Complete northern India’s Golden Triangle – the great backpacker route linking Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Whether you decide to go before or after your main adventure, this add-on tour is the perfect way to experience the best of Rajasthan. Of course, you visit the magnificent Taj Mahal (at sunrise to catch it in the perfect light) and explore the riveting cities of Delhi and Jaipur. But you also take time to see lesser-known highlights, including the 1,000-year-old Chand Baori stepwell, providing a rounded insight into the three great cities of the Golden Triangle.
Activity Areas
Cultural Wonders
Culture
Region & Country & City
Asia: India, Rajasthan, Taj Mahal
Included in the Price
All accommodation - All breakfasts - 5 day Golden Triangle add-on tour, with all transport (car) and listed activities - Drivers and local sightseeing guides - Arrival and/or departure transfers
Not Included In The Price
Request a single room if required, purchase travel insurance and arrange any visas and vaccinations. Speak to your sales representative for Dates & Prices, and to discuss any logistics. Please be aware that a tour leader does not accompany this adventure and a compulsory sole traveller supplement applies.
Map
Itinerary
Day 1 Drive to Jaipur; visit the Abhaneri stepwell en route
Begin the journey to Jaipur after breakfast, a four to five-hour drive. Stop in the village of Abhaneri en route to visit the Chand Baori. One of India’s lesser-known wonders, this 1,000-year-old stepwell is one of the largest in the world, with 3,500 steps plunging 65ft (20m) into the ground.
Then transfer to Jaipur. Built in the late 18th century, this is a planned Moghul city of broad sandstone avenues, which were later painted pink. The evening is free for you to explore and relax.
Day 2 Sightseeing in Jaipur
Explore Jaipur in the local style, taking a rickshaw to the flower and vegetable markets and Govind Ji Temple, which sits inside the City Palace complex.
Out of the rickshaw, continue your exploration at the lakeside Amer Fort and see the Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds), a five-storey landmark built of pink sandstone, which allowed the women of the royal household to observe street festivities without being noticed.
Later, pick up some souvenirs and enjoy sightseeing with a walk in the local bazaars.
Day 3 To Agra; visit Fatehpur Sikri en route
Drive (approximately four hours) to Agra after breakfast. An hour before reaching Agra, stop to visit the Moghul city of Fatehpur Sikri. This impressive, well‐preserved citadel served as Akbar’s capital from 1571. The mosque, designed to hold 10,000 worshippers, the palaces, residences and halls of audience, are all of decorative red sandstone. The magnificence, however, only lasted 14 years; in 1584, Akbar left Fatehpur Sikri to secure his outlying territories, leaving the city much as we see it today.
Here, we join a local guide for an exploration. Your driver helps to arrange this locally as the guides cannot be booked in advance. Please note, there have been instances where the guide has insisted visitors pay an offering in the shrine. There is no obligation to pay an offering, and it is fine to refrain from doing so.
In the evening, embark on a two-hour heritage walk around Agra. Your exploration visits both city landmarks, such as the Jama Masjid mosque, and the everyday wonders, such as a bridalwear workshop and Rawatpara spice market. It ends with views of the Taj Mahal.
Day 4 Sunrise at the Taj Mahal; Red Fort of Akbar; to Delhi
Head out early to reach the Taj Mahal in time for sunrise – the most beautiful time to visit. The Taj’s shining white marble walls, inlaid with semi‐precious stones, never fail to amaze a first-time visitor.
Return to the hotel for breakfast and then head back out to visit the imposing Red Fort of Akbar, whose mighty sandstone walls enclose the white-marble Pearl Mosque and the palaces, halls, courtyards and fountains of his sons and successors, Jehangir and Shah Jahan. It is here that the latter spent his last years, imprisoned by his own son, Aurangzeb.
Transfer (approximately four to five hours) back to Delhi in the late afternoon.
Day 5 End Delhi
Your Golden Triangle add-on tour ends this morning. If you have an onward flight from Delhi today, a transfer to the airport is included. If you are joining your main trip, the tour leader contacts you with information about this evening’s welcome briefing.
