EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE VISITING THE TAJ MAHAL

Taj Mahal is the highlight of a tour in the Golden Triangle in India. To really appreciate the Taj Mahal or India in general, you must know the secrets and legends behind the Taj Mahal.  Many tourists take a tour to India only to see the Taj Mahal! And I agree that you must see one of the 7 wonders of the world, which is in true danger. The contaminated Jamuna river nearby seriously endangers the monument. “And if the Taj Mahal does not exist, then perhaps India neither …”- said the restorer who spent all his life beside the Taj Mahal.  

Here you find all the practical information about the best time for a visit, the restrictions, Taj Mahal tours, the secrets and legends of the mausoleum.

What is the best time to visit the Taj Mahal?

There is a good chance that you visit the Taj Mahal only once in your life. So you definitely want to see it in its best shape possible. I was lucky to be there some 20 times due to my work. Although it amazed me every single time, I can tell you that it is important to choose the best time for the visit. 

During monsoon time (June, July, August) the chance is higher for rainy weather with less visibility. 

During winter (December and January), the temperature drops in the north of India. You may need a winter jacket as well. That is not a problem itself. But the lower temperature comes with very dense fog in India. It clears up very slowly or not completely. It can be so foggy that you only see the outlines of the Taj Mahal from the observation platform. At this time of the year do not go in the morning. Better to wait till noon or afternoon when the sky clears up. 

How to spend two days in Agra

Many choose to visit the Taj Mahal at sunrise or sunset when the Taj Mahal gets special lights. Even though most people rush to see the Taj Mahal for sunrise, I personally find the sunset even more beautiful.

Pollution in India is a big problem. Although Agra is a small city compared to the capital, Delhi, smog is part of daily life. A blue sky and perfect visibility are never to be taken for granted. It is actually very rare. But no worries, a visit to the Taj Mahal can never be disappointing.

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How to go from Delhi or Jaipur to Agra?

1. Private tour with a car from Delhi to Agra 

2. Take a train from Delhi to Agra – 2:15 hours

Book your train ticket to Agra here: https://www.irctc.co.in/nget/train-search

3. Take a bus from Delhi to Agra

Book your bus ticket to Agra here: https://www.redbus.in/

Opening hours of Taj Mahal

There are no exact opening hours. Instead, they say, the Taj Mahal is open from sunrise to sunset, except Fridays! The ticket counter opens one hour before sunrise and closes 45 minutes before sunset. The Taj Mahal keeps closed every Friday even at the time of the full moon. 

Where can you buy your ticket online?

To avoid standing in the queue and go directly to the security control: https://asi.payumoney.com/

With the quite pricy entrance ticket you will also get a pair of shoe covers and a bottle of water. You need to cover your shoes when going up to the platform of Taj Mahal.

Is there a dress code to visit the Taj Mahal?

There is no official dress code, but generally, in India, you should dress modestly and wear skirts or shorts that cover your knees and shoulders. 

How much is the ticket to the Taj Mahal?

• Entrance fee for Indians: 50 INR, for foreigners: 1100 INR, for visitors (SAARC/BIMSTEC): 540 INR
• There is an extra 200 INR charge to go inside the tomb. This applies to both local and foreign visitors.

Which is the best entrance to the Taj Mahal?

There are two entrances to the Taj Mahal. If you come by car, bus or your private driver will pick you up, you head for the Eastern gate. There is a parking lot. From the parking lot, you can either walk 15 minutes to the ticket counter or you can take the golf cars that take tourists to the entrance free of charge. If there are many groups at the same time it is better to walk than waiting too long.

The Western Gate is the other option. There is no parking place here, but it does not take more than 10 minutes to get to the counter on foot. Or you take one of the rickshaws (50 INR). 

The musical drama, Mohabbat-the-Taj: The saga of love

If you spend a night in Agra, the best way to make the most of your visit is to watch the 80 minutes live show at the Kalakriti Cultural & Convention Centre in Agra. The legendary love story of the Taj Mahal comes to life on the stage boosted with the latest audio-visual effects. The translation is available in several languages. The biggest marble replica of the Taj Mahal is the core of the spectacle that took 7 years to build out of the same marble of Makrana as the original one.

Show timetable: 18:30 to 20:00 or 20:30 to 22:00

Tickets for the show: You can buy them directly at the counter, through a travel agent or if you have a private guide, he can also help with that.

What is not allowed at Taj Mahal:

You have to undergo a strict security control before you enter the monument. Do not carry any of the following items: 

• chewing gum
• any electronic stuff (pen drive, cables, chargers, extra battery) except mobile and camera
• food (including candies)
• drinks other than water
• Matchbox, cigarettes, lighters,
• leather products
• sharp items (knife, scissors)
• backpacks, big bags
• Selfie stick
• Souvenirs, handicrafts – so do not buy anything before you enter the Taj Mahal.

If you still carry one of the prohibited items, there is no way to deposit. The security staff will not hesitate to throw them away.

Video and photography

You can take photos without an extra fee outside the Taj Mahal in the garden. It is not allowed to take photos inside. But actually many people are taking photos and what happens is that the security staff shouts at them, nothing else. If you want to take a video you have to pay an extra 25 INR. You can only use your video camera from the platform and you have to deposit, which is not especially safe. So it is better to consider whether you really want to use the video camera. Even if you do not use your camera after the platform area, just by seeing it in your hand, the security staff will send you back. Do not always find the logic in the rules in India. Just follow! 

Is it possible to visit the Taj Mahal at night?

Taj Mahal is open for a visit at night only 5 days a month: At full moon, 2 days before, and 2 days after. Only a limited number of tickets are available for the visit at night, and you can only buy them one day before this period. They let the visitors in groups of 50 in 8 sets of time to enter the monument between 8.30 pm and 00.30 am. Their visit is limited to half an hour. At the night visit you cannot go close or enter the mausoleum, or walk in the garden. You can only see Taj Mahal from a marble platform at the entrance of the garden.

This is how you can buy the tickets for the Night visit to the Taj Mahal:

Tickets are available one day before the date of Night Viewing from the office of Archaeological Survey of India (A.S.I.) 22, Mall Road, Agra between 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. Ph. +91 0562 – 2227261, 2227263, Fax: +91 562 – 2227262 E-mail: circleagra.asi@gov.in

There are no extra illuminations. You will see the Taj Mahal in the moonlight. During the night visit, you cannot use a mobile or camera.

The cost of the Night Viewing Ticket to Taj Mahal: 

510 INR for Indians

750 INR for foreigners

500 INR for children (3-15 years)

If you continue your journey to Delhi this comprehensive guide may come useful

If you continue your journey to Jaipur this comprehensive guide may come useful

The secrets and legends of the Taj Mahal 

The Muslim rulers of the Mughal Empire defined the history of India for 300 years. They created a coherent empire in the northern and central parts of India. The story of the Taj Mahal dates back to 1607, when Shah Jahan, a Mughal crown prince, met the daughter of a minister working for his father, the then 14-year-old Arjumand Banu Begum. The beautiful and clever girl immediately captured the heart of the young man. Upon the advice of the astrologers, after 5 years of engagement, he married his love on 10^th May 1612 

She changed her name to Mumtaz Mahal, which means “the pearl of the palace.” As usual, at that time, the ruler had more wives and concubines. But Mumtaz Mahal was obviously his true love.  

She died during the birth of the 14^th child on 22 June 1631. When his wife died, the Emperor, the fifth Mughal ruler of India, decided to erect a white marble tomb in Agra (the seat of the royal court at that time). By now you know, that as opposed to the common belief, the Taj Mahal is not a temple. It is a mausoleum. At least according to the official version.

Mumtaz Mahal made her husband promise during their wedding that he would not marry another woman. And if she dies, he builds a mausoleum that astonishes the whole world. 

Despite her wish, the emperor got married once more. After the loss of his beloved wife, Emperor Shah Jahan was overwhelmed with sorrow. He refused to leave his royal suite for 8 days after the tragedy. When he finally appeared in public, his hair was completely grey. He ordered to mourn all over the country. 

He changed his outfit into a simple white dress and put all his energy into building the mausoleum. 

The legends around the construction of the mausoleum

 Shah Jahan brought the masters from the most remote parts of the world, Persia, Turkey, France, and Italy. 

Legend has it that the emperor had the wife of his architect killed so that he can feel his terrible pain. After he completed the monument, the ruler cut off his architect’s hand so that he could never build such a splendid building again. 

Its construction began in 1631, shortly after Mumtaz Mahal had died, and was finally completed in 1648. But the entire building complex took 22 years to finish, with twenty thousand people working on that. The workers lived in a separate village called Tan Guj, which still exists today. Incredibly, the descendants of the former workers are still working on the restoration of the Taj Mahal.

More than 1,000 elephants carried the material to the scene. They planned a 2.3 kilometers long ramp to lift the material to the proper altitude.

Elephants, carts, and animals transported the marble blocks from the city of Makrana, 360 kilometers away from Agra. 

Two week-itinerary including the Golden Triangle

The Taj Mahal has four 41.6-meter-high minarets. They tilt slightly outwards to prevent them from falling over the monument in the event of an earthquake. The mausoleum stands on a marble platform that contains a strange mixture of teak, egg, limestone, glue to withstand an earthquake. 

The unique decoration of the Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is decorated with quotes from the Quran, and with semi-precious and precious stone inlays. Floral motives (tulips, lilies, irises, daffodils, poppies) dominate the outer surface because the Mughals have believed that flowers are symbols of the divine realm.

A total of 28 different types of precious and semi-precious stones, including jasper, malachite, turquoise, carnelian, coral, and the full text of the Quran appear on the surface of the Taj Mahal. The tiny stone pieces are perfectly attached.

The inlay work is so perfect that it deceived even the looters. In 1764 the two silver doors and gold plates were robbed from the tomb chamber under the cenotaphs (symbolic tombs). But the plunderers never took the half-gemstone inlays because they could not believe that they were real precious stones. The current restoration follows the original method. A small floral motif takes 1-2 days, and a more complicated one takes a week to complete.

The tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan 

The tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan are located just below the dome. In line with Muslim tradition, the tombs face the direction of Mecca. But almost nobody knows that the tombs you see in the mausoleum are only copies. Only the workers have access to the real tombs that contain the remains of the Emperor and Mumtaz Mahal.

 It catches the eye that the tomb of Shah Jahan does not have an exactly central location. This breaks the symmetry of the complex. It proves that the monument was exclusively built for Mumtaz Mahal. He planned to have a separate mausoleum for himself. 

The tombs were originally surrounded by a golden barrier decorated with gemstones. But probably Aurangzeb, the greedy son of Shah Jahan, took it and replaced it with marble lattice carved from a single block of marble.

The story of the black tomb of Shah Jahan

Shah Jahan actually had the dream to have a black color mausoleum on the other side of the river. He wanted to connect the white tomb of Mumtaz Mahal with his tomb through a black and white bridge as a sign of eternal love. This never came true. His son, Aurangzeb, eager for power, locked him in the fort of Agra, shortly after the Taj Mahal was completed. Shah Jahan finally died in the Red Fort in 1666. Aurangzeb gave at least the chance for his father to always have a view of the Taj Mahal on the banks of river Jamuna. When Shah Jahan died, Aurangzeb ordered that he is buried next to his wife inside the Taj Mahal.

Some legends say that British colonels in the 19th century intended to sell the heavily neglected monument in pieces at European auctions. In 1942, the government managed to protect the monument from the German and Japanese air forces. They deceived the bombers by building scaffolds. The same trick saved the Taj Mahal during the Pakistan-Indian War of 1965 and 1971.

The secret rooms under the mausoleum sealed off by the government

There is another mysterious version of the Taj Mahal. Some historians say that the Taj Mahal has nothing to do with Shah Jahan. It was built well before by a Rajput king of Agra as a Hindu temple in the 11th century. Shah Jahan conquered it in a war. The Taj Mahal stands on marble and a red sandstone platform. Looking at that from the other side of the Jamuna river, small windows give a hint that there are rooms behind the red walls. 

The government does not give access to these rooms to anybody. Are they afraid that the whole Taj Mahal story would then be put in question? Or what are the secrets of these rooms?

Why is the Taj Mahal in danger?

The Taj Mahal has been declared an UNESCO World Heritage in 1983. More than three million tourists come to visit yearly. With the increasing number of tourist buses, taxis, and minibuses, the white marble cover of the tomb turned yellow. Now only electric cars and horse carriages are allowed to approach the Taj Mahal within a range of 2 kilometers. One of the largest petroleum refineries in Asia, located only 40 kilometers away, also damaged the whiteness of the Taj Mahal. Local authorities had to make a prompt decision. They closed the attraction one day a week and started to clean the surface with a special mix of chemicals. After several years of cleansing, the Taj Mahal got shiny again! 

But then cracks appeared on the outer surface of the Taj Mahal. Some say this is the fault of the architect but does not endanger the foundations of the mausoleum.

The contamination and low water level of the river Jamuna is even a bigger problem. Experts say the Taj Mahal is safe. For the moment, at least. But they must purify the river.

The Taj Mahal in Bangladesh

Only 16 kilometers from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, Ahsanullah Moni, a wealthy film director, built the replica of the Taj Mahal in 2008 for 56 million dollars. He wanted to enable the poor Bangladeshi to see India’s famous landmark. Half of the population lives below the poverty line, and many citizens dream about seeing it once. But only a few of them have the chance. He sent architects to Agra to take the dimensions. 

Unlike the Taj Mahal, this was completed with machines in only 5 years. The construction has provoked outrage in India. They protested against the duplication of their historic building. In the end, they did not initiate legal procedures. How could this actually overshadow the popularity of the real Taj Mahal…….

What else to visit in Agra apart from the Taj Mahal

Once you are in Agra you would be surprised how many other nice monuments are worth a visit as well. You can easily spend two days in Agra before you continue your journey to Delhi or Jaipur.

How to plan your trip to India

Book your flight ticket to India: I always use Google Flights, Skyscanner or Wayaway to find the cheapest flight tickets worldwide. To get an extra 10% for your Wayaway Membership Plus program use my discount code VOG

Insurance to India: Safetywing is an affordable insurance that covers COVID-related issues as well.

: Book your train, bus and domestic ticket in India:

Check Indian Railways website for train tickers, or 12Go which gives you the best option (train, bus, and flight) based on the city of departure or arrival. 

Book accommodation in India: Booking.com and Hostelworld.com offer a wide choice of low and higher-budget hotels.

Local tours and tour packages: Viator and GetYourGuide offer transfers and several one or multi-day tours.