Everybody goes to Agra for one thing – to see the Taj Mahal. The city is less crowded that New Delhi but there is still a fair amount of air pollution and traffic.
In the distance – the Taj Mahal. Between me and the world heritage site is the city of Agra.
When to visit the Taj
Everything I have been told is to see the Taj Mahal at either sunrise or sunset. Well, if you come in the winter, at sunrise there is so much fog / smog that there is no point going at that time. So I visited the Taj at sunset from a point across the river and then I visited the site itself In the early morning (but well after sunrise)
The Taj Mahal after the fog has lifted. I was not alone at the monument
Mehtab Bagh
Mehtab Bagh is a garden across the river from the Taj Mahal. There is a fee to enter (there is a fee to do anything in Agra it would seem) but it is much less than the fee to get into the grounds of the Taj. You need to take a taxi, tuk-tuk, or Ola / Uber to get here, unless you have a driver.
The back of the Taj Mahal close to sunset
Lunch
One other option is to pick a restaurant for lunch that has a roof top patio (most do) that is close to the Taj Mahal. That way you can enjoy a view while you have lunch.
The main gate on the left of the picture and the Taj Mahal on the right
I had read a lot of horror stories from people leaving New Delhi railway station. People had gone there looking for tickets and been lured away by touts into travel agencies that told them that all tickets were sold out and they could offer an expensive car service.
I heard stories of people that had been sold 1st class tickets from a travel agent and then ended up sitting in 4th class
I heard stories of people being approached at the railway station and being told that the train was cancelled or that it never existed in the first place.
The good news …
None of this happened to me. I found New Delihi station to be quite manageable and somewhat organized. The trick is to know where you are going. But first a few pointers…
A spot of advice for train travel in India
Indian trains are *never* cancelled. They can be delayed (and sometimes delayed a long time) but they do to get cancelled. If you are told this you are being lied to. To be honest the golden rule is this – don’t believe anybody that comes up to you in the station to give you some bad new – check the Indian Railways website. They actually track the trains by GPS.
I would suggest buying a ticket online rather than in person. Even if you use an online travel agent like Cleartrip or others, you will pay a small commission but it will ease a lot of the hassle.
Check your track before you get to the station. There are 16 tracks at New Delhi station so it helps to know where you are going.
Traffic around the station was very bad. There were cows on the road (perhaps arriving from other cities?), there were people walking with lots of goods, there were taxis … it was pretty much chaos. About 200m away from the entrance I gave up on the taxi and walked the rest of the way.
To get into the station you need to have your bags screened by an X-ray machine. It was not a big deal. In fact, it did not look at all like the attendant was watching the machine.
There is then an overhead walkway for you to go across and down to your platform.
Which car?
Indian trains are very long. On your ticket you will see which car you are in and then on the platform there will be signs overhead telling you which position the car will stop at. If you check the Indian Railway app (there are actually several on the Google Play Store) then you can actually get a layout of the train so you will have an idea where to stand.
Bunks
Most trains in India run overnight. This means that even if you are travelling during the day you will get a bed. Take note on your ticket if you got a lower of upper bunk. I’m fairly certain you can request which one you want, but since I was not overly concerned I did not bother and was automatically allocated one.
Announcements
There are no announcements on the train. Watch out for your stop. Nobody is going to tell you to get off the train.
Not exactly a brilliant place to sit
As you can see – many people hang out on the tracks. But they seems to move before they get hit by a train. At least so I am told.
Overall traveling by train is a great way to see the countryside and you don’t have to worry about the logistics of the airport. I would recommend it.
