mikeriegel1

Next month I have to be in Bangalore Wed-Fr and then Mumbai on Mon-Tues - so I have a free weekend that I plan to use to head up north and see the sights around Agra including the Taj Mahal.

Given that I'm coming in from Bangalore on Friday night, and then need to get to Mumbai on Sunday night and from what I have researched so far there is no airport in Agra with commerical flights, this looks like weekend of planes, trains and airports!

So - looks like I'll have to fly into Delhi on Friday afternoon and then take either a car or train up to Agra Friday night or Saturday morning, and I plan to stay in Agra for on Friday and/or Sat. night. But I also understand that from the Delhi domestic airport to the main Delhi train station is about 60 mins via cab?

Is there an easier path than this? Should I plan to do a train Friday early evening after flying in from Bangalore? Other tips?

What about getting from Agra to Mumbai on Sunday afternoon?

Thanks!

jpatokal

Given your time constraints, plane+train/car is pretty much the only option. It's ~24h by train from Mumbai to Agra and even more from Bangalore.

The easiest, fastest and most expensive option is to simply take a car and driver directly from Delhi airport to Agra and back. If you arrange this via Hertz or the other big companies, they can have the car waiting at the airport, and it might cost you on the order of Rs. 10,000 for a two-day hire (incl. mileage, tolls, etc) in a decent AC car. This will also let you zip around Agra, Fatehpur Sikri etc without needing to deal with the Agra rickshaw mafia.

If you do go for the train, I'd advise you to avoid New Delhi train station if you can, and board at Nizamuddin instead: virtually all Agra-bound trains stop there, it's less chaotic to navigate, and it's somewhat easier to access from the airport. They'll open an express Metro line from the airport to New Delhi train station next year, but you're a bit too early for that...

azj

I was in the same sort of situation as you, back in April. I was in Ahmedabad with only about 2-3 days to see Delhi and the Taj Mahal. This is what I did:

Day 1 - fly to Delhi in the afternoon. Took a car hire from the airport to my hotel and settled in. That evening, took the metro to Connaught Place for dinner (Banana Leaf restaurant... highly recommended) and wandered around for a bit. Took the metro back to the hotel.

Day 2 - 800am my car hire arrived to drive me to Agra and to see the Taj Mahal. The train was fully booked, so the only alternative was to drive. I would recommend leaving earlier than 8am however... as the traffic getting out of Delhi and through the small towns beyond it was horrendous! 5 hours later we arrive in Agra.

Spent the afternoon in Agra visiting the Taj Mahal and the Fort. My driver also took me to "the other side" of the river for a great view of the Taj. Apparently it's seldom done, but well worth it if you can convince your driver to do it! We left Agra in the late afternoon to return to Delhi.

Unless you're planning on spending your days in Agra visiting the sights and then immediately retreating to one of the posh resorts there... I wouldn't recommend spending any more time in Agra than you have to. It was probably the worst place I visited in India. It's too bad the Fort and Taj are in such a cesspool of a city.

Day 3 - I hired a guide and driver to give me a city tour of Delhi. The nice thing about hiring a guide and driver is that you can dictate what you want to see and have total control over visiting what interests you and not what you don't want to see. The driver then dropped me at the airport for my flight when I was done.

Hope that helps.

mikeriegel1

I appreciate all the tips and suggestions!

I'm headed out next weekend - and have decided to fly to Delhi on Friday night, and then right away get a car and driver to head up to Agra. Probably going to stay there all weekend to see Taj, the Fort, etc.

Looking at the ITC Agra Mughal Hotel... and then Sunday will be taken back to Delhi and fly over to Mumbai.

Thanks again - I'll be sure to post how it goes!

troyb

Is it worth driving out to the Taj Mahal the night before to see it during sunrise?

I'll be in India for about 3 weeks, including 2 weekends. One of those weekends will likely be spent in Delhi, the other falls between required visits in Delhi and Mumbai. I was thinking about driving out to Agra on Saturday evening, seeing the Taj Sunday morning, then getting driven back to Delhi to catch a flight to Mumbai. Does this make sense at all? I've never been to India.

skierpony

I've been to the Taj over a dozen times now, both at sunrise and sunset, and I prefer the sunset time. I've been skunked in the morning too many times due to the smog/pollution, which keeps the sun from really coming through. It generally lifts as the day warms. The morning does have fewer people, but for photos and the colors of sunset, I prefer the evening. I'm also not a morning person, so that might contribute to it as well Enjoy the Taj and any price anyone tells you down there, its probably supposed to be about 25% of that.

troyb

Thanks for the tips. Any thoughts on how much a driver and car from Delhi should cost? I say should, because I already have an inquiry into the ITC Maurya where I am staying and was hoping to have something to compare it to.

hserus

Lets put it this way - the Maurya will charge you something like 3x .. 4x the usual rate. Like they'd mark up a beer they serve in the hotel bar compared to what you'd pay if you bought the same brand at a liquor store.

Compare these online - (all these come with a driver)
Hertz India - www.carzonrent.com
Avis India - www.avis.co.in

Yatra.com - that's a orbitz / travelocity clone so I guess its a search engine has a page that lets you book various local car services online - http://www.yatra.com/cars.html

azj

I don't have the paperwork anymore so I don't know the name of the car hire service, but I want to say I paid 3000-5000 Rupees for a driver for the entire day for my drive from Delhi to Agra and back. I arranged for that driver through the guest house I stayed in. They also arranged my Delhi day tour which included driver and guide. All told, I think I paid $300 for 2 nights in the guest house, a driver to and from Agra and a full day tour of Delhi with driver and guide. Not bad I'd say.

I can confirm the ITC hotels, while very nice with great service, will charge you an incredible amount (for India) for their cars. I used their cars to and from the airport when I stayed at the Maratha and Grand Central in Mumbai. I also used the Grand Centrals car/driver for a day tour of Mumbai plus guide. At that point I was at the end of my 3 week trip to India and I just didn't have the energy to do anything on my own, so I did it the easiest, but most expensive way. In the end though, when thinking in terms of DOLLARS it's still good value.