The splendour of AGRA - capital of all India under the Moghuls - remains undiminished, from the massive fort to the magnificent Taj Mahal . Along with Delhi, 204km northwest, and Jaipur in Rajasthan, Agra is the third apex of the "Golden Triangle", India's most popular tourist itinerary. It fully merits that status; the Taj effortlessly transcends all the frippery and commercialism that surrounds it, and continues to have a fresh and immediate impact on all who see it.

That said, Agra city itself can be an intense experience, even for seasoned India hands. Years of corruption and political neglect have reduced its infrastructure to a shambles: filthy water and open sewers are ubiquitous, power cuts routine, and the traffic pollution appalling (some mornings you can barely see the sun through the fog of fumes). Moreover, as a tourist you'll have to contend with often overwhelming crowds at the major monuments, absurdly high admission fees, and some of Asia's most persistent touts, commission merchants and rickshaw-wallahs. Don't, however, let all this put you off. Although it's possible to see Agra on a day-trip from Delhi, the Taj alone deserves so much more - a fleeting visit would miss the subtleties of its many moods, as the light changes from sunrise to sunset - while the warren of old streets and bazaars around it offers glimpses of an Indo-Muslim way of life that, in many respects, has altered little since the time of the Moghuls

 

The City
Agra's densely populated heart is the sprawling labyrinth of bazaars, alleys and cramped, crumbling tenements clustered around the onion domes of the Jami Masjid, but the most useful landmark in the city is the fort immediately south of the mosque, rising above the sharp bend in the River Yamuna where it changes its course to flow past the Taj Mahal , 2km east. While budget travellers tend to congregate in the enclave of Taj Ganj , directly south of the Taj, most of the mid- and upper-range hotels, restaurants and other tourist amenities are dotted around the leafier commercial centre of Sadar Bazaar , and the old British military Cantonment area, insulated from the mayhem of the centre by a swathe of open parkland.

Of the city's monuments, Agra Fort provides the best insight into the private lives of the Moghuls, its high sandstone ramparts crowded with golden pavilions and richly inlaid marble apartments. Immediately across the river, the tranquil tomb of Itmad-ud-daulah , is even more ornately decorated, while Akbar's Mausoleum at Sikandra, 10km northwest, and the abandoned capital of Fatehpur Sikri , 40km west, are further unforgettable echoes of the most grandiloquent chapter in Indian history.