Things to do in Agra: the 6 worth your time, ranked

1 · Taj Mahal — unmissable

Opens half an hour before sunrise, closes half an hour before sunset, shut on Fridays. Go at opening through the east gate; the marble runs pink, white, gold through the day. Tickets online the night before; under-15s free; no photography inside the mausoleum. Foreign ≈ ₹1,100 + ₹200 mausoleum (₹50 off online) · Indian ₹50 + ₹200 · closed Fri.

2 · Agra Fort — unmissable

Akbar's red city within the city, finished 1573 — and the Musamman Burj, the marble tower where Shah Jahan spent his last eight years a prisoner, looking at the Taj. Ask for the Sheesh Mahal to be unlocked. Open Fridays. Foreign ≈ ₹650 (₹600 Fri) · Indian ≈ ₹50 · sunrise – sunset.

3 · I'timad-ud-Daulah — the Baby Taj

Nur Jahan's tomb for her father (1622–28): the first Mughal building entirely in white marble and the first in pietra dura — the Taj's rehearsal, on the quiet east bank. Midday, for the lattice light on the floor. Foreign ≈ ₹310 · Indian ≈ ₹30 · sunrise – sunset.

4 · Mehtab Bagh

A Mughal riverfront garden on the Taj's axis across the Yamuna — Babur's by tradition, Shah Jahan's moonlight garden by the scholars — and the sunset view he is said to have chosen; the site of the black-Taj myth. Arrive an hour before sunset; the gate shuts at it. Foreign ≈ ₹300–310, verify · Indian ≈ ₹25–30 · closes at sunset.

5 · Fatehpur Sikri

Akbar's perfect capital, built 1571 and abandoned 1585 — the Buland Darwaza (54 m), the Panch Mahal, Salim Chishti's marble dargah in the courtyard. Forty kilometres west; half a day, or the way to Jaipur. Palace foreign ≈ ₹610 · Indian ≈ ₹50 · mosque free · sunrise – sunset.

6 · Akbar's tomb, Sikandra

The emperor's own mausoleum (1605–13), on 119 acres of lawn with blackbuck and langurs, eight kilometres out. First light on the south gate's four marble minarets. Foreign ≈ ₹310 · Indian ≈ ₹30 · sunrise – sunset.

If you want to go deeper

Jama Masjid & Kinari Bazaar. Jahanara's mosque of 1643–48 opposite Agra Fort station, and the wedding-trim market behind it — zari, brass, bangles. Closed Tuesdays (the bazaar); non-Muslims are generally asked not to enter the mosque during Friday prayers. Free · bazaar ≈ 11:00 – 21:00.

Chini ka Rauza. The glazed-tile tomb (1635) of Shah Jahan's Persian finance minister, badly weathered and seldom visited, a kilometre north of the Baby Taj. Free · daylight.

Ram Bagh. Babur's garden — the prototype charbagh with Yamuna-fed channels, five kilometres north-east of the Taj, almost always empty. Foreign ≈ ₹300 · Indian ≈ ₹25–30.

Taj View Point. The riverbank platform beside Mehtab Bagh — the only sanctioned way to see the Taj after dark on a non-full-moon night. Day ₹50 / foreign ₹200 · after sunset ₹200 / ₹500 · verify, the page is stale.

Mankameshwar Temple. A Shiva temple with a silver-clad lingam in the old city near the fort — packed on Mondays in Shravan, quiet otherwise. Free · 05:00 – 12:00, 16:00 – 21:00.

Off the beaten path

Agra beyond the Taj is mostly the river — gardens, tombs and a village that the day-trippers never reach.

The Yamuna bank behind the Taj. From the east gate turn right down Dussehra Ghat Road to the river for the side-on composition — the plinth, the river wall and the two flanking buildings in one frame. Boats offered here are informal, not sanctioned.

Kachhpura village. A village-run heritage walk behind Mehtab Bagh — the Gyarah Sidi observatory steps, Humayun's mosque, the village itself. Book through the listed operators.

Sikandra at first light. Akbar's tomb before the coaches: blackbuck on the lawns, the gate's minarets catching the sun, and nobody.

Watch out for

"The Taj is closed today". It is closed on Fridays and on published dates, nothing else. A driver saying otherwise is steering you to a shop.

Uniforms and fake IDs. Hire guides at the ASI and UP Tourism counters and ask to see the licence. A guide who introduces a photographer is splitting the fee — one visitor reported a ₹20,000 quote for a set.

"Government-certified" marble. Most 'Makrana marble' souvenirs are soapstone or resin. A driver mentioning a shop unasked, a fare that's too low, a sulk when you refuse — that's the commission stop.

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