City Info
Agra - How to get there:
By Airways:
Agra airport is 7 km from the city center and 3 km from Idgah bus stand. It only takes 40 minutes from Delhi to Agra.
By Railways:
Agra is well connected by railroad. The main railway station is the Agra Cantonment Station. Agra is well connected by rail to Delhi, Varanasi and cities of Rajasthan. Trains like Palace on Wheel, Shatabdi, Rajdhani, and Taj Express are the best choices if you want to reach Agra from Delhi.
By Roadways:
Idgah bus stand is the main bus stand of Agra, from where one can catch buses for Delhi, Jaipur, Mathura, Fatehpur-Sikri, etc. Buses for Mathura also leave from Agra Fort bus stand.
By Other Means:
Taxi, tempo, auto-rickshaw and cycle rickshaw are available from Taj area. Prepaid taxis and autos from the railway station are available. Prepaid transport is also available for excursions in and around the city limits. Bicycles can be hired on hourly basis from different parts of the city. Please remember that no diesel or petrol vehicle are allowed to ply in the Taj area. There are Battery-Operated buses, horse-driven tongas, rickshaws, and other pollution- free vehicles are allowed to conserve the beauty of this great monument.
Climate
In summer, between March and June, the temperature soars up to 45°C during the day. Dry, searing winds heat up the ground and make it difficult to move outdoors. Light cottons are the best clothing, except in winter, when light woolens are required. The temperature is around 28°C during the day, but can go down to 4°C at night.
Taj Mahal
The Seventh wonder of the world, Taj Mahal made by Shahjahan in the memory of his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal.
The Signature of Love
Mumtaz Mahal & Shahjahan - Mumtaz Mahal or Arjumand Banu was the woman in whose memory the Taj Mahal was built. Arjumand Banu was daughter of Asaf Khan and when she married Shahjahan at the age of 14 years, imperial city of Agra was already agog with the stories of her beauty. She breathed her last after delivering their 14th child (a daughter) in the city of Burhanpur on June 17, 1631. It is said that Mumtaz Mahal on her deathbed asked Shahjahan to create a symbol of their love for posterity and her loyal husband accepted it immediately.
Shahjahan was the fifth Mughal emperor and most prolific builder in Indian history. Shahjahan is known for his architectural beauties he created in India, especially Taj Mahal - The Eternal Symbol of Love.
Many Ways to see The Taj
The Taj at noon, the Taj at sunset, under the full moon, against the setting sun, and against the rising ball of fire, each time the mausoleum acquires a different accent and tells a different story. It was a reminder of the love of a king for his queen Mumtaz Mahal.
Tourist Attractions
Agra Fort
Agra Fort is located on the banks of the Yamuna near the railway station. Akbar, king at 14, began consolidating his empire and, as an assertion of his power built the fort in Agra between 1565 and 1571, coeval with the construction of Humayuns tomb in Delhi. The Agra fort retains the irregular outline of the demolished mud-wall fort of the Lodis. The fort contains splendid palaces both in red sandstone and white marble built by two generations of prolific builders Akbar and later Jehangir and Shahjahan.
Jahangiri Mahal
Jahangiri Mahal (Jahangir’s Palace), which was the principal zenana palace (palace for women belonging to the royal household), used mainly by the Rajput wives of Akbar. Jahangiri Mahal mixes Transoxanian (Central Asian) features, such as the verandah on the east front with its high slender columns (a translation into stone of the timber diwan of vernacular Transoxanian architecture), with courtyard halls styled in the broader Gujarat-Malwa-Rajasthan tradition as it had been passed onto the Mughals by the early 16th-century architecture of Raja Man Singh of Gwalior.
Musamman Burj
Musamman Burj is the most romantic, ornamental pavilion wherein lived two most beautiful and powerful Mughal queens-Nurjahan and Mumtaz Mahal.
Diwan-I-khas
Diwan-I-khas (Hall of Private audience) is a small hall with double marble columns inlaid with pietra dura decoration.
Diwan-I-Aam
Diwan-I-Aam (Hall of Public audience) was again a building constructed by Shahjahan who replaced an earlier wooden structure.
Ram Bagh
Laid out in 1528 by Babur the first of the Mughal emperors this is the earliest Mughal garden. It is said that Babur was temporarily buried here before being permanently interred at Kabul in Afaganisthan. The Ram Bagh is 2 to 3 km further north of the Chini Karauza on the riverside and is open from sunrise to sunset.
Excursions
Fatehpur Sikri
Fatehpur Sikri is located only 40 km from Agra city. The imperial city of the Mughal dynasty between 1571 and 1584, Fatehpur Sikri was built by Mughal Emperor Akbar.
Itmad-ud-Daulah
It is also called "Baby Taj".
Akbars Tomb
Sikandra, Akbars tomb in the former Lodi capital, is a grand affair, much under-rated in comparison to the Taj Mahal. Akbar started building his mausoleum in the true Timurid tradition, but the actual monument was completed by his son Jahangir. He pulled down most of the earlier structure and redesigned it according to his wishes and the result is more than impressive. There is a huge gateway, Buland Darwaza, modeled on the famed victory gate at Fatehpur Sikri, leads to the great garden enclosure. The decoration on the gateway is strikingly bold, with its large mosaic patterns. The walled garden enclosure is laid out in the charbagh style with the mausoleum at the center.
Shopping
Agra is noted for its sweets and savories like petha and dal-mooth. Agra is famous for its marble inlay work, leather goods, brassware, finely worked precious and semi-precious stone jewelry, and ornate zari embroidery.
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