Originally Posted by
zedthedeadpoet
Thanks, vuittonsofstyle.
If we wanted to make a excursion to the Taj Mahal, from which resort would you recommend? I'd imagine we could do it from either Aman New Delhi or Amanbagh. Aman reservations said it was a four-hour trip from Amanbagh. Not sure we want to do an eight-hour trip for what would amount to only a few hours at the Taj Mahal.
If at all possible, I'd avoid day-tripping to the Taj... If you take the train from Delhi, you arrive at the Taj along with a whole train-load of tourists - and just a few minutes before the coach-parties. Driving in the dark is a bad idea in India, so there's no way to get to Agra before the crowds descend.
The Taj.... it's one of those places which can be either utterly infuriating... when glimpsed through five hundred other tourists in the mid-day boiling sun... or utterly magical - when you visit at first light, maybe a couple dozen other visitors in the whole vast complex. Sit on the steps of one of the old ruined mosques and watch the white marble changing colour in the rising sun... catch a sense of the melancholy strangeness of the place... it was built to be the saddest monument on earth, after all. Amarvilas is the way to go, for a night at least. In the evening, perfect cocktails on the terrace, and the Taj in the distance and the sunset, seemingly all to yourself. Moments that make your trip to India.... Daytrips... well, Aman would handle them brilliantly, but I still think they're to be avoided if at all possible. Never underestimate how tricky and tiring traveling in India can be - four hours on the road there is not like four hours in most other places.