb: The Building That Changed Everything

Most visitors treat Humayun's Tomb as a footnote before the Taj Mahal, which is a significant mistake. The tomb complex, built between 1565 and 1572 by Humayun's Persian widow Bega Begum, introduced a set of architectural ideas that transformed the Mughal aesthetic for the next century and culminated, eighty years later, in the Taj Mahal itself.

The central mausoleum rises 47 metres above its platform and is the first Indian building to use the double dome, where an outer shell creates the exterior silhouette while an inner dome defines the interior space. The technique allowed builders to achieve dramatic external height without compressing the internal proportions. The Taj Mahal uses this exact solution. The radial garden layout, the use of the chahar bagh (four-part garden divided by water channels), the integration of pavilions and gateways into a unified walled complex: all of these ideas appear here first and are developed more elaborately at Agra.

The complex contains approximately 150 tombs and enclosures. Humayun himself is buried in the central chamber, but dozens of Mughal nobles and family members are interred in the surrounding structures. The Isa Khan complex just inside the main entrance is a fine 16th-century Lodi-period tomb that predates Humayun's by a generation and provides useful context for understanding the architectural leap his tomb represents. The Barber's Tomb, named by colonial historians for an unverified legend, is another impressive structure on the grounds.

The whole site has been extensively and carefully restored over the past two decades, largely under the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. The gardens are now maintained in a form that approximates the original Mughal plan, and visiting in the early morning before the tour groups arrive, with the light low and the fountains running, is genuinely moving.

Qutub Minar and the Lodi Gardens: Delhi Before the Mughals

The Qutub Minar, at 73 metres, remains the tallest minaret in India and one of the tallest brick minarets in the world. Qutb ud-Din Aibak began it around 1193 on the ruins of 27 demolished Jain and Hindu temples, and his successors completed and expanded it. The complex includes the Quwwat ul-Islam mosque (Power of Islam mosque), which incorporates columns and decorative elements directly from the demolished temples in a way that is historically fascinating and architecturally dissonant. The 7-metre Iron Pillar of Delhi, dating to the 4th or 5th century CE, stands in the mosque courtyard and has resisted rusting for over 1600 years due to its unusual metallurgical composition.

A short auto-rickshaw ride away, the Lodi Gardens offer 90 acres of park containing the tombs of the Sayyid and Lodi dynasty sultans from the 15th and early 16th centuries. Crowds here are rare, the gardens are genuinely beautiful, and the monuments themselves, particularly the Bada Gumbad and Shish Gumbad complexes, display a confident pre-Mughal architecture that does not get the attention it deserves.

Majnu Ka Tila: Little Tibet in Delhi

North of Old Delhi across the Ring Road, Majnu Ka Tila is a compact Tibetan refugee settlement of remarkable character. Narrow lanes lined with Tibetan restaurants, craft shops, clothing stores and pharmacies lead to the Gurudwara Majnu Ka Tila Sahib, a Sikh shrine with deep historical connection to Guru Nanak. The food here is worth going out of your way for: thukpa noodle soup, momos, Tibetan butter tea, and the unexpectedly excellent banana pancakes that have been feeding budget travellers for decades. It is a quieter, more human-scale counterpoint to the sensory pressure of Old Delhi.

Taj Mahal: The Building and the Reality Behind It

Every year approximately 7 to 8 million people come to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, making it one of the most visited monuments on earth. A certain kind of traveller approaches it defensively, prepared to find it crowded and anticlimactic. Most leave with the opposite reaction. The sheer precision of the thing, seen close up after passing through the great red sandstone gateway, consistently surprises people who have spent years looking at photographs of it.

Shah Jahan built it between 1632 and 1653 as a mausoleum for his third wife Arjumand Banu Begum, better known as Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631 while giving birth to their fourteenth child. The scale of the project involved an estimated 20,000 artisans and workers, marble transported from Makrana in Rajasthan, precious and semi-precious stones sourced from across Asia, and a design that is thought to have been developed by a collective of architects including Ustad Ahmad Lahori under Shah Jahan's own close direction.

The white marble changes colour through the day in a way that photographs never fully capture. At dawn it is pale and almost blue. Through the morning it brightens to cream and then to a luminous white. In late afternoon the low light turns it gold. At sunset it briefly goes rose pink. The changes are slow and cumulative, and spending enough time to see several of them transforms the experience from monument visit to something closer to meditation.

A few facts that deepen the visit: the four minarets lean very slightly outward, so that in the event of an earthquake they would fall away from the central dome rather than onto it. The calligraphic inscriptions on the gateways use a technique of gradually increasing the letter size from bottom to top, creating an optical illusion of uniform size when viewed from ground level. The Taj stands on a raised plinth at the northern edge of its garden rather than the centre, which is an unusual positioning that places it against the sky rather than against the backdrop of the garden.

Agra Fort: The Capital Before the Taj

Two kilometres northwest of the Taj Mahal along the Yamuna riverbank, the Agra Fort is the building that precedes it and in many ways contextualises it. Akbar began construction in 1565 on an earlier fort, using red Rajasthani sandstone for the outer walls. His grandson Shah Jahan later replaced several interior structures with white marble, creating a layering of aesthetic ambitions that makes the fort architecturally more complex and historically richer than the Taj Mahal in certain respects.

The outer walls extend for 2.5 kilometres, reaching heights of up to 21 metres, and enclose an area of approximately 94 hectares. Of the original 500 buildings within, a relatively small number survive, but those that do are outstanding. The Jahangiri Mahal, built by Akbar for his son Jahangir, is a massive sandstone structure of blunt Rajput-inflected design. The Khas Mahal and the Sheesh Mahal (Mirror Palace), both added by Shah Jahan in white marble, are cool and elegant in contrast. The Musamman Burj, an octagonal tower overlooking the river and visible from the Taj Mahal, is where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb in 1666 and where, according to contemporary accounts, he spent his final years gazing at his wife's tomb across the river before dying in 1666.

The fort is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a different character from the Taj: tougher, more martial, historically denser, and considerably less crowded. It repays a long visit.

Tomb of I'timad-ud-Daulah: The Building That Taught Shah Jahan

Across the Yamuna from the Taj Mahal, the Tomb of I'timad-ud-Daulah is visited by far fewer people than either the Taj or the fort, which makes it one of the more pleasurable experiences in Agra. The tomb was built between 1622 and 1628 by Nur Jahan, the powerful wife of Emperor Jahangir, for her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg, who held the title I'timad-ud-Daulah (Pillar of the State). It is the first Mughal structure built entirely in white marble, the first to use pietra dura (stone inlay) on a large scale, and the first to use latticework marble jali screens as windows.

All three of those innovations appear on an enormously larger scale in the Taj Mahal, built roughly a decade later. The Taj is often called the perfection of the idea, but the idea itself is here. The proportions of the I'timad-ud-Daulah are more intimate, the decoration more Persian in character, and the garden around it quieter and less manicured. The experience of visiting it after the Taj is one of working backwards through an architectural argument, seeing the logic before the conclusion.

Nearby, Mehtab Bagh is a garden on the opposite bank of the Yamuna directly north of the Taj Mahal. Originally built by Babur as the last in a series of eleven riverfront gardens, it fell into disuse and was used as a sand quarry until excavation and restoration began in the 1990s. It now offers the best view of the Taj Mahal available from outside the complex, framing the dome and minarets over the river. At sunset it is a genuinely fine place to be.

Fatehpur Sikri: The City Built in Hope and Abandoned

Thirty-seven kilometres west of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri was built by Akbar between 1569 and 1585 as his capital, then abandoned almost immediately. The conventional explanation is water shortage, though some historians argue it was strategic and military factors that drove the move back to Agra and Lahore. Whatever the cause, the abandonment preserved the city in a form that is almost unique in the world: a complete 16th-century Mughal royal complex, on a scale of several hundred hectares, substantially intact and still standing.

The Jama Masjid here contains the tomb of Salim Chishti, a Sufi saint whose blessing Akbar credited with the birth of his long-awaited heir Salim (later Jahangir). The white marble mausoleum in the mosque courtyard is a place of active pilgrimage, and the fine jali screens around it are among the most delicately carved marble latticework in India. The Buland Darwaza (Gate of Magnificence), built to commemorate Akbar's conquest of Gujarat, is 54 metres high and visible from the road several kilometres away. The Panch Mahal, a five-storey pavilion tapering from 84 columns on the ground floor to a single kiosk at the top, sits adjacent to the royal palaces and is one of the most architecturally unusual structures in Agra's wider region.

Amer Fort: The Mountain Citadel

Eleven kilometres north of Jaipur on the road toward Delhi, the Amer Fort complex rises on a rocky ridge above the Maota Lake in a way that rewards every approach. The full complex, including Jaigarh Fort on the ridge above and the connecting walls between them, extends across several kilometres of hillside and represents one of the most complete examples of Rajput military and palatial architecture surviving in India.

The Kachhwaha Rajput clan built Amer as their main seat of power from the 11th century onward, and the existing structures largely date from the 16th to 18th centuries. The main entrance is through the Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) into Jaleb Chowk, the large outer courtyard. From here, the Singh Pol (Lion Gate) leads up to the Diwan-i-Aam (Hall of Public Audience). The Ganesh Pol, a three-storey gateway decorated with frescoes and relief sculpture in colours that have held for centuries, separates the public areas from the private royal apartments.

The Sheesh Mahal (Hall of Mirrors) is the most celebrated interior in the fort. The ceiling and walls are encrusted with small convex mirror tiles and coloured glass, so that a single candle flame multiplies into thousands of points of light across the room. Photography cannot fully represent the effect, which depends on the movement of light sources. The Sukh Mahal (Hall of Pleasure) next door has a cooling system built into the walls that circulated water to drop the ambient temperature. The Zenana quarters behind are extensive and give a sense of the scale and self-sufficiency of the Maharaja's household.

Allow a minimum of two hours for the fort itself.

Jaigarh Fort: The Arsenal on the Ridge

Connected to Amer Fort below by an underground passageway and a series of fortifications that run along the ridgeline, Jaigarh Fort sits 400 metres above the Amer complex and served as its military strongpoint rather than a residential palace. It was never taken by force, a record that speaks to the effectiveness of its position.

The most startling object here is Jaivana, an 18th-century wheeled cannon that is the largest wheeled cannon in the world. It weighs approximately 50 tonnes, has a barrel over six metres long, and was fired exactly once as a test: the cannonball reportedly landed somewhere in the desert 35 kilometres away. The cannon's wheels are over 2.8 metres in diameter and the entire carriage mechanism represents a feat of engineering that no museum display can fully convey.

Jaigarh Fort also contains an extensive water tank system that once supplied Amer below, courtrooms, armories, a central watchtower commanding views across the Aravalli hills, and museum gardens. Visiting both Amer and Jaigarh on the same day is practical and strongly recommended.

Nahargarh Fort: The View From the Ramparts at Dusk

Nahargarh Fort stands on the Aravalli ridge directly above the walled city of Jaipur and is the third point of the defensive triangle that also included Amer and Jaigarh. Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II built it in 1734 as the outermost line of defence for his new city. The name Nahargarh means Abode of Tigers.

Where Amer is about architecture and Jaigarh is about military hardware, Nahargarh is about the view. The fortifications run for several kilometres along the ridgeline, and from the ramparts you look south over the walled city and its pink skyline, west across an expanse of Aravalli scrubland, and north toward Amer and Jaigarh. The sunset from here, when the light turns the sandstone walls copper and the city below begins to light up, is among the finest urban vistas in India.

The fort's interior is also interesting: the Madhavendra Bhavan consists of twelve identical suites arranged symmetrically around a central courtyard, built for the Maharaja's twelve queens, each with its own bathroom, kitchen and sitting room. The restaurant Once Upon a Time inside the fort serves Rajasthani food with that view as backdrop.

City Palace: The Living Museum

Unlike most Rajput palaces that have been handed over entirely to archaeological authorities or converted into heritage hotels, the Jaipur City Palace is still partially occupied by the descendants of the Maharaja. Sawai Padmanabh Singh, the current titular Maharaja, lives in the Chandra Mahal, the seven-storey central building visible from the palace courtyards. This occupancy gives the place an unusual quality: it is simultaneously a working aristocratic residence and a public museum.

The complex was built incrementally by Maharaja Jai Singh II and his successors between 1729 and 1732 and continues to evolve. The Pritam Niwas Chowk has four gates representing the four seasons, each decorated with distinct imagery: the Peacock Gate for autumn, the Lotus Gate for summer, the Green Gate for spring, and the Rose Gate for winter. The Mubarak Mahal houses a textile museum with a collection of royal costumes, including a single silk robe belonging to Maharaja Madho Singh I that is large enough to suggest the Maharaja weighed in excess of 200 kilograms. The museum in the Silehkhana displays weapons, the Sabha Niwas houses an arms collection, and the Baggi Khana contains antique royal carriages including a sedan chair brought from England.

Jantar Mantar: Astronomy at Architectural Scale

Adjacent to the City Palace, Jantar Mantar is one of five astronomical observatories built by Maharaja Jai Singh II across northern India between 1724 and 1734. The Jaipur observatory is the largest and best preserved. It contains 19 major astronomical instruments, all of enormous physical scale, built from brick, mortar, marble and metal without the use of optical lenses or telescopes.

The Samrat Yantra is a gnomon sundial 27 metres high that can tell the time to an accuracy of two seconds. The Rashivalaya Yantra is a set of twelve instruments, each calibrated to one zodiacal sign, that were used to cast horoscopes. The Jai Prakash Yantra consists of two hemispherical bowls set into the ground, each marked with a precise celestial map that allowed observers to track the position of the sun and stars in real time. The sophistication of the observations that could be made with these instruments, all before the invention of telescopic astronomy in India, is striking. Jantar Mantar is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the more underrated experiences on the Golden Triangle circuit.

Hawa Mahal: The Palace That Was Never Meant to Be Entered

The Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds) is the most instantly recognisable facade in Jaipur and, arguably, the most photographed building in Rajasthan. It was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh in the form of the crown of Krishna, rising five storeys in pink sandstone with 953 small windows (jharokhas) arranged across its honeycomb face.

The palace was designed not as a dwelling but as a screened gallery from which the women of the royal zenana could observe street processions and festivals without being visible from below. The jharokha design also created a natural ventilation system: the multiple windows funnel air through the building in a way that keeps the interior cool even in summer heat. It has no entrance from the street and no main staircase, being accessed instead by a series of ramps from the rear. The building is only one room deep at ground level and widens slightly on the upper floors.

The view from the top floor outward across the old city and toward the distant Nahargarh ridge is excellent. Go early, before 9 am if possible, when the morning light hits the facade directly and before tour groups arrive.

Jaipur's Bazaars: Shopping as a Cultural Experience

The walled old city of Jaipur is divided into commercial zones that have maintained their character for nearly three centuries. Johari Bazaar specialises in jewellery, particularly the kundan and meenakari work for which Jaipur is internationally recognised. Bapu Bazaar has the best selection of block-printed cottons and silk dupattas. Tripolia Bazaar, running west from the City Palace, deals in lac bangles and antiques. Chandpole Bazaar trades in marble handicrafts, blue pottery and stone carvings.

Jaipur's blue pottery is a specific craft worth seeking out: it uses a Persian-influenced technique that involves no clay, instead using a mix of quartz stone powder, powdered glass, katira gum, multani mitti and raw glaze. The characteristic blue and white designs are fired at relatively low temperatures, producing a product with a distinctive translucency. Kripal Kumbh in Bani Park is the most respected remaining studio.

Rajasthani Food in Jaipur: What to Eat and Where

Rajasthani cuisine developed in conditions of scarcity, where water was limited and fresh vegetables were seasonal luxuries. The result is a tradition built on preserved and dried ingredients, ghee, dairy, lentils and gram flour that are extraordinarily flavourful precisely because every component is maximised. Dal Bati Churma is the defining dish: small hard wheat balls (bati) baked over cowdung fire, then broken and soaked in ghee and served with five-pulse dal and churma, a sweetened crumbled wheat preparation. The combination of textures and the richness of the ghee makes it unlike anything else.

The Rajasthani Thali at any well-regarded restaurant in Jaipur typically includes dal bati, gatte ki sabzi (chickpea flour dumplings in yogurt gravy), ker sangri (a wild berry and bean preparation unique to Rajasthan), bajre ki roti (millet bread), and laal maas (fiery mutton curry cooked with mathania chilies). Laal maas is not a dish for the cautious. The mathania chili has both significant heat and a distinct fruitiness that separates it from generic hot curries.

For a broader exploration of Rajasthan beyond Jaipur and the wider context the state provides, the guide to best places to visit in Rajasthan covers Jaisalmer, Udaipur, Chittorgarh and several other destinations that pair well with a Golden Triangle extension.

Practical Information for the Golden Triangle Tour 2026

Best Time to Visit

October to March is the clear best window. November and December offer reliably cool weather across all three cities, with Jaipur dropping to around 6 degrees Celsius at night in January. February and March are particularly pleasant: temperatures are mild, the light is sharp, and the tourist season begins to thin out slightly after the winter peak. Diwali in October or November adds festival atmosphere to the route but also increases accommodation prices significantly.

April and May are extremely hot. Agra regularly exceeds 45 degrees Celsius in May, which makes extended outdoor visits to the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort genuinely difficult. Monsoon season from July to September brings relief from the heat but also heavy rain that can make roads between cities slow and some monuments partially closed for maintenance.

How to Travel Between Cities

For Delhi to Agra, the Gatimaan Express is the fastest option at under two hours. The Shatabdi Express is also reliable at around two hours. Both depart from Hazrat Nizamuddin station. For Agra to Jaipur, road is most practical since the train route involves a long detour through Bharatpur. The drive takes roughly 4 to 5 hours on NH21 and NH48. For Jaipur to Delhi at the end of the circuit, both train and road work well: the Shatabdi Express from Jaipur Junction takes under 5 hours, and the road via NH48 is well maintained.

For flexibility across the whole circuit, hiring a private car with driver for the duration is the standard approach for most international visitors. Costs for an air-conditioned sedan covering the full circuit including airport pickups and drops range from approximately 15,000 to 25,000 INR depending on season and vehicle.

Where to Stay

In Delhi, Paharganj near New Delhi Station suits budget travellers, while the areas around Connaught Place and Khan Market work better for mid-range and above. In Agra, staying within walking distance or a short auto-rickshaw ride of the Taj Mahal is sensible. In Jaipur, the old walled city and the Civil Lines area both have excellent options, and the concentration of heritage havelis converted to guesthouses is genuinely high.

• Book Taj Mahal entry tickets online in advance at the Archaeological Survey of India portal, especially for sunrise visits during peak season (October to February)
• Carry a scarf or shawl for all three cities: it serves as sun protection, a modesty covering for temple visits, and warmth on cool evenings
• Negotiate rickshaw and auto-rickshaw fares before you get in, and agree on the route to avoid circuitous detours to commission-paying shops
• Photography is prohibited inside the mausoleum chamber of the Taj Mahal and inside certain sections of Agra Fort. Outside these restricted areas, no special photography permits are required at any of the main sites
• Jaipur's walled city bazaars are busiest and most photogenic on weekday mornings before noon
• The Taj Mahal is closed every Friday for prayers and is also open by special permit on full moon nights
• Water from taps in all three cities is not safe to drink. Sealed bottled water is inexpensive and universally available

How Much Time in Each City

Two full days in Delhi is the practical minimum. Three days allows you to cover the major monuments and still spend half a day simply wandering Chandni Chowk and Lodi Gardens without a schedule. Two days in Agra is sufficient for the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, I'timad-ud-Daulah, Mehtab Bagh and a day trip to Fatehpur Sikri. Two to three days in Jaipur covers the three forts, City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal and the bazaars.