Agra is treated as a stop rather than a destination: in at nine, Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, out by three. The city holds a good deal more, and because almost nobody stays, the rest of it is empty.
Itimad-ud-Daulah, the Baby Taj
Built twenty years before the Taj Mahal and the first Mughal structure faced entirely in white marble. The inlay work is finer than anything on the Taj itself, and on most mornings there are perhaps a dozen people inside.
Mehtab Bagh
The garden directly across the river from the Taj Mahal, aligned exactly with it. Sunset here gives you the view in the warm light with the river in front of it, and no crowd.
Akbar's tomb at Sikandra
Ten minutes out of town, set in a deer park, and almost always quiet. The gateway is some of the best inlay stonework in North India.
The marble inlay workshops
Pietra dura is still practised in Agra by families descended from the craftsmen who worked on the Taj Mahal. Watching a flower take shape from cut semi-precious stone explains the monument better than any guidebook. Visit a workshop, not an emporium.
Fatehpur Sikri
Forty kilometres out: a complete Mughal capital, built by Akbar and abandoned within fifteen years for lack of water. Red sandstone, largely intact, and far emptier than it deserves to be.
Why it matters
A second day in Agra costs one hotel night and turns a monument visit into a city. Most of our guests who stay over say it was the best decision of the trip.
