Agra

October to March is the most comfortable time, with warm days and cool nights; December and January can be surprisingly cold at dawn. The catch is air quality: from late October to January, smoke from crop burning, traffic and winter inversions often shroud the Taj in a grey haze, and dense fog can delay trains for hours. February and March usually bring clearer skies. From April to June, temperatures regularly pass 40°C and can reach the mid-40s, so sightseeing is only bearable early and late. The monsoon, roughly July to September, brings heavy showers, humidity and green gardens. The Taj Mahotsav, a ten-day crafts and culture festival near the Taj's east gate, is held each February.

Most visitors arrive by train from Delhi. The Gatimaan Express from Hazrat Nizamuddin reaches Agra Cantt in about 1 hour 40 minutes and runs every day except Friday. Shatabdi trains from New Delhi and Vande Bharat services heading south towards Madhya Pradesh also call at Agra Cantt; book through Indian Railways' IRCTC system and check current timetables. By road, the Yamuna Expressway runs about 165 kilometres from Greater Noida to Agra, so the drive from central Delhi typically takes three to four hours. Agra also has a small airport with limited domestic flights.

In town, auto-rickshaws, app-based cabs and hired cars with drivers are the main options. Polluting vehicles are banned within 500 metres of the Taj; from the car parks at Shilpgram (for the east gate) and Amrood ka Teela (for the west gate), electric buses and golf carts shuttle visitors to the entrance. A car and driver for the day is the simplest way to combine Sikandra or Fatehpur Sikri with the city sights.

• The Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays. Other monuments, including Agra Fort and Mehtab Bagh, open daily from sunrise to sunset.
• Buy Taj tickets online through the ASI portal to skip the ticket queue (and get a small discount). Foreign visitors pay a higher fee than Indian and SAARC or BIMSTEC citizens; the inner mausoleum is an optional add-on, and children under 15 enter free. Check the current fees before you go.
• Security at the Taj is strict. Food, tobacco, lighters, knives, headphones, phone chargers, tripods and most electronic goods other than cameras are banned, and drones are strictly prohibited in and around the monument. Leave anything doubtful at your hotel.
• Bring as little as possible: large bags slow the security check. A foreign visitor's ticket includes shoe covers and a small bottle of water.
• Use only ASI-approved guides and photographers, who carry identity cards. Ignore anyone who says the Taj is closed or that you need to buy tickets from them.
• Rickshaw and taxi drivers often earn commission from marble-inlay, carpet and gem shops. Say no firmly to unplanned stops, and never agree to carry or export gems for a stranger.
• Agree fares before you set off, or use app-based cabs.

Agra is known for petha, a translucent sweet made from ash gourd and sold in dozens of flavours around the city, and for dalmoth, a spiced lentil snack. Breakfast is often bedai or kachori with spicy potato curry, followed by jalebi fresh from the fryer. The chaat stalls around Sadar Bazaar serve tangy snacks such as raj kachori and gol gappe in the evening. Mughlai cooking, with kebabs, rich curries and naan, is a fitting choice after a day among the emperors' tombs. Many hotel restaurants have Taj views from their roofs.

Taj Ganj, the old quarter by the Taj's east and south gates, has budget guesthouses and rooftop cafés within walking distance of the sunrise queue. Fatehabad Road and the area around the Taj's east gate have most of the international and luxury hotels, some with Taj views. The Sadar Bazaar and cantonment area are calmer and handy for Agra Cantt station.

Babur, a Central Asian prince descended from Timur and Genghis Khan, defeated the Delhi Sultan at Panipat in 1526 and founded the Mughal dynasty, laying out his gardens on the Yamuna at Agra. His grandson Akbar made Agra his capital, rebuilt the fort and, in 1571, founded Fatehpur Sikri, before moving his court again. Akbar ruled over a vast and diverse empire, married into Rajput royal families and welcomed scholars of many faiths to his court, and his architecture blends Persian, Central Asian and Indian traditions. Jahangir and his wife Nur Jahan built the refined tombs of the early seventeenth century, and Shah Jahan, the great builder, created the Taj Mahal before moving the capital to his new city of Shahjahanabad in Delhi. Aurangzeb, his son, seized the throne in 1658 and kept him confined in Agra Fort. Seen in sequence, from Ram Bagh to Sikandra to the Taj, the monuments trace the empire's style shifting from red sandstone to white marble.

There is no bad time to see the Taj, but light makes a real difference. At sunrise the marble glows soft pink and the gardens are at their quietest; by midday it's dazzling white and the crowds are at their peak. For sunset, Mehtab Bagh across the river frames it with no one in front of you, and the riverside path by the Taj's east side offers another angle.

On five nights each month, the full moon and two nights either side, the ASI opens the Taj for night viewing in eight batches of up to 50 people between 8pm and midnight, each lasting 30 minutes. Night viewing doesn't run on Fridays, when the Taj is closed, and has been suspended during Ramadan in some years; tickets are limited and booked through the ASI portal in advance. You see the mausoleum from a distance, not up close, and on top of the usual prohibited items, mobile phones and video cameras are not allowed; still cameras are allowed. On a hazy or cloudy night, the view can disappoint, so treat it as a bonus rather than the main event.

The Taj's marble has been yellowed by air pollution, which is why polluting vehicles are banned nearby and a protected zone of more than 10,000 square kilometres around it, the Taj Trapezium Zone, has strict emissions rules. Use the electric shuttles, don't touch or scratch the marble or inlay, and keep your voice down inside the mausoleum, which is a tomb. Don't drop litter in the gardens or along the river. At mosques and shrines, dress modestly and follow local custom. Ride only on rickshaws and in horse-drawn tongas whose animals look healthy, and avoid snake charmers and dancing bears if you meet them on the highway; the latter are illegal in India, and the Agra Bear Rescue Facility at Sur Sarovar, on the Mathura road outside the city, now cares for many bears rescued from that trade.