Agra Travel Guide

The city of architectural wonders and see the majestic Taj Mahal. This beautiful marble monument is known as new 7 wonder of the world, located on a bank of the Yamuna River in Agra.

Agra is famous as being home to one of the "seven wonders of the world - The Taj Mahal". The architectural splendour of the mausoleums, the fort and the palaces is a vivid remainder of the mausoleums, the fort and the palaces is a vivid reminder of the capital in the capital in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Agra is the one of the prominent destinations of the World Tourism map with three heritage monuments-The Taj Mahal, Red Fort & Fatehpur Sikri. It is more just a dacadent city of graveyards and stones.

Agra is situated in the State of Uttar Pradesh, India.Agra is famous for handicrafts products such as Inley work on Marvel, Leather work, Footwear, Brasswear, Carpets, Jwellery, Zari and Embroidery work. It is also well known for Petha, Dalmoth and Gajak.

Climatic Conditions:

Summers are very hot and winters chilling cold. The temperature difference between the summers and winters is very high. The monsoon although provides some respite from the heat but the rains leaves the city very dirty. It is better to plan your Agra trip between the months of March and October.

Locations :

Situated in the extreme southwest corner of Uttar Pradesh, Agra stratches across 26° 44' N to 27° 25' N and 77° 26' E to 78° 32' E. Its borders touch Rajasthan to its west and south, the district of Firozabad to its East and the districts of Mathura and Etah to its North. Situated at the banks of River Yamuna, it has limited forest area sporting trees of Babul, Ber, Neem and Peepal.

Main Tourist Attractions In Agra :

Taj Mahal
The epitome of love, the elegy in marble, Taj Mahal is one of the most graceful and extravagant monuments in India. The seventh wonder of the world, it attracts thousands of tourists every year. A symbol of endless love and devotion of Emperor Shah Jehan to his beloved queen Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj is a befitting tribute to so romantic-a-love story and so divine an emotion that binds two souls forever.

Agra Fort
Ever since Babur defeated and killed Ibrahin Lodi at Panipat in 1526, Agra played an important center of Mughal Empire. Akbar chose this city on the bank of River Yamuna as his capital and proceeded to build a strong citadel for the purpose. It is said that he destroyed the damaged old fort of Agra for the purpose and raised this grand group of monuments instead in red sandstone. Started in 1565, it took eight years and thirty-five lakh rupees to complete its construction and is second only to Taj in Agra. Qasim Khan Mir Barr-u-Bahr supervised the construction of this building.

Fatehpur Sikri
Fatehpur Sikri was planned as a great town by Akbar with great care and planning in the honor of Sheikh Salim Chisti but had to be abandoned only after fifteen years due to scarcity of water in the town. Sheikh Salim Chishti was a Sufi saint who blessed the Akbar with his first son and heir, who was named Salim after him and later came to be known as Jehangir. The town was otiginally named Sikri after the village, where it was founded but its twin city Fatehpur (Victory Town) was erected to celebrate Akbar's conquest of Gujarat in June 1573.

Akbar's Tomb
Sikandra (10 km north of Agra on the Agra Delhi highway). The tomb of Akbar lies here in the centre of the large garden. Akbar started its construction himself but it was completed by his son, Jehangir who significantly modified the original plans which accounts for the somewhat cluttered architectural lines of the tomb. Four red sandstone's gates lead to the tomb complex: one is Muslim, one Hindu, one christian and one is Akbar's patent mixture. Akbar's mausoleum is open from sunrise to sunset.

ACCESSIBILITY

Air : Agra's very own Kheria airport is barely 5 km from the city and is also known as Agra Civil Enclaves. All the major domestic airlines provide flight services to and from the city of Taj.

Rail : It is surprising to note that Agra has seven railway stations of its own, excluding the Tundla junction, which is just 1 hour away from the city. However the two major railway stations include Agra Fort Railway Station and Agra Cantt Railway Station. Raja-ki-Mandi is also a popular stopover point in the city. Most of the trains running across India pass through the former two railway stations including the luxury train 'Palace on Wheels' and the super express trains known as Rajdhani Express and Shatabdi Express. Some of the other major trains pass through Tundla, well connected to the city by road.

Road : Agra boasts of three National Highways including N.H. No. 2, 3 and 11. The government and private bus services are available to and from Agra to all the nearby major destinations. One can hire ordinary buses or the deluxe coaches who come here just for a day, including Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Sikandra and Fatehpur Sikri in their itineraries.