Private 3-Day Golden Triangle Tour with Hotels from Delhi

Day 1: Delhi, from the Qutub Minar to Old Delhi

The tour opens with a full day in Delhi. The Qutub Minar, a 73-metre fluted minaret begun in 1193, stands among the ruins of the first mosque built in India and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; so is Humayun's Tomb, the 16th-century garden tomb whose red sandstone and white marble design was the model for the Taj Mahal. You also pass India Gate, the war memorial at the end of the ceremonial avenue, and visit the Lotus Temple, the flower-shaped prayer hall open to all faiths.

A rickshaw ride through Old Delhi, past the Red Fort and into the lanes around Chandni Chowk, ends the sightseeing before the drive to Agra, about three and a half hours on the expressway. On Mondays the Red Fort and Lotus Temple are closed, so the guide takes you to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, the serene Sikh temple with its golden dome and sacred pool, instead. The first night is spent in Agra.

Day 2: The Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is the reason most people book a Golden Triangle tour from Delhi, and day two is built around it. Built by Shah Jahan between 1632 and 1653 for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the white marble mausoleum sits at the end of a formal garden on the bank of the Yamuna, framed by four minarets and flanked by a mosque and guest house in red sandstone. The included battery bus brings you from the parking area to the gate, and your private guide explains the calligraphy, the inlay and the symmetry.

An early visit, soon after the gates open at sunrise, gives the softest light and the fewest visitors; your guide and driver plan the timing. The Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays, so when your three days include a Friday the itinerary is reversed to Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Delhi, so that you still see it. Plan on about two hours inside the complex.

Agra Fort and the road to Jaipur

A short drive from the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort is the red sandstone citadel of the Mughal emperors, begun by Akbar in 1565 and turned into a marble palace city by his grandson. With your guide you walk through the Diwan-i-Am and Diwan-i-Khas audience halls, the Jahangiri Mahal and the Khas Mahal, and stand in the Musamman Burj, the tower where Shah Jahan spent his final years looking out at the Taj. Allow about an hour and a quarter.

In the afternoon the driver takes the road west to Jaipur, roughly four to five hours across the plains of Rajasthan, with a stop for lunch (included in the all-inclusive options). The second night is spent in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, so that the next morning begins at Amber Fort before the heat and the crowds. Many travellers ask whether three days is enough for Delhi, Agra and Jaipur; with a private vehicle and guide at each site it is a full but comfortable pace.

Day 3: Amber Fort and Panna Meena Ka Kund

Amber Fort is the highlight of Jaipur: a palace-fortress of pale sandstone and marble built from 1592 on a ridge above Maota Lake, about eleven kilometres from the city. Your guide leads you through the Sun Gate into the courtyards, the Hall of Public Audience, the Ganesh Pol gateway with its painted frescoes and the Sheesh Mahal, the mirror palace whose walls are set with thousands of pieces of glass. The views over the lake and the old fortification walls on the hills are superb in the morning light.

Nearby, in the old village of Amer, the guide shows you Panna Meena Ka Kund, a 16th-century stepwell with criss-crossing stairs descending eight storeys in a perfect geometric pattern, a favourite spot for photographs. The Amber Fort tour from Jaipur with the stepwell takes about two and a half hours, and from here the route returns towards the city past the lake palace.

Jaipur: Jal Mahal, Hawa Mahal, City Palace and Jantar Mantar

On the way back from Amber you stop at Jal Mahal, the Water Palace that appears to float in the middle of Man Sagar Lake, with the Aravalli hills behind it. In the walled Pink City, Hawa Mahal is the five-storey façade of 953 small windows built in 1799 so that the royal women could watch street processions unseen; the City Palace next door is still the residence of the Jaipur royal family, with its courtyards, painted gates and museum collections of textiles and arms.

Jantar Mantar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site beside the palace, is an open-air observatory of enormous stone instruments built in the 1730s, including the largest sundial in the world, accurate to a few seconds. These Jaipur city sights take about three hours with the guide, with lunch in between, before the drive of about five hours back to Delhi and drop-off at your hotel or the airport on the evening of day three.