Agra
Shah Jahan's marble tomb on the Yamuna, the red fort upriver and Akbar's abandoned capital beyond, a short flight from Delhi.
- Arrival
- Agra, Kheria · AGR
- To the Taj
- About 25 minutes to the Amarvilas by car
- Private jets
- Air Force field, prior permission
- Best time
- November to February
The city
Three Mughal monuments on one river.
Shah Jahan began the Taj Mahal for Mumtaz Mahal in 1632 and finished the tomb in 1648, white marble inlaid with stones, flanked by a mosque and a guest house in red sandstone, at the end of a garden of almost seventeen hectares. Upstream, the red walls of Agra Fort run for some two and a half kilometres around palaces begun under Akbar.
Winter is the window: between November and February the thermometer settles between 22 and 29 °C and the rain all but stops. After that the heat climbs quickly, and 270 mm of rain fall in August alone. The one hotel with Keys stands six hundred metres from the Taj, close enough to walk to it at first light.
- Taj Mahal The tomb Shah Jahan built for Mumtaz Mahal on the right bank of the Yamuna, framed by four free-standing minarets.
- Agra Fort Red sandstone ramparts close to the Taj gardens, enclosing the Khas Mahal, the Diwan-i-Khas and the Jahangir Palace.
- Fatehpur Sikri Akbar's city of the 1570s, capital for only some ten years, entered through the forty-metre Buland Darwaza.
Arriving
Kheria, a civil enclave on an air base.
Agra's airport at Kheria is an Indian Air Force base with a civil enclave, about ten kilometres west of the town. The Oberoi Amarvilas is some twenty-five minutes away by car; by road from Delhi, allow about four hours.
- Delhi 35 min
- Mumbai 1 h 40
- Tashkent 2 h 35
- Paris 9 h 00 long-range jet
- Cape Town 12 h 15 long-range jet
When to go
November to February.
A plains climate of extremes, with a short, gentle winter. From November to February the days are dry at 22 to 29 °C. The pre-monsoon months are the hardest, at 41 °C in May and June, and the rains follow from July to September.
- 22° J 12
- 25° F 11
- 32° M 10
- 38° A 6
- 41° M 13
- 41° J 52
- 35° J 205
- 33° A 270
- 34° S 125
- 34° O 22
- 29° N 5
- 24° D 6
Where to stay
Six hundred metres from the Taj.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
Where to dine
Where to book in Agra.
No MICHELIN Guide covers India. These are the signature restaurants of two luxury hotels, praised by Frommer’s and Fodor’s.
- Esphahan Signature restaurant, The Oberoi Amarvilas Mughlai, tandoor The Oberoi Amarvilas, Taj East Gate Road
- Peshawri Signature restaurant, ITC Mughal North-West Frontier ITC Mughal, Agra
Elsewhere in India
More reasons to come.
- Delhi Mughal tombs, the old city, and the avenues of Lutyens.
- Jaipur The pink city, the Amber fort, and its palace hotels.
- Udaipur Palaces reflected in Lake Pichola.
- Mumbai The Gateway of India, the Taj hotel, and the Art Deco seafront.
- Goa The baroque churches of Old Goa, and a coast of beach shacks and villas.
- Kochi An old spice port, and the backwaters of Kerala by houseboat.
Flying to Agra?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.