Fancy dropping by India and gazing upon one of the Seven Wonders of the World? The Taj Mahal had always been at the top of my bucket list, and when the company I worked for gave me a chance to visit India, you can bet I jumped on the chance! The start of the trip was surprisingly, deceivingly simply. E-visa processing was surprisingly smooth, booking a flight to India via Thai Airways was easy (and the flight schedule worked perfectly) – and voila! Looks like I’m India AND Taj Mahal-bound…

But there were a lot more obstacles in my way – namely the lack of organized systems in place to allow me to easily plan my intercity trips properly hundreds of miles away. As such, the goal of this blog is to break down the intricacies of trip planning (and help make sense of what resources are available) to make it easier for YOU to plan your trip to Taj Mahal

Table of contents

• When’s the best time to head to Agra?
• What’s the best transport option to Agra?
• Once you’ve decided on when to go and how to get there, what’s next?
  • Book your flight
  • Get your Indian visa
  • Book your train from Delhi to Agra

When’s the best time to head to Agra?

This is a bit of generalization, but based on what I’ve seen…

Winter season is the best time to go weather-wise (cool, no flies), but you’ll have to contend with loads of tourists. Plus, transport options may be delayed (i.e. trains) due to the fog

Monsoon season is still a bit hot (no rain in the Agra area though, but if you plan to visit other areas of India that’s hit by the rains then forget this option), but less tourists abound during this time which is great for IG-worthy photos

Important note: DO NOT GO ON FRIDAY, as Taj Mahal is closed to the public that day. Would be such a shame for you to go all the way to Agra only to realize the star attraction isn’t open

What’s the best transport option to Agra?

You pretty much have three options:

OPTION 1: Book a car for the whole day, which will take you from Delhi to Agra, tour you around, and bring you back to your Delhi hotel

• Pros: This is obviously the most hassle-free and straightforward option. Plus, you’ll be able to direct the itinerary. If you take this option, I highly recommend you leave Delhi at 3AM, so that you’ll arrive at Taj Mahal at ~6AM, in time for the sunrise!
• Cons: Obviously, this would be a bit pricey, especially if you’re alone. In total, expect this to cost you ~INR 6,000 ++ tip and your driver’s lunch. Note: Once your group reaches 3pax, then this option actually becomes as attractive as the train (which you’d have to pay per pax)

In the end, I chose not to go with this option as I was alone and also worried about safety. While the cab companies I’ll be recommending below are well-recommended by my local Indian friends, I was still a bit wary of being on a ~3hr one-way ride alone in a country that I’m not familiar with and whose language I didn’t speak (I’m a bit paranoid that way)

If you do opt for this option though, my local Indian friends recommend the following:

• Cab Gurukripa: +91 98993 95444
• Cab Kalka Sanjay: +91 98917 36453
• Cab Pankaj: +91 98103 67976

OPTION 2: Book one-way cars from and to Delhi via Ola (their Uber equivalent)

This would cost you ~INR 2,500 one-way. I’d only advise this if you plan to stay in Agra for the night. Otherwise, you’d be better off just booking the car for the whole day, as discussed in Option 1

OPTION 3: Take the train from Delhi to Agra and vice versa

• Pros: Trains are cheaper, especially if you’re traveling alone. It also feels safer to me, as I’ll always be surrounded by tons of people
• Cons: You can’t control the schedule AND India trains supposedly have a tendency of being late. As for my experience, my morning train was super on time (we left the station at 6:05AM sharp; whereas my night train coming back was delayed by 20 minutes (which isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things)

Quick facts in case you get confused:

• There are two railway stations in Delhi: New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS) and Hazrat Nizamuddin Railyway Station (NZM) which is about ~20mins south of NDLS
• While there are also two railway stations in Agra, the one you want is Agra Cantonment (AGC)

Okay, going to Agra, I’d recommend the following express trains only:

For the trains headed back to Delhi, I’d recommend the following express trains only:

Note: When booking, the AC Chair seat is more than sufficient. Its cars are air-conditioned (although very weak), has sockets for you to use if your phone needs charging, and the seats are decent albeit it’ll never win any awards

Once you’ve decided on when to get to Agra and how to get there, what’s next?

Book your flight to India

If you’re itching to go to Taj Mahal, sad news… there’s no direct international flight to and from Agra. The nearest international airport is New Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport) – so you should map your route through there. If you’re coming from Southeast Asia, the most common airlines used to head to Delhi would be either via Singapore Airlines or Thai Airways

Get your Indian visa

The Indian immigration is notoriously strict, so make sure to get your visa beforehand. I used iVisa, as recommended by my friend, which cost me a pretty penny, BUT allowed me to get my visa within 24hrs through a very straightforward online process

Upon checking online again though, I realized the Indian government also has an eVisa site – which seems to serve the same purpose but perhaps with lower service fees? As I was under pretty tight timelines, I opted to go with my friend’s recommendation and received my visa less than 24hrs after my application (now that’s good service!)

Note: You must print your eVisa as immigration will look for it. Likewise, once you arrive at the Delhi airport immigration, head to the far end of the immigration counters (search for the i-visa line). That’s where you should queue up. Line’s usually shorter too.

Of course, don’t forget to fill up the immigration form as well – your flight attendant should’ve handed you one. But if they hadn’t, grab one from one of the cabinets by the immigration counters

Book your train from Delhi to Agra

Let me start by stating – figuring out how to book the train from Delhi to Agra has been one of the most complicated headache-inducing travel-related task I’ve ever undertaken. Not because I didn’t know what I had to do, BUT BECAUSE THE SITE KEPT CRASHING ON ME. I’m not sure if I was just unlucky… but there seems to be a lot of irate foreigners who encountered the same issue, and my Indian friends have also mentioned that this is quite a common occurrence

So, if you’re looking to book a train – read on…

OPTION 1: You can always do it yourself

Note that I didn’t manage to do this successfully, but based on the multiple forums I’ve read – here’s what you should do:

1. Use Cleartrip to book the trains you’re aiming for. You won’t be able to proceed with the booking until you’ve created an IRCTC account however

2. Cleartrip will send you an email requesting you to create an IRCTC account. Click the link there – see below for sample email

3. Fill up the details on the IRCTC site and request for a PIN to your international number -> This is where it failed for me… the international PIN never arrived. If it had though, I would have been charged INR 100+ GST

4. After you receive the pin, you can then confirm your identity and your IRCTC account is ready!

5. Go back to Cleartrip to finish your booking -> This is where it failed for my Indian friend (when I couldn’t create an IRCTC account, I asked a local Indian friend to book for me)… the payment processing page wasn’t working apparently

To be clear, anyone can book the train ticket for you – BUT you need to provide your passport details (passport number, name, citizenship, age, meal preference); which will be tagged to that particular ticket

OPTION 2: Request your hotel to book for you

If you decide the hassle isn’t worth it, you can also opt to request your hotel to book for you. Most upscale hotels should provide this service. For me, I decided to go with Aloft Aerocity for two reasons:

1. They provided this service. Note, they essentially do the same thing aka book online – but they already have IRCTC accounts, and they’re experienced in booking – therefore they have A LOT of patience when the site goes bonkers on them
2. Its Aerocity location was pretty good. I had heard Uber / Ola drivers often get “lost” when they bring you to your hotels, but that Aerocity is a pretty well-known destination and most cabs should know it. Likewise, it was ~40 minutes from the New Delhi Railway – with majority of its route via highway so the timing is pretty guaranteed

IMPORTANT: If you’re asking your hotel to book – make sure to do so as soon as you’ve booked your hotel. This is because train tickets can run out, so it’s better to get this assurance. Once booked, you just need a soft copy of your ticket (with the reference ID and bar code) sent to you – which you’ll then show the train conductor. See my ticket below

…and that’s it!! You’re now all set to have the time of your life at Agra. To read more about my Agra adventure, please check out my Agra travel blog post