We will be in Delhi for 4 days and want to go see the Taj Mahal, but are unsure if we should take the Shatabdi express train or rent a car and driver? Should we spend the night in Agra or just do a day trip?
Also, after our 4 days in Delhi, we want to see Rajasthan. We have 2 weeks. Where do you recommend we go and should we go from Agra or Delhi. What form of transportation- flights, car, train?
Agra- a day trip or overnight? Train or driver?
My third reply to you today... and some of this came up in earlier replies, so this time I%26#39;ll try to be brief!
The best way to see Agra is quickly. Into the Taj, out again, and off. There are so many better things to do in India!
The best way to see the Taj is early.... when we were there, it opened at 6 a.m. and there were about six people at the entrance ticket office. When we came out, at 8 a.m., the Taj compound was VERY crowded -- not many photograph opportunities if you are trying to capture that other-worldly peaceful ambience which we associate with the monument; it was starting to look and feel like Disney World. When we passed the car park again at 9 a.m., we were aghast. Tour buses everywhere, hundreds of people lined up at the ticket office (and these were just the independent travellers -- the tour bus people didn%26#39;t, I assume, have to queue), and the dreaded school groups appearing everywhere. We shuddered, and could only wonder what the day trippers from Delhi, who wouldn%26#39;t arrive for another two hours yet, would think when they saw it. They%26#39;s dpend more time queuing than looking at the building.
Our ';modus operandi'; was to take a train from Delhi (Nizamuddin Station) at about 9 p.m.. It arrived at Agra Station at midnight. The station attendant there will point out to you the policeman who operates the pre-paid taxi service -- definitely use this in Agra, if nowhere else, as the touts are really aggressive. We went (tuk-tuk, 60 rupees) to the Hotel Sheela, which is cheap (450 rupees a double), but has one fantastic virtue: it%26#39;s fifty metres from the Taj entrance... no more than a two-minute walk! We were up at 5:15, and at the entrance gate (showered but not yet breakfasted) by 5:50. By 6:05, just as the sun was coming up, we were in the compound, sharing with maybe twenty or thirty other people, For the next forty-five minutes, we were in heaven... this is a really magical place. However, by 7, we noticed that the thirty people had grown to three hundred, and.... well, you know the rest.
I have heard that at some times of the year the Taj is enshrouded in fog early in the morning, so do check this out before you follow my advice. However, I have to say that even the fog would be better than sharing the experience with 4986754639586743 other tourists!
Have a great time!
Agra- a day trip or overnight? Train or driver?
Since you already have a response, let me make some suggestions about the ';Rajasthan'; part-its like saying you want to visit California..
You need to check the places you plan to visit-Jaipur is accessable from Agra, Jodhpur is accessible from Jaipur, and Udaipur is accessable from Jodhpur. From Udaipur you probably need to take a flight back to Delhi-it%26#39;s quite a good distance by road.
Check the other places that you may want to visit-like Jaisalmer, Ranathambore,etc, and try to plan a trip that avoids backtracking. There%26#39;sa wealth of information on the Rajasthan Forum, so best to check it out and then ask questions.
My wife and I are going to Rajasthan next month and I started out with very little information, but have put together a tentative plan-we start from Udaipur and end in Delhi, hope to visit Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Jaipur enroute.
We( Wife and 3 year old Kid)recently went to Taj from Delhi. We took a rented car because of the kid .Start early around 6.30 , and the drive is great. stop for food along the highway in the roadside restaurants ( dhaba). should reach Agra by 5 hours . Drop in at Sikandra to see Akbar%26#39;s tomb just before Agra , from there go to Hotel/or the Taj depends on you. Evening time is serene in the Taj complex. Ticket counter closes by 5 pm. good time to enter will be before 2 pm and stay for hour or so and then make a trip to Agra Fort. which also closes by 5 pm . So you have to organise . if you can cover these three, Agra is done for you.
The train option also looks great with early morning visit. Depends whether only adults or kids also travelling
Can recommend our Cab driver-- Very decent and polite, felt very safe with my family . Mr Dara Singh 9818609783 email: darasinghin@yahoo.com
Happy Travelling
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