Traveling in India: Travel Tips for Agra & Jaipur
- 5 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 2 days 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!), from the United States to India. Always take precautions and know of any issues 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, excursions, hotels, etc.
Check with your mobile phone company to see if your plan includes international coverage and all of the benefits, and most importantly, the restrictions. Some people have unlimited data for texts and browsing but there may be fees for actual calls. Some plans are daily, you can decide when to turn it on and off. Make sure you know exactly what you have, if anything, so that there are no unpleasant surprises when you bill arrives. Some people bring or buy a spare phone and buy sim cards or e-sim cards and use their personal phone only when they are on WiFi.
This brings us to securing your electronics: know how to secure your data. Learn about VPN (virtual private network), determine if you can find a reputable vendor, should you invest in the expense and is worth it.
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 at least for part of the trip. In fact, having personal guide might actually have some advantages. The guide can arrange transportation throughout the trip, take you on tours and recommend hotels. The guide might know people at the sights you want to see and can either get you in at a certain time without waiting on any lines (queues) or they might be able to even get you to see some things the general public doesn't see. Consider it. From our personal experience, 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 (phone, camera0 in your bag when you walk through the streets and if you have to take photos of the streets when you're on 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 trip for traveling and touring India: India is a fairly large country and many of the cities that people want to visit are quite a distance from one another. For some people, India itself is quite a distance from their country, so they try to get to as many cities as possible. Therefore, traveling between regions is fairly common and should be factored into your itinerary and budget. There are many options to consider to maximize your time while you are in India.
Many people fly into Delhi and then travel to other cities from there. To go from one city to another, consider a private car or van. It is best to arrange this in advance, especially if you are going onto your destination directly from Delhi. Another consideration is to spend the night in Delhi and travel the next day. Some people tour Delhi on the back end of their trip.
A second consideration is to fly to the next city. If you plan to fly, this should be planned in advance. Either book a second flight directly from Delhi, or make it part of a multi-city itinerary from your original destination. That might make your ultimate really long, though.
The next way to get to other cities is to travel by train. Travel first class. The prices for first class travel is usually in the budget of most travelers, after you convert the currency. Second and third class can get crowded, some people were saying that there are not reserved seats, so you have to fend for yourself once your board.
If you are an seasoned traveler, traveling by train in India will certainly be something to have in your experiences. Indian Railways is the national company for train travel. They have different models of trains and you will want to use the fastest one.
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 at our hotel 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.
Travel 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. It's like a sightseeing tour, even if you're on the highway. 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.
For the Taj Majal and Fort Agra, we had a brief informative tour, and then we explored on our own with an agreed upon meeting location and time to be walked back to the van. For the Baby Taj, we just walked around on our own and met the guide back at the gate.
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 is not necessary, anyway.
Travel Tips for Jaipur
Travel Tip 4. We traveled from Agra to Jaipur in first class. It was an experience and we got a nap in. They do serve a light meal, but it is best to bring your own snacks and some bottled water aboard.
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. Actually, they did but we called them and told them we were coming back and to please wait for us!
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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