A visit to the Taj Mahal

Note: The currency used in this post is Indian Rupees, which was around 83 INR for 1 US Dollar at that time.

Introduction

My friend Badri and I visited the Taj Mahal this month. I believe that the Taj Mahal does not need an introduction as it is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World and a major tourist attraction which receives visitors from all over the globe. This blog post covers our experience and general information for Taj Mahal visitors.

Journey to Agra

In order to reach Agra, we had booked a train named Taj Express from the Hazrat Nizamuddin station in Delhi, as Agra is 188 km by train. The train was scheduled to depart early morning at 07:08 hours. Having a train ticket allows you to book a retiring room at the railway station, which makes it easier to catch the train since you don’t need to travel to the railway station. However, we didn’t get one at the Hazrat Nizamuddin station as they were fully booked. So, we booked one at the Old Delhi railway station, which is like 10 km away from the Hazrat Nizamuddin station by road.

Checking-in to this retiring room was challenging as it was concealed in the railway station complex with no obvious signs on where to find. We enquired a lot of people on the station and eventually checked into the retiring room, which took like an hour. Badri has written a blog post on our experience with retiring rooms on this trip, which I recommend you to read.

We woke up at around 05:00 in the morning and left the room at around 06:00, hurrying towards the Chandni Chowk metro station, which is walking distance from the station where we stayed. We barely reached the Hazrat Nizamuddin station in time for the train. However, the train was not at the platform at that time, and it was delayed by half an hour.

Arrival in Agra

The train dropped us at Agra Cantt station at 10:30. Here also, we had booked a retiring room but this time it was easy to find, thanks to signs on Platform 1. We took rest in our rooms for a couple of hours, followed by having lunch at a restaurant within the station. As we came out of the station, we were approached by an autorickshaw driver who quoted the price to Taj Mahal as 150 INR. I negotiated the price down to 60 INR, which the driver agreed on the condition that it needs to be shared with additional passengers. We agreed to wait for him to bring passengers to share ride with, but we walked away after waiting for a while after realizing he is not making any effort to bring more passengers.

Upon crossing the parking area within the station, we were offered a ride to Taj Mahal for 20 INR per person if we shared the ride with others, or 100 INR if we book the autorickshaw for us. We agreed to share the ride with other passengers for 20 INR, but the driver started the autorickshaw as soon as we got in. We mistook the other person in the autorickshaw for a passenger we were sharing a ride with, but we found out later that they were with the driver. Upon reaching the outer gate of the Taj Mahal, we paid him 40 INR as agreed, but he insisted that we had reserved the auto. We told him that we did not reserve the auto, but rather chose the sharing option. He insisted on it for some time. I suspect it was a scam, but we just walked away, and he didn’t pursue further.

Exploring the Taj Mahal

From the outer gate, we had to walk around 500 m to reach the ticket counter just outside the west gate, where we purchased offline tickets for entry to Taj Mahal. For Indians, the ticket to enter the Taj Mahal complex is 50 INR, with an additional 200 INR for a visit to the mausoleum. Then we proceeded to security check before entering the Taj Mahal complex. Later we got to know that while entering the mausoleum, you will need to cover your shoes which they sell for 10 INR just outside the mausoleum.

Upon entering, we saw red sandstone walls on three sides enclosing the Taj Mahal complex. We decided not to hire a guide, nor a photographer. We took photos using my phone and a Fujifilm camera I was carrying. We came out of the whole complex at 18:00 hours and had snacks with tea at a nearby shop. I also bought a fridge magnet as a souvenier for 30 INR.

We had to catch a train for Jaipur from the Agra Cantt railway station, so we returned. I had recorded GPS traces of the route autorickshaw had taken in order to drop us at Taj Mahal. We used those GPS traces to walk towards the station and hoped to find a restaurant. However, the area seemed to be a cantt area, and we didn’t find a place to eat. Since we had lunch earlier at the station, we went for dinner there, following which we boarded our train to Jaipur. On our way back to the station, I found the bus station where you can get buses for Taj Mahal. Despite asking many locals about buses to Taj Mahal and even at the Tourist Information Center in the Agra Cantt railway station, I didn’t get any information on it. So, I was glad to find it :)

Expenses

These were our expenses per person:

• Retiring room at Delhi Railway Station for 12 hours: ₹131

• Train ticket from Delhi to Agra (Taj Express): ₹110

• Retiring room at Agra Cantt station for 12 hours: ₹450

• Auto-rickshaw to Taj Mahal: ₹20

• Taj Mahal ticket (including entry to the mausoleum): ₹250

• Food: ₹350

Important Information for Visitors

• Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays.

• There are plenty of free drinking water taps inside the Taj Mahal complex.

• Ticket prices: ₹50 for Indians, ₹1100 for foreigners and NRIs, and ₹540 for people from SAARC/BIMSTEC. An additional ₹200 for the mausoleum for all visitors.

• Visiting the mausoleum requires covering your shoes or removing them. Shoe covers cost ₹10 per person inside the complex, likely included free of charge in foreigner tickets. While we couldn’t find a place to store our shoes, some visitors managed to enter barefoot, indicating there may be a designated area for shoe storage.

• Mobile phones and cameras are allowed inside the Taj Mahal, but not eatables.

• We visited on March 10th, and the weather was pleasant. We recommend visiting around that time.

• Regarding the timings, a notice near the ticket counter stated, “Taj Mahal opens 30 minutes before sunrise and closes 30 minutes before sunset during normal operating days.” We exited the complex at 18:00. Based on this, we interpret the Taj Mahal to be open from 07:00 to 18:00, with the ticket counter closing around 17:00. Timings may vary during winter.

• If you are coming from Agra Cantt railway station, you can take a bus to Taj Mahal from the bus stop here.

Goodbye for now. See you in the next post :)