[aditya_rao]

This was actually a last minute trip during the weekend of Christmas. We were in India for a month long vacation and the thought of not going anywhere during vacation was causing a lot of discomfort. So after exploring multiple options like a full Rajasthan trip, Odisha, Bengaluru and around, MP, Uttarakhand, we ended up deciding for a Delhi-Agra-Jaipur trip (considering the cost and time we had). We initially had only Delhi in mind, but then Agra and Jaipur got added pretty soon. So the plan was to do the triangle circuit. Initially we thought of taking the train as IRCTC has the trial circuit in their package and the hotels picked up by them seemed to be good, but we later decided to book a taxi from Delhi for the journey. Flight booking was done just a day before travel and hotel for Jaipur was also booked after that. We planned on staying 2 nights in Jaipur (as we didn't see a good reviews for Agra hotels, that were within budget). The itinerary was as below:

Reach Delhi by night

Day 1 - Start from Delhi for Agra, visit the Taj and other nearby places and reach jaipur by midnight
Day 2 - Visit forts around Jaipur and other city attractions
Day 3 - Cover the city attractions like Jantar Mantar and City Palace if not covered on previous day and leave for Delhi as early as possible
Day 4 - Delhi day trip
So with this plan in mind, we set off hoping that everything would go as planned (on an unplanned trip)


Day 0:

These days Fog is causing lot of grief to most travelers. The delays either at the start of the day or in the afternoon end up delaying many flights and we were no exception. While we were supposed to land by 9:30, we ended up reaching after 10:30. Thankfully it was not a long delay compared to some other flights which were delayed by 3-4 hrs

Day 1:

We had planned on starting by 9 AM, but due to the delay on the previous night, we started by 10. The plan was to take Yamuna expressway, so that we could cover the delay. Getting out of Delhi took almost an hour due to traffic (in spite of being Saturday) and while i've heard that traffic is better in Delhi, but for someone coming from Maharashtra, the traffic was quite crazy (almost 99% of people always seemed to be in some sort hurry, that no one cared about following lane discipline). After that entering the expressway there were very few cars and we thought it would not take along to reach Agra. But our driver turned out to be very weird. He used to speed up when other cars were around and when there was no one in the vicinity he was driving at 60-70 kmph. When i asked if something was wrong with the car, he replied in negative and for most of the journey he was the quite type, only giving yes/no type of answers. When i asked him if he had been to Agra and Jaipur, he said yes for Agra and no for Jaipur. So that was the second surprise that he didn't know the route after Agra. Luckily we had internet connectivity for most of the journey, so google maps saved the day. The car was booked through a known person, so we had hoped for someone who had done this sector would be driving, but we were already on the way, so hoping for the best we continued. YE toll to Agra is Rs 415 one way and i think a Rs 650 for return (somewhere in 600s). We stopped at a service area for a tea break and then continued eventually reaching Agra around 1 pm. Agra traffic is worse that what we had seen earlier in the day. The only rule people seemed to follow is that wherever there is a gap or a road, one can drive. After log of snaky driving we reached near the west gate where there was a jam around 1 km from the entrance. People were constantly knocking on the car windows offering to give us a shorter entry for 500-600 through some short cut, but known people had asked us to avoid such offers as they just push you through some line and after that you are on your own. We then decided to take the east gate entrance. Traffic was somewhat ok for this gate and we reached the parking area (called shaligram). After parking we took the battery operated bus for Rs 5/person. The bus took us to the a place near the ticketing counter (around 5 mins walk) and it took around 10 mins to get the ticket. Ticket prices for Indians are Rs 40 per person and for non Indian's its Rs 1000. I've never understood the concept of having exponential prices for foreigners, but this is the way most monuments in India work(where fees is charged). I haven't heard or experienced this in any other country where citizens are charged less than non citizens. For their price, they are offered a golf cart ride (which i could not fine) and a bottle of water. We thought that the lines would be shorted due to the ease of getting tickets, however that joy was quite short when the line got extended to almost 400-500 mts from the entrance. The line was actually on the road, but for some reason people were going towards a shaded area. The line on the road didn't seem to be moving for a long time. Few people were making trips from the shaded area enquiring was that line was for and no one knew if it was a legitimate line or for non citizens. After standing for almost an hour we decided to go into the other line (below the shaded area) as most people were doing the same. So when we reached there were 4 internal lines but there was some movement compared to the line on the road.

The entry to Taj is completely mismanaged by the local authorities, police and the ASI. There is nothing but chaos and there are chances that one might get strangled with the amount of pushing that people do. Being a world heritage site, there should be a better way of managing the entry to the Taj. The lines for Women are different than men but there were a group of women who were trying to push through the men’s line, creating a totally new line. The women in the legitimate line were trying to push out this group, but they stood their ground and ended up creating a mixed line. The next 1 to 1.5 hrs went in somehow navigating through the multiple lines. At around 5 PM we were at the screening area (though i have never understood what they screen). The metal detector keeps beeping and the security staff does a high level screening without any interest into what the person is actually carrying. Food items are not allowed in the Taj (not even chocolates).

The 2-3 hrs that we spent in getting sandwiched actually took all the energy and excitement of seeing the Taj. We hoped that sunset would be a good time and give some compensation to the struggle we had earlier. But it was already getting dark, we got only a few minutes with the Taj visible in light. Within minutes darkness was all around and our hopes of getting close to the structure also vanished (they had created a big line all around the gardens) and looking the crowd it would have taken another hour to get on the top structure. Our plan was to leave from Agra by 5 (assuming we got into the complex by 3 pm). But now that we reached after 5, waiting another hour just to get onto the top level seemed like a waste of time. The other attractions in Agra were out of question as it was dark. So we clicked few pictures and left from the complex. We wanted to buy Petha's from Agra (Panchi Petha). The stores outside of Taj didn't seem authentic although their logos looked exactly similar. So with lot of doubt we bought a small packed (200 Rs for a 250 gm) box. Little did we realize that we were kind of duped. We also decided to go into the city to their store (somewhere in sadar bazar) and google maps came to the rescue. After navigating the traffic for some 30-40 mins, we reached their store. The store was quite small, but there were many people in the shop and the prices were reasonable. So we bought some more petha's and finally continued our journey to Jaipur. The roads from there on were quite narrow and packed with bikes and 4 wheelers and as per the estimate we would not reach before 10:30. Till the time we reached the highway the roads were pretty bad and our driver was driving as if he was playing a video game. We stopped somewhere on the highway at a place called Ganesh resort (there should have been another restaurant, which we had searched on the map with good reviews, but we could not find it and instead found this one). Prices are exorbitant at this place and food quality was average. We didn't order many items as the food looked oily, but considering all the struggle we managed finishing whatever we ordered. taxi drivers eat free at most restaurants on the highway, so didn't have to ask him separately. We reached Jaipur around 11:20. The hotel had called 2-3 times asking if we were really coming. The place we booked was called Surya Villa on the moti dongri road. It was close to many city attractions in terms of distance (although roads there are 1 level worse than Agra). The hotel is a big residential complex (traditional construction) converted into a hotel. They have 2 levels (plus ground floor for dining, restaurant and pool) The second floor rooms have sit outs compared to the rooms on first floor. Rates were reasonable considering we booked only 2 days before and that too during the peak season.

[aditya_rao]

Day 2

For the next day we had planned on visiting Amer, Jaigarh, Nahargarh and any other attraction, time permitting. We thought it would be a short ride to Amer and after breakfast we headed straight to the place. Amer was around 10 kms from our accommodation and it seemed like a short ride. But our assumptions turned wrong when it took over an hour to just reach the lower levels. We initially thought of walking up but later decided to take the car upto to the palace entrance. The road to go up is very narrow and in most places will fit only one car. It took us around 1 more hour to just go up the short distance as the cars were being stopped for a long time before being allowed to go through. Once we reached the top level, we quickly made out way to the ticket counter and then headed upstairs (from the ticket counter). Amer is a big fort and we did the mistake of not taking the audio guide (or a regular guide). Once inside we could not go out to get the audio guide sets and due to a holiday there were not spare guides available. We moved aimlessly around looking at the descriptions given in the fort, but for most of the time we were there, we could hardly decipher anything. We moved from one part to other just clicking photos and eventually got tired of just looking around. It was afternoon and we had to cover 2 more forts, so we decided to have a quick bite at the CCD at the exit and then headed back to the parking. The next stop was Jaigarh fort and while it was not far off the traffic jam that we went through was horrible. It took another 1-1.5 hrs to get to Jaigarh. Crowds were less at Nahargarh as it was more of a military fort than a residence like Amer. Entrance fees is Rs 50 for Indian citizens and we found out later that for Rs 50 you can take the car inside the fort also (Driver is free with the car). This time we decided to act like total strangers hoping to find a guide and as soon as we reached the inner portion, we found a guide who was willing to give an hour long tour in Rs 100. He took us around the fort explaining the structure, Jaivan cannon, the place where water is stored and the old water collection process. He also took us to the water storage area from where the government had extracted all the gold and other royal treasures during the emergency days. There is also a small shop run by the royal family. The staff there will try to convince you hard into buying something. We didn’t have time or the energy to look at all the items there so we came out paid the guide and left for Nahargarh. It was nearing sunset, so most of the people were trying to get out of Nahargarh which turned out to be favorable as we were trying to get to it. Within 15-20 mins we reached the parking area, from where it’s a 10 mins walk to the actual fort. Queues were short and here too we found a guide for the same price as earlier (though not worth it). Nahargarh was built for the queens and has got similar rooms for all queens. The tour lasted hardly 15 mins and the guide was trying to hurry up (probably to get another set of people). The only good thing he did was take us upstairs to get a view of the sunset. We found later on that he had missed 2-3 areas of the palace, but it was anyway dark, so we decided to move on and get back to Jaipur.

Return journey was not bad till we entered city limits and after that it took us an hour to reach bapu bazaar. Traffic had become crazy on the city roads and at places people were simply using the oncoming lane to avoid the jam eventually blocking their right of way(which doesn’t exist in our country). After crossing few traffic lights we saw that the police had completely blocked the incoming lane and everyone had to merge back into the correct lane. We spent some time buying gifts and other items at Bapu bazaar and then planned on having dinner at Laxmi mishthan bhandar (although after having it we thought it should have been named laxmi loot bhandar for the cost and quality of food/service). We quickly finished whatever we had ordered and decided to head back. Our driver for some took us to Hawa Mahal and we thought of having a quick photo stop (thought our hotel was in the opposite direction). When I asked why he came this way, he replied he did not know where to go. If his driving skills were crazy this answer gave us a confirmation that he was completely mad (in not knowing where to go). We had to reply on google maps to get back to the hotel safely. This was our last night in Jaipur and we had to start back for Delhi the next day.

Jaigarh Fort


Amer Fort




Amer entrance gate view from inside


Interior views








Hundreds of birds flock this area as people are always trying to feed them something


Jaivan Cannon


Interior view of Jaigarh fort




Nahargarh Palace


Sunset at Nahargarh palace


Palace internal views




This car is made out of metal and is not a real one


Hawa Mahal at night

[aditya_rao]

Day 3

We had initially planned to head back to Delhi in the morning itself so that we could spend some more time in Delhi, but we had not see Jantar Mantar and city palace, so decided to leave in the afternoon. After checking out of the hotel, we stopped for few mins at Akshardham temple which was only 5 mins away and then headed to Jantar Mantar. Ticket counter is located outside of the campus and soon we were inside Jantar Mantar. Audio guides are available for rent and govt authorized guides are available for Rs 300 (5-15 people). We were asking few of the guides when another family approached us and asked if we wanted to share a guide with them. They already had 2 families so it would be Rs 100 per family (which was cheaper than the 200 that they were asking directly). So we booked the guide and he took us around and explained the different instruments and how time was calculated. Once you understand the system its very interesting to see the science of 1700s that is more or less still accurate today (with the digital clocks and phones). After the tour we spent some time taking pictures and then headed to City palace. We were under the impression that the general entry covers the palace but later found out that only the museums are covered in the Rs 130 entry fee. For the actual palace there is a fees of Rs 2000. There is an audio guide available for which you need to pay a security fee and deposit your id with them. Fees for audio guide has to be paid along with the ticket itself (which we did not know) and hence had to skip as there was a big queue to get back to the ticket counter. We decided to try a guide inside however the rates are still 300 per guide. We decided to explore on our own. There is a museum where you can see the clothes and other items of the royal fail. There is another museum where photos of the royal family members are kept (but photography is prohibited, not sure why). Apart from these two museums we could not find anything that very interesting. You can walk around the open areas and see the smaller cannons kept in the courtyard and see the old carriages. For the cost of the ticket, we felt it was not worthwhile spending a long of time here and Amer palace was more value for money in terms of things to see. We left after taking some pictures and then headed for Jal Mahal. Jal Mahal is seen from a distance on the road where you can view it for the length of the road. After clicking some photos we started our journey for Delhi. Since the highway would have many restaurants we decided to stop midway and continue our journey. After some time we can across a restaurant called Highway King (the advertisements are put up almost 30-40 kms before your reach). With the large boards its difficult to miss it. There is ample parking space and they have a large seating area. Having a thali seemed the quickest option and within the next 30-40 mins we were out on the highway to Delhi.

Traffic was pretty bad on the Jaipur Delhi highway and in most places where 3 lanes are there, drivers create 5 lanes, 2-3 are occupied by trucks and the remaining two get created by other vehicles in whatever space is available. Heavy traffic jams were there at intersections and toll gates but eventually we managed to reach Delhi by 9 PM. Since we were staying with a family friend, we quick had some light dinner and then headed for a night tour of Delhi covering the major places albeit under the fog cover. The plan for next day was to see the major attractions in daylight, so though late we decided to start by 9:30 in the morning.

At Jantar Mantar ( time measuring structures)














Shadow is used to determine the exact time


description of one of the yantra's








old Carriages


Cannons inside the city palace


Hawa Mahal during day time


Jal Mahal

[aditya_rao]

Day 4

We had decided to skip Red fort as visiting it would mean skipping other attractions. Traffic was heavy as usual and we started with Qutub Minar and covered Humayun’s tomb, India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhavan and then heading back home. We had to skip lotus temple due to a huge queue. Not a lot to write about but adding pictures from the day

Qutub minar


Temple like pillars inside the qutub minar campus


Humayun's tomb structure




Amar Jawan


India gate


Rashtrapati Bhavan

[Rehaan]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[dailydriver]

Mr. Murphy seems to have shown a very keen interest in your trip! From a traveller's point of view, December is the cruellest month in India. The majority of IT crowd, most school children and a considerable number of devotees choose to visit the tourist attractions during the last week of the year. This throws a spanner into the most well planned of trips. You too have fallen victim to this very trend.

That said, you have penned your experience with candid sincerity. The photos are beautiful too. What baffled me is your emphasis on the high cost of services. Indians going abroad tend to view prices through the lense of the rupee. The reverse psychological thought struck me as odd .

[jassi_jeeper]

I too visited Jaipur during Xmas! Such mad rush, such mismanagement and chaos! We ended up not going inside a few places fearing spending hours in long ticket queues. The highlight was amer fort as we were there rather early in the morning. But maximum fun was only in the paranthas we had at Sukhdev dhaba at Murthal near Delhi while heading back to Chandigarh. Im never travelling in the 'tourist season' again. As they say in punjabi, "kanna nu hath lag gay."(i pull my ears for the mistake)

[Chillout]

The best time to visit Taj is very early in the morning 7:00 am. We did this on a week day and trust me it was peaceful and we had all the time to enjoy the beauty of this monument without any shoving and pushing, also online tickets made it easy for us. No queue what so ever, just walk in.

[neeravnaik]

We visited the Taj during the Christmas weekend and were dreading the crowd. Luckily we went early around 9-10 am and took a guide who took us inside from the south gate and we only had to wait 20 min. There was some traffic while getting out. Thing is to reach as early as possible.

Also Four points by Sheraton is a good place to stay as they have some rooms with Taj view (ask for taj view room on higher floors while booking).

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by aditya_rao

This was actually a last minute trip during the weekend of Christmas.

Great trip. Though a bit hurried, I won't mind the pace. I used to live in Noida and my first road trip was to Jaipur followed by Agra. I don't remember the details much, but it was winter for sure and we encountered a lot of fog on the way back from Agra.

Despite the beauty of the Taj, the crowds have only gone up over the years. I have a couple of pics which have very sparse crowds in them taken years ago. But nonetheless it is very mesmerising. The small roads roads around Taj are enough to make a driver nervous - though you were in a hired car, so slightly better off than driving your own car. Also, you mentioned the discrepancy for citizens and non citizens. While this seems odd, my dad reported the same in Sri Lanka .

[Dieseltuned]

Nice photograps there. I understand what you have seen at Agra. Trust me Fatehpur Sikri is even worse. When me and wife visited Agra . We had heard /read about the loot of tourists in Agra by the touts. We took the Shatabdi from Delhi to Agra in the morning. Reached Agra and as soon as we stepped out of Agra station we we're surrounded by hundreds of touts and rickaw drivers offering their services. There was a group of euroean ladies who were also equally harassed. Me and my wife and the European ladies group went back inside the railway station just to avoid those things(sorry for the language but I have no better word for people who have no decency in treating their guests especially foreigners).

As we went into the station the Agra station staff directed us to the tourism office which is right on platform no. 1 of Agra station. The UP tourism department runs this office and runs an air-conditioned bus tour of Agra and Fatehpur Sikri along with Guide services. It turned out that the UP tourism department has planned this trip so well that people can come in for Delhi on the Tak express do a day's tour of Agra and Fatehpur Sikri and go back by the Taj Express or the Shatabdi express. The gentleman running this tourism office also comes in by another train, does all the booking formalities for the tour and also is the Guide for the whole day. We and the European ladies group took this day tour and we're treated like royalty. The person running the show was a thorough gentlemen and no whims which we generally attribute to indian government personnel. We had the best tour of Agra and Fatehpur Sikri and went back to Delhi by the Shatabdi express in the evening. In the hindsight it was good that we encountered those thugs or else we would have never known about this great service run by the tourism department. A lot of thanks to the railway staff as well to point us to the right office.

Regards
Dieseltuned

[aditya_rao]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

Mr. Murphy seems to have shown a very keen interest in your trip! From a traveller's point of view, December is the cruellest month in India. The majority of IT crowd, most school children and a considerable number of devotees choose to visit the tourist attractions during the last week of the year. This throws a spanner into the most well planned of trips. You too have fallen victim to this very trend.
..

Thanks. I knew it would be crowded but then this was more than what we were prepared for. Lesson learnt on vacations during holidays/weekends

I generally avoid currency conversions and i know when people go abroad the conversion comes up instantly. When i'm in India i keep my spending as a regular person who stays in India. If you convert USD to INR everything appears cheap and inexpensive and that's good for foreigners, but i avoid doing that on travel plans mostly

Originally Posted by jassi_jeeper

I too visited Jaipur during Xmas! Such mad rush, such mismanagement and chaos! We ended up not going inside a few places fearing spending hours in long ticket queues. The highlight was amer fort as we were there rather early in the morning. But maximum fun was only in the paranthas we had at Sukhdev dhaba at Murthal near Delhi while heading back to Chandigarh. Im never travelling in the 'tourist season' again. As they say in punjabi, "kanna nu hath lag gay."(i pull my ears for the mistake)

Well said! i'm going to avoid any last minute planning and definitely not on peak rush days

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Great trip. Though a bit hurried, I won't mind the pace. I used to live in Noida and my first road trip was to Jaipur followed by Agra. I don't remember the details much, but it was winter for sure and we encountered a lot of fog on the way back from Agra.

..

I had visited Taj as a kid and when i see the photos now, they are totally different. In the prints that i have there were hardly any people even during the peak hours and that Taj seemed whiter than now

Interesting to know that Sri Lanka also has difference in rates for tourists

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

Nice photograps there. I understand what you have seen at Agra. Trust me Fatehpur Sikri is even worse. When me and wife visited Agra . We had heard /read about the loot of tourists in Agra by the touts. We took the Shatabdi from Delhi to Agra in the morning. Reached Agra and as soon as we stepped out of Agra station we we're surrounded by hundreds of touts and rickaw drivers offering their services.
..

Looking at your experience, i think train is the best option for a day trip. Did you have a separate line for entry into Taj or did you stand in the regular line?

Originally Posted by neeravnaik

We visited the Taj during the Christmas weekend and were dreading the crowd. Luckily we went early around 9-10 am and took a guide who took us inside from the south gate and we only had to wait 20 min. There was some traffic while getting out. Thing is to reach as early as possible.

..

20 mins is not a bad wait time to get inside i think. Reaching early is the best thing to do to avoid the mad queues on holidays and weekends. We had to go to Jaipur, so didn't plan on staying in Agra, but i've heard read good feedback about Sheraton


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Thanks.

[Dieseltuned]

Originally Posted by aditya_rao

Looking at your experience, i think train is the best option for a day trip. Did you have a separate line for entry into Taj or did you stand in the regular line?

Hi Aditya,

Train gives a best way to Agra and the tours are also scheduled as per train times.

No separate line, we went in the normal line, the saving grace was that the UP tourism tour bus takes you to the Taj at the end of the tour thus avoiding afternoon heat. Being a working day it was less crowded and I never travel in tourist seasons, so had a good time at the Taj.

Regards
Dieseltuned