9 Places to Visit in Agra

That said, Agra has two further UNESCO World Heritage Sites within easy reach: Agra Fort, the red Karaundi sandstone citadel that served as the Mughal imperial seat for three successive emperors before Shah Jahan shifted the court to Delhi, and Fatehpur Sikri, the ghost city of pale yellow sandstone that Akbar built, inhabited for fourteen years, and then abandoned entirely — its caravanserais, courts, and zenana quarters left to the wind and the chipmunks.

The city sits on the right bank of the Yamuna river at an elevation of around 171 metres above sea level. Its population of roughly 1.7 million is engaged primarily in tourism, leather goods manufacturing, and the gemstone inlay trade — the pietra dura craftspeople of Taj Ganj still produce the same semi-precious inlay work that their Mughal-era forebears applied to the mausoleum's marble panels. The old quarter immediately south of the Taj — Taj Ganj — is a compressed warren of guesthouses, dhaba restaurants, and touts whose opening gambit ('Taj Mahal very close, only ten minutes walking, my uncle has a shop') has not changed materially in several decades.

Auto-rickshaws from Agra Cantonment railway station to the Taj Mahal east gate should cost ₹80–₹120 for a single passenger; insist on this before boarding and refuse the 'special tourist price.' The Agra Metro (Phase 1 operational from 2023) connects the railway station to Taj East Gate via Agra Fort station, making it the sanest way to travel the monument corridor for ₹20–₹30.