The Golden Triangle: Delhi, Agra and Jaipur

1. Day 1: Arrive in Delhi

   Indira Gandhi International Airport to your hotel in New Delhi

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Delhi
   Day 1 details

   Your trip starts at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL). We meet you in the arrivals hall and drive you to your hotel in New Delhi, your base for the first two nights. Many long-haul flights land at night or early in the morning, so today is built around rest: sleep, swim if the hotel has a pool, and let your body catch up with the time change. In the early evening your See Sight Tours trip leader meets the group in the lobby for a short briefing on the week, from the Taj sunrise plan to what to wear in mosques and temples. Then we sit down together for a welcome dinner of North Indian cooking, the food Delhi is known for, such as dal makhani, tandoori breads and slow-cooked curries.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)
   • Welcome briefing with your trip leader
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Day free to rest until the evening briefing

2. Day 2: Old Delhi and Humayun's Tomb

   Jama Masjid, Chandni Chowk and Khari Baoli, then Humayun's Tomb

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Delhi
   Day 2 details

   We set out early, before the lanes of Old Delhi fill up. Shah Jahan, the emperor who built the Taj Mahal, laid out this walled city in the 1640s as Shahjahanabad, and its great mosque, the Jama Masjid, is one of the largest in India. From its courtyard we walk down into Chandni Chowk and take cycle rickshaws through the narrow bazaars to Khari Baoli, the spice market, where sacks of chillies, turmeric and cardamom spill onto the street. Lunch is a street food tasting walk with your trip leader, at busy stalls chosen for freshness. After a rest at the hotel through the hottest hours, we drive to Humayun's Tomb, finished around 1570 and the first great garden tomb in India, a model for the Taj. We arrive late in the afternoon, when the low sun warms the red sandstone and the crowds thin out.

   Included

   • Jama Masjid
   • Cycle rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk
   • Khari Baoli spice market
   • Old Delhi street food tasting walk
   • Humayun's Tomb in the late afternoon

   Free time: Rest at the hotel in the middle of the day

   

3. Day 3: Train to Agra, Taj at sunset

   Morning train from Delhi to Agra, Agra Fort, then Mehtab Bagh

   • By train
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Agra
   Day 3 details

   No long highway day: after an early breakfast we take a morning express train from Delhi to Agra, about two hours on the rails. Your trip leader rides with you, while our driver sets off earlier by road with the main bags and meets the train in Agra. First stop is Agra Fort, the red sandstone citadel Akbar rebuilt from 1565. Shah Jahan later added white marble palaces inside, and spent his last years there under guard, looking down the Yamuna River towards the Taj from the Musamman Burj. After lunch on your own and a rest at the hotel, we cross the river to Mehtab Bagh, a Mughal garden laid out exactly opposite the Taj Mahal. This is our sunset slot: the tomb glows across the water, there is no entry queue, and it is the calmest first look at the Taj you can get.

   Included

   • Express train from Delhi to Agra, with station transfers
   • Agra Fort with a licensed local guide
   • Mehtab Bagh at sunset

   Free time: Afternoon rest at the hotel

   

4. Day 4: The Taj Mahal at sunrise

   Taj Mahal at opening, a free middle of the day, then the Baby Taj

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Agra
   Day 4 details

   The alarm goes early today, and it is worth it. The Taj Mahal opens its gates about half an hour before sunrise, and we are in line at the East Gate before they open, with tickets bought ahead. Walk straight through the great gateway to the reflecting pool while the marble turns from grey to pink to white, then circle the tomb and the mosque on its west side, where the angles are quieter. Shah Jahan began the tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal in 1632, and the flowers inlaid in semi-precious stone are best seen close up. Back at the hotel for a late breakfast, then the middle of the day is yours: sleep, swim or sit in the garden. Late in the afternoon we visit the tomb of I'timad-ud-Daulah, built by the empress Nur Jahan for her father in the 1620s and known as the Baby Taj, then share dinner together.

   Included

   • Taj Mahal at sunrise with a licensed local guide, mausoleum ticket included
   • Tomb of I'timad-ud-Daulah
   • Dinner together in Agra

   Free time: Late morning and early afternoon free

   Activity: The Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays, so this day is never planned on a Friday.

   

5. Day 5: Fatehpur Sikri and the Abhaneri stepwell

   Agra to Jaipur by road, with two sights on the way

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Jaipur
   Day 5 details

   Today the road to Jaipur is a day of sights, not a transfer. About an hour west of Agra is Fatehpur Sikri, the red sandstone city Akbar built from 1571 as his capital and left about 14 years later. We arrive soon after opening, walk the palace courtyards and the five-storey Panch Mahal, then pass through the Buland Darwaza, the 54-metre victory gate, to the white marble tomb of the Sufi saint Salim Chishti. There is no marble shop stop, today or any day. Lunch is included on the road. In the afternoon we reach the village of Abhaneri and the Chand Baori, a stepwell dug more than a thousand years ago, with about 3,500 steps in zigzag flights down 13 levels. By then the light is softer and the geometry fills the frame. We reach Jaipur early in the evening and have dinner at the hotel, your home for three nights.

   Included

   • Fatehpur Sikri with a licensed local guide
   • Chand Baori stepwell and Harshat Mata temple, Abhaneri
   • Lunch on the road
   • Dinner at the hotel in Jaipur

   Activity: About 5 hours of driving in three stretches, broken by the two sights and lunch.

   

6. Day 6: Amber Fort and the City Palace

   Amber Fort at opening, then the City Palace and Jantar Mantar

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Jaipur
   Day 6 details

   We leave the hotel early to be at Amber Fort as it opens, ahead of the tour buses. Raja Man Singh I began the fort in 1592 on a ridge above Maota Lake, and we ride up by jeep rather than on elephants. Inside, the Sheesh Mahal, the hall of mirrors, sparkles with thousands of tiny pieces of glass, and from the ramparts you look down on the lake and the old walls running over the hills. On the way back we stop at Panna Meena ka Kund, a 16th century stepwell with criss-cross stairs. After lunch on your own we visit the City Palace, where Jaipur's royal family still lives in one wing, and its courtyard of four painted gates. Next door is Jantar Mantar, where Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II built giant stone instruments in the 1720s and 1730s, among them a sundial said to be accurate to about two seconds.

   Included

   • Amber Fort at opening with a licensed local guide, jeep ride up to the fort
   • Panna Meena ka Kund stepwell
   • City Palace
   • Jantar Mantar

   Free time: Evening free

   

7. Day 7: Hawa Mahal, Bagru and Nahargarh

   The Pink City at first light, block printing in Bagru, sunset from Nahargarh

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Jaipur
   Day 7 details

   An early start pays off again. The Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds, faces east, so its pink honeycomb front of 953 small windows is at its best in the first hour of sun. It was built in 1799 so the women of the court could watch street life without being seen, and we look at it from across the road while the bazaar is still waking up. After breakfast we drive out to Bagru, a village known for hand block printing with natural dyes and mud resist, where a family of printers shows how a block is carved and stamped, and you print a piece of cloth yourself. Nothing is for sale on the visit unless you ask. The afternoon is free for the pool, a nap or the bazaars on your own. Before sunset we drive up to Nahargarh Fort on the ridge above the city to watch the lights come on, then celebrate at a farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Hawa Mahal at first light
   • Block printing workshop in Bagru, printing your own cloth
   • Nahargarh Fort at sunset
   • Farewell dinner

   Optional experiences

   • Hot-air balloon flight near Amber at sunrise. October to March, weather permitting

   Free time: Afternoon free

   

8. Day 8: Back to Delhi

   Jaipur to Indira Gandhi International Airport by road

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   A last breakfast in Jaipur, then the road back to Delhi, about 260 kilometres north on National Highway 48, through the low Aravalli hills and past the hilltop fort palace at Neemrana. Allow four and a half to five and a half hours, depending on Delhi traffic. We time the departure from Jaipur around your flights: many international flights from Delhi leave in the evening or late at night, so the usual plan is an unhurried morning, a stop for lunch on the way, and a drop at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) in the late afternoon. If your flight leaves earlier in the day, ask us and we can book the one-hour domestic flight from Jaipur to Delhi instead, or an extra night in either city. Your trip leader stays with the group until the last drop at the airport.

   Included

   • Transfer from Jaipur to Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)

Wildlife and weather: October to March is the season: dry, sunny days, from warm in October and March to cool in December and January, when Delhi and Agra nights get cold. In December and January morning fog can hide the Taj at sunrise; we wait in the garden for it to lift, and the Mehtab Bagh sunset the day before is your second view. April to June is very hot, and the July to September monsoon is humid with fewer crowds.

• Delhi2 nights
• Agra2 nights
• Jaipur3 nights