A lesser known attraction and perhaps a reason why

Fatehpur Sikri Fort was built before the Taj Mahal. It was built as a town but that mysteriously was abandoned and everybody was moved to Agra. Some say that it was abandoned due to a lack of water, but nobody seems to know for sure.

I think that if the situation with the touts in 1571 was the same as today then I would have abandoned the city too.

Why visit?

The architecture is beautiful and the temple has the highest gate in Asia. The gate, however, is very similar to the gate that you enter for the Taj Mahal.

The downside is that the area is just full of people that you would probably rather not interact with. It’s very known for pickpockets, so you should keep you belongings close but I found that the worst thing is you are constantly hounded by people trying to sell you think. Books, postcards, jewelry, carpets – anything you want to buy you can find at Fatehpur Sikri at very inflated prices.

Two parts

There are 2 parts to visit. The fort and the mosque. The fort you have to pay to go in. It was Rp/550 when I visiting in late 2019 if you paid with a card. The cash fare is Rp/50 higher.

The mosque is free and it is a working mosque – you will see muslims praying inside. You need to take your shoes off to go into the mosque (just like any mosque in the world), however I was asked for a “tip” to get my shoes back afterwards. If you want to avoid giving small chance then you can carry your shoes with you (bring a bad).

FInal thoughts

I’m not sure it is worth visiting. The fort and the temple are lovely buildings but the situation is ruined by the constant onslaught of people asking for money. If you can ignore all that then you should be ok.

I think for a world heritage site, Rajasthan should do better than this. Touts and merchants should not be allowed inside of monuments. I think if this situation is not improved then less tourists will visit Fatehpur Sikri.

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.

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)

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.

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.

New Delhi Railway Station

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.

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.