Traveling in India: Travel Tips for Agra & Jaipur
- May 7
- 5 min read
Updated: 20 hours ago
Travel Tips and
Seeing the Sights in
Agra and Jaipur
My Story Behind the Travel Photos
Note: this article is solely for the first time traveler to India from the perspective of a first-timer (me!). Also, take precautions when you are traveling to another country. Check with the state department for any travel warnings and be very much aware of international news. Use common sense and be flexible. You might actually have to change your destination.
Travel Tip 1. If you normally wing it on your own, savvy travel tips for Agra and Jaipur suggest that you consider having a personal tour guide. The guide can arrange transportation throughout the trip, take you on tours and recommend hotels. It takes an extremely experienced traveler very familiar with India to get around.
Our observation and Travel Tips for seeing the sights in Agra and Jaipur: The streets were extremely crowded, almost in a maze, making it not only difficult to get around but unsafe. It was not uncommon to be grabbed and touched as you walked by. The guide walked us when we needed to get from the van to the excursions. Keep your bag, if you have to have one, literally wrapped around you and don't wear a backpack. Put your electronics in your bag when you walk through the streets and if you have to take photos of the streets (it's extremely tempting, the energy is amazing), use your phone. Get one of the phone cases that have a strap and wrap it around your wrist. Actually, that's good advice for almost all sightseeing expeditions. Not only can you minimize your risk of getting your phone stolen, but you can minimize your risk of dropping it.
Special tip for Agra and Jaipur: We hired a van and guide for each city to travel and see the sights. We were picked up each morning and dropped off directly at the door of the hotels. One hotel required us to pass through security scanners and to have our day bags go through luggage scanners each time we returned. The guide not only arranged the admissions to each site, but also had tours for local artisans and businesses. We were given a tour of the shop and then presented with items to buy to support the local tourism. Only in Delhi did we wander the streets like we would normally do in European cities.
Tip 2. To get a good view of the country on the ground, fly into Delhi and travel by van or train to other cities. If you've flown straight from the USA and if you land late, you may want to stay over in Delhi and get a fresh start the next day. Have this arranged either at the tourist desk in the airport, or prior to your arrival to India. We landed in Delhi and went straight to Agra by van. We saw the area, even though we had to get on the highway, but when you're new to a country, even seeing the billboards can be fun. They're in many different languages. When we traveled from Agra to Jaipur, we took the train (see travel tip 4).
Travel Tips for Agra
Travel Tip 3. In Agra, the top sights for us were: the Taj Mahal, of course; the Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah, also known as the Baby Taj; Fort Agra; various artisan shops and one of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. Tips for Agra and Jaipur: go to the websites for the sights to know the rules for visiting, especially the Taj Mahal. Tripods and video cameras were not allowed there. Many still cameras have video capabilities, so a separate video camera may not be necessary.
Travel Tips for Jaipur
Travel Tip 4. A journey by train to Jaipur, in the recommended first class, is almost 150 miles further east from Agra. The top sights were Amer (Amber) Fort; Jaigarh (Victory) Fort, home to Jaivan Cannon; Jantar Mantar, a fascinating collection of astronomical instruments completed in 1734 that is still accurate in telling time within 2 seconds; City Palace, residence of the current Maharaja of Jaipur, the Hawa Mahal, known as the Pink Palace, and more local artisans. In Jaipur, we rode elephants, arranged by our guide. We had already arranged for this guide before we left Agra, but once again, if you arrive to your hotel without arranging excursions, talk with your hotel concierge. Yes, the will recommend people they know but they will also recommend people who won't make them look bad.
Travel Tip 5. We took almost all of our meals at the hotel, which was almost a problem because the kitchen almost closed on us twice before we returned from the day. One lunch was arranged at a local restaurant since we would be out all day. Travel tips for Agra and Jaipur: check ahead of time to ask about dining at the hotel. If you have a tour guide for the whole day, either leave time for a meal at some of the sites and bring local currency (exchange at the airport or with your hotel). Also, check with your hotel to see if breakfast is included. A hearty meal before you venture out will be helpful.
Tip for Agra and Jaipur: When you're ready to head back to Delhi, there are a few options: plane, train and van. The domestic flights were inexpensive in 2017, but there was a concern with baggage (since we stayed slightly more than a week, we had between 40-50 pounds each). The train was another option, but the timing was a problem for us to get to the airport in time. We opted for the van for the 166 mile road trip from Jaipur to Delhi. We had to leave extremely early in the morning, but we got to Delhi early enough to do a walking tour of part of the city and then the van took us to the airport. Since there were about 8 of us, the cost was slightly more than the train ride from Agra to Jaipur.
Our thoughts: your safety and health is the most important consideration when traveling away from your home country. Investing in a private van and tour guide was not as expensive as you may think and it takes the guesswork out of everything.
Thanks for reading about our travel tips for Agra and Jaipur, India.
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All photos and videos created and copyrighted by Marcia Crayton, unless otherwise noted.
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