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I've been to the Taj Mahal a lot. I'm just about at my limit for visiting this extremely famous building, but that also means I have a good few stories and tips to share about visiting it, the story of the third visit definitely being the most entertaining one. So, here are my stories and tips!
📖⏱︎: ~12 minutes
Stories and Tips From a Taj MaRegular
Stories and Tips From a Taj MaRegular
During my six weeks in India, I visited the Taj Mahal twice, bringing my total Taj Mahal visits up to a staggering four. While I don’t know if I can quite start calling myself a Taj MaRegular, I have now been there more than most people should, so here are my stories, thoughts, and tips about the world’s most famous, and my second favorite, mahal.
The Taj Mahal was built in the city of Agra between 1632 and 1648, making it qualify as, in my mind, a very old building. It is an awe-inspiring sight, impressive both from afar and anear. This is where one might add some more history or interesting facts about the Taj Mahal, but instead, I’m just going to link its wiki page and get into my visits there.
First Visit – December, 2015
First Visit – December, 2015
I first went to the Taj in 2015 with my family. It was nine years ago, and I was only 15, so I can’t really remember much from this trip. And I definitely can’t recall enough to write anything about it here, so I’ll move on to the next visit.
Second Visit – January, 2017
Second Visit – January, 2017
The second time I went to the Taj was in 2017 with a fairly large group, which included multiple white, brown, and black people, the first and last of which being somewhat less common in India than the middle. That fact, while possibly not surprising, did become quite salient during that visit. The white and black people in our group were asked for pictures constantly. The exoticness of those who don’t have a medium amount of melanin drove many locals to ask for selfies or group pictures with them. If you happen to be on one of the extreme ends of the melanistic spectrum and plan to visit the Taj Mahal, or pretty much anywhere in India for that matter, prepare yourself for this. It may feel odd, but for the most part, it’s harmless and a normal part of visiting that part of the world. As my first trip was over seven years ago, I don’t have many other memories strong enough to put down on virtual paper, so let’s move on to my two more recent visits.
Third Visit – December, 2023
Third Visit – December, 2023
My old hockey coach, Chris, turned close family friend, whom my mom had been asking to come to India with us for years, finally found the time to do so (I might’ve overdone it a bit with the appositive phrases there, but oh well). He loves and is great at photography. For his whole time in India, his only request was to take pictures of the Taj Mahal; the rest of the trip, he would just go with the flow. So, despite our plans not being conducive to a Taj Mahal visit in the slightest—granted, few ever are, but more on that later—it was arranged. Our original plan was to hire a driver to take me, my siblings, and Chris to Agra as soon as his flight landed in New Delhi in the afternoon. We would drive about 3.5hrs, crash (metaphorically, hopefully) in a hotel, and see the Taj the next morning.
Beyond excited for the Taj, Chris spent weeks leading up to the trip planning the perfect shots from the perfect spots. His plan involved a carefully plotted hour starting as soon as the doors opened, right before sunrise. We would book it to the classic spots to get the perfect sunrise pictures before any tourist could get in frame. But unfortunately, the photography gods were feeling rather wrathy towards him.
The first hiccup occurred when Chris’s flight got canceled, and he had to rebook on a later flight that would land a few hours later. So, we arrived with our driver at the airport to pick him up in the late evening. However, his flight was having a bit of trouble landing due to fog that you could practically swim in (foreshadowing). According to Chris, looking out of his window, he could not see the ground when the wheels hit tarmac. By the time we had finally left for Agra, it was already 11pm. Unfortunately, due to the same fog, our driver had to drive far slower than he otherwise would on account of him not being able to see more than 20-30ft in front of him (6-9 meters for those of you not from the USA, Liberia, or Myanmar). Unfortunately, once again due to fog (more foreshadowing), our driver missed our turn a few hours into the drive, delaying us for another hour or so and turning what should have been a 2-3hr drive into a 5hr one. Although, to be fair, this latest misstep could be blamed on the driver’s lack of GPS use just as much as it could be blamed on the fog. As a side note, Chris, who was miraculously awake and on his handy-dandy Google Maps app, was the one to notice we had missed our turn, so who knows where we would’ve seen the sunrise otherwise. Finally, we arrived at our hotel at 4am.
After a brief confrontation with the hotel manager, who said that only three people were allowed in the room, Chris’s threat to nap in the lobby for two hours allowed us to make our way up to the hotel room and make a brief attempt at slumber. At 6:30am, we reunited with our grumpy and sleep-deprived driver to get to the Taj before anyone could get in the way of the perfect shots. But alas, tourists were not to be the final expression of the photography gods’ wrath.
Fog. It was fog. Due to some meteorological phenomenon that only happens for a few days every few years, the Fog Mahal was shrouded in a mist of the thickest nature, causing it to be all but invisible from the aforementioned perfect spots. We hoped that it would clear up, but it wasn’t to be. Around 10am, when it was clear the fog wasn’t going anywhere, we hopped back in the car to head straight back to New Delhi to catch our next flight.
Same spot, one month apart
Fourth Visit – January, 2024
Fourth Visit – January, 2024
My most recent visit came a mere month after the foggy one. This time, I went with just Ainsley, and we had a far clearer day than I had with Chris (see picture above). While this visit was lovely, there is less material for a dramatic recounting of it (although, the faces people gave me when my answer to “When was your last visit?” was “a month ago” were quite funny), so instead, here’s where I’ll start to put my advice for visiting the Taj Mahal.
Getting to the Taj was a bit of a trek. We were in Jaipur and hired a driver to take us to Agra and back on a day trip. If you recall from my third visit, we also got there by hiring a driver. This is the easiest and cheapest way to get to the Taj. We got picked up around 6am, got driven about four hours to Agra, saw the Taj Mahal for a couple of hours with a guide, got shown a place where they do marble inlaying, went to lunch, and got driven back to Jaipur in time for dinner. The driver, guide, Taj Mahal tickets, and tour of the marble inlaying place totaled about $130, about the cost of a 2hr Uber ride in the US. We did have to buy our own lunch, but it was pretty cheap, and we could’ve packed our own lunch if we had thought ahead a bit. If you go with three or four people, the per-person cost could likely be less than $50 if you’re smart about it.
We found the driver by asking a family friend who happens to be a travel agent. If you don’t have one of those, figure out how to get in touch with a travel agent in India some other way; Indians make things so overly convoluted that letting a travel agent deal with logistics will be your best bet in terms of time, money, and risk of a frustration-induced aneurysm.
Once we got to Agra, we were given a tour guide. We didn’t think we would have one, but after we were assured that the guide would not cost us any more money, we agreed to it. If you accidentally find yourself with a tour guide at no extra cost, I’d say go for it. Most of them are at least worth your time; however, I don’t think they’re worth your money. Guides do add to the experience, as learning about the history while gazing at the Taj Mahal does make it more interesting. But I think your best bet is to find some kind of free online guide that you can download to your phone beforehand. You can also find some videos about the Taj Mahal the night before, and I think it would have a similar effect while being far more free.
The other function of our guide was to take pictures and take us to the best spots to do so. The amount of pictures, at times, felt ridiculous. However, we figured if we were going to make our way all the way to the Taj Mahal, we might as well get a good few pictures of it. At the end of the day, there are really only three things you can do at the Taj Mahal: bask in awe, learn about the history, and take pictures. There’s only so much awe that you can bask in, so while you shouldn’t let pictures get in the way of your basking, once your basking starts to get a bit stale, let loose on the pictures.
Tips
Tips
Here are a few rapid-fire tips to finish this off. Visit the Taj on a weekday; it’ll be far too packed on weekends, and it’s closed on Fridays. If you’re able to make yourself, get there right as it opens. You’ll not only experience a beautiful sunrise (assuming there’s no fog), but you’ll experience it with very few people around you. Around 10-11am, the Taj starts to get extremely crowded, even on weekdays. Book your tickets ahead of time, and be prepared to pay 200 rupees (~$2.40) per person to get into the Taj itself (it’s worth it). When you’re in the Taj, eavesdrop on some guides telling and showing people about the elaborate marble inlaying process (look for the guides shining a flashlight into the marble). Look up the picture of Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal before going and recreate it while you’re there. It’s perhaps the most famous picture of the Taj; there might be a line for the “Diana Bench,” but as I mentioned earlier, once you’ve basked in all the awe you can, you may as well get all the pictures you could possibly ever want—you’ve put in too much time and money into getting there to not. Walk fully around the Taj and appreciate its symmetry. See if you can find any monkeys wandering around and try to get a picture of the Taj with a monkey in it. They won’t always be there, but they often are. Walk around the gardens and visit the Taj Museum. If you’re looking at the Taj when you first walk in, it’s about halfway to the Taj and to your left. It’s nothing crazy, but it’s free, and you’re already there, so you may as well. There is some cool stuff in there.
Should You Visit the Taj Mahal?
Should You Visit the Taj Mahal?
So, at the end of the day, would I say that a visit to the Taj Mahal is worth it? If you’re already in Northern India, you’ll likely be in New Delhi or Jaipur for at least some time. From those two cities, the Taj Mahal is a relatively inexpensive (~$100) day trip that will most certainly leave you with some lifelong memories. As a day trip, I would definitely say it’s worth it; don’t stay in Agra overnight if you can avoid it. So, to really answer that question, you have to answer whether visiting Northern India in general is worth it. To that, I would say absolutely. The Taj Mahal may be the highlight through the lens of your Instagram page, but experiencing India, especially places like Jaipur (the location of my favorite Mahal, the Hawa), is worth the dozens of hours of travel time and exorbitant airfare costs. Go to India to visit India, but once you decide to visit India, take a day trip to the Taj Mahal.
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