India itinerary, 9 days in the Golden Triangle; Taj Mahal, Amber Fort, Jaipur City Palace and Hawa Mahal
Published in April 2026
India can be a daunting place to travel to, so if you’re looking to soak in culture, history and delicious food on a more approachable trip to India, the Golden Triangle is a good place to start.
India’s Golden Triangle takes you through three of Indias most interesting cities, easily visited in nine days, Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.
Itinerary
Best Delhi accommodation options.
Budget: Hotel Horizon by Shanti, from $23 per night
Mid-range: Home@F37 Kailash Colony Metro, from $58 per night
Luxury:The Suryaa New Delhi, from $112 per night
Day 1 - Relax in Khan Market, visit India Gate
Delhi, India’s vibrant capital, is the bet place to start your circuit of the Golden Triangle from. Fly into Indira Gandhi Airport, its best to organise a hotel pick up, especially if you’re arriving late in the evening, as finding your accommodation can be tricky in Delhi’s labyrinthian streets. If you aren’t using an eSim, make sure to organise your local sim at the airport!
Take it easy on your first day in India as you begin to acclimate to the vibrant streets and loud noises of the city. To escape the chaos and ease in, visit Khan Market. This hidden corner of Delhi is a perfect escape, filled with hole-in-the-wall bookshops, cafes and boutiques. From here, head to India Gate, one of Delhis most iconic monuments.
If you’re on a budget and staying in Paharganj, Delhi’s iconic backpacker area, try Gurdev Punjabi Restaurant for a delicious and cheap introduction to Indian cuisine.
Get a good rest after your first day in India, tomorrow is going to be fun!
TIP: Don’t be afraid of the street food in Delhi, or anywhere in India. Our main rule for finding good street food is eat where it’s busy. You want to find stalls or restaurants that are busy and constantly pumping out orders, this usually means the food is cooked fresh and hasn’t sat for hours. Avoid eating at western restaurants when you can, especially familiar fast food chains! (Caused our food poisoning twice).
Day 2 - Red Fort, Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid
Your first full day in India is going to throw you right into the thick of it. Prepare to be overwhelmed, but remember to take the time to soak in the chaos, there’s beauty in it!
Depart your hotel and take a TukTuk to the Red Fort. The Red Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the Mughal citadel built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1639. The crowds can be extreme, so we recommend arriving as early as possible. The Red Fort is open from sunrise to 9pm daily, and costs 600Rs per person, for foreign visitors.
TIP: Uber TukTuk is a great way to get around and far easier than hailing and negotiating with drivers on the street.
Once you’ve finished at the Red Fort, explore the surrounding streets on your way to Chandni Chowk. Packed with spice merchants, jewellers and some of Delhi’s best street food, this is a great place to get lost for a few hours. Make sure not to miss the Old Famous Jalebi Wala for a delicious, sweet treat.
Next, head to Jama Masjid, a 17th century Mughal-style mosque in Delhi’s centre. The mosque is open daily from 8am to sunset. On some occasions, they will not open until 11am so it’s best to schedule a visit in the afternoon to ensure you can enter.
Take the afternoon to rest before heading into Connaught Place, the centre of New Delhi’s planned city layout, for dinner head to Saravana Bhavan for a taste of South Indian dosas.
Day 3 - Humayan’s Tomb and New Friends Colony, transfer to Agra
TIP: If you’re short on time for the Golden Triangle, include Humayan’s Tomb on Day 2 and depart Delhi on Day 3.
On your third day in India, head to Humayan’s Tomb, a beautifully lush site built in 1565, as the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent. Explore the gardens to see just how incredibly the landscaping complements the red sandstone structure. Entry is 600Rs for foreigners and is open from sunrise to sunset.
To explore a completely different side of Delhi, head to South Delhi’s, New Friends Colony, for a coffee and explore. We recommend Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters for some decent coffee and wi-fi.
To make the most of your time in the Golden Triangle, we recommend taking an afternoon transfer to Agra on your final day in Delhi. Trains depart from New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations all day, direct to Agra Cantt. You can also organise private taxi transfers via your hotel, use Uber City or 12.go if you have a larger group. From Agra Cannt, take a taxi or TukTuk to your accommodation.
TIP: Book your train travel on 12.go for good seat selection and prices.
Best accommodation options in Agra
Budget: Joeys Hostel Agra, from $6 per night
Mid-range: Hotel Shyam Palace, from $61 per night
Luxury:ITC Mughal, A Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, from $125 per night
Day 4 - One of the Wonders of The World
It’s time to get up bright and early to visit the incredible Taj Mahal. No amount of photos will prepare you for how truly beautiful this site is. Built between 1632 and 1653 by the emperor who also built the Red Fort, the Taj Mahal is actually a mausoleum for his wife. The Taj Mahal is truly a wonder of the world and a visit here is well worth your while.
Be sure to book your tickets online at least one day before you plan to visit. Enter via the East Gate. The Taj is open from 30 minutes before sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise, and is closed every Friday. We recommend joining the queue around 1 hour before sunrise to get in before it gets busy and enjoy the site before the sun gets too hot. Tickets cost around 1100Rs for foreigners.
Take your time to explore the site and take photos, but make sure not to get caught dancing, running or laughing, this is not allowed!
Allow a few hours to visit as it’s truly a beautiful place and rightfully a wonder of the world.
Once you’re finished head for breakfast or lunch in the nearby area, try Joney’s Place or Chia Taj View Cafe.
Besides visiting the Taj Mahal site, you can either spend the afternoon resting at your accommodation or get a tuk tuk to the Mehtab Bahg gardens on the other side of the Yamuna river.
Day 5 - Yamuna River and heading to the pink city
We’d recommend just spending two nights in Agra, as you’ll likely be staying in the area around the Taj Mahal, once you’ve spent enough time seeing it from its many beautiful angles it’ll be time to move on to Jaipur!
For your last morning, you could walk down past the East Gate of the Taj Mahal to the riverbank, where you may find many locals performing prayer or rituals on the banks of the Yamuna River, in the shadow of the majestic main dome of the Taj Mahal.
To get from Agra to Jaipur, you can either catch a train that will take approximately five hours, or organise another road transfer through Uber city or your accommodation.
We took the train, booking tickets through the official IRCTC website (Indian Railways).
Make sure you allow plenty of time to get to the station, find the right platform and enter on the correct carriage. Otherwise you’ll find plenty of ‘helpful’ locals who will guide you to the correct seat and then ask for money. I guess they do truly help!
At the other end there is a large taxi-mafia presence, and immediately upon exiting the train you will have drivers attempting to take your bags and guide you to their vehicles. We just ignored these drivers after which one of them told us to ‘cancel our visa and never visit India again’ as we were waiting for an uber big enough to take all three of us and our bags to our hotel.
You could of course just accept their assistance and pay whatever their rate is, but we tried to only use Uber in India so that in case of emergency we would have the support of the platform, details of our drivers and transparent payment.
This IS the lowlight of Jaipur. The rest of the city is truly amazing.
Check in, unwind at your hotel and head for dinner. If you’re looking for a decent cafe meal, you can try Coffee Sutra in the C-scheme area, otherwise use Google Maps to find a well-rated restaurant nearby your accommodation!
TIP: You can use 12go.com to book your train tickets as well as road transfers including private transfers, from Agra to Jaipur
Jaipur Accommodation Recommendations
Budget:Sukh Sagar Hotel from $15 per night
Mid-range:Abode Jaipur, from $50 per night
Luxury:Samode Haveli, from $120 per night
Day 6 - Explore the pink city and visit Jaipur’s city palace
Begin your day by visiting the Bepu Bazaar area, this is the heart of the pink city! You’ll find many stores, all numbered, selling all sorts of bazaar staples like fabrics, clothing, jewellery and leather goods amongst the pink buidlings.
At the centre of this area is the beautiful city palace, the heart of Jaipur, housing some of the most beautiful doors you’ll see in all of India!
Once you’re finished in the city palace, head around the corner to one of the cafe’s looking onto the Hawa Mahal, for the best view of this iconic piece of architecture.
TIP: Don’t expect much from the food you order at these cafe’s and instead just take in the truly beautiful sight of the Hawa Mahal, it’s worth what you pay!
Day 7 - Rest day!
Up to this point the days have been pretty hectic, now’s a great time to just set aside a day to chill in your hotel, have some quiet time away from the crowds and soak in what you’ve experienced in the last week.
Somethings that we’d recommend for a day like this are going and watching a movie at one of the city’s malls or just walking the streets early in the morning before the shops have set up and the vendors have begun their work for the day.
Day 8 - Amber Fort & the Patrika Gate
The Patrika gate is also located in the southern most area of Jaipur, and will most likely require a taxi or tuk tuk from your accommodation. This place gets exceptionally busy with domestic tourists, and as it’s just an open public gate, expect it to be packed by the middle of the day.
If you can, get up early and head there before the crowds to enjoy the beautiful mosaics and painted walls without a crowd.
Next up is a real highlight from India’s golden triangle, the Amber Fort. This is one of the most beautiful of all sites you’ll visit during a trip in India. You’ll need to get a taxi or tuk tuk to the entrance area of the Amber Fort.
Walking distance from the entrance area is the Panna Meena ka Kund, this historic step well is featured in many images you’ll see of Jaipur, and an easy addition to your itinerary before entering the fort itself. You’ll see elephants ferrying guests to and from the base of the fort. This is an optional extra if you feel it appropriate to ride an elephant at an attraction like this.
If you’ve got time, order an uber to Nahargarh Fort, where you can climb the hilltop fort’s walls and watch the sunset over the city. It’s a pretty incredible experience, watching the sun fall over the enormous city from such an incredible vantage point!
Day 9 - Extra must-see’s in Jaipur
With the big ticket locations done, spend today visiting some of Jaipur’s hidden gems.
Start by visiting the Albert Hall Museum, if you arrive around opening time at 9am you won’t find many people there. This beautiful place is worth the visit just for the architecture, but houses a huge variety of artifacts including an Egyptian mummy!
In the afternoon, once the sun has passed its peak, you can head to Sisodia Rani ka Bagh, a beautiful terraced property built in the 1700’s.
This evening you can make your way back to Delhi, or spend another night if you plan on travelling to another part of Rajasthan and continuing your India trip!
What else can I see in India?
Accommodation recommendations
Udaipur: Manuscript - Jhilwara Haveli, from $46 per night
Jaisalmer: Mud Mirror Guesthouse, from $15 per night
Varanasi: Wander Station, from $40 per night
Visit Udaipur
Udaipur is probably the most beautiful city we visited in Northern India, it’s clean, maintained and opulent. It’s a 7-hour bus or train from Jaipur, with an airport connection that you can travel onwards to other cities in India from.
Head to western Rajasthan
You can get the night train from Jaipur to Jaisalmer in the Thar Desert. This continuously-inhabited fort city has lasted more than a thousand years. It’s not very touristy, but provides a base for some incredible adventures into the desert. If you go, visit Badal House for an incredible few nights in the desert between India and Pakistan.
The ghats of Varanasi
Reachable by flight or a very long, overnight train ride, Varanasi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, skirted by the Ganges river, one of the most sacred of Hindu sites in all of India. It’s uncomfortable and confronting, but an experience like no other in the world.
The South!
Southern India varies significantly from the north, with beautiful sandy beaches, tropical jungles and entirely different cuisine and cultures! Add extra days or weeks on to your trip by visiting the state of Kerala with areas like Munnar. You can also visit Tamil Nadu and Bengaluru.
Things you must know before arriving in India
Buy your SIM for mobile data at the airport!
If you don’t, and you attempt to purchase one at an Airtel, JIO or Vodafone store, you will require an Indian to receive an OTP verification code that ‘verifies’ you’re a real person. In many cases, unless you have someone come with you, it will not be possible to get a legitimate SIM after leaving the airport and you will have to use eSIM’s.
Use Uber for all taxi’s and tuk tuks.
Yes, in 2026, in India, you can order tuk tuks on uber! This is a safer and more transparent way of getting around, as you’ll understand pricing in advance. It’s just like using it in any other country, expect you will receive an OTP through the app that you will need to tell the driver when they pick you up to verify that you’re the correct passenger.
QR-based payments, cash and cashless transactions.
In 2026, there are a few ways to access India’s UPI payment network, the countries take on QR-based payments. These were not applicable for foreigners when we visited, but are worth looking into as ATM’s can charge large, undisclosed fees in India and carrying around large amounts of cash is not ideal. If you book your hotels through online booking platforms, you can usually pay in advance. However don’t expect most hotels or guesthouses to accept card payment.
Leave your expectations on the plane!
India is an incredible, diverse and beautiful country, and will always be one we recommend to as many people as possible, but it can and will be overwhelming. The sheer volume of people you will encounter, who will talk to you, try to help you and try to sell things to you will be enormous. You’ll see contrasts and ways of life that might not make any sense to you and most definitely have way more photos taken of you than you know, and right or wrong, this is a part of travelling to India. So make sure you take each day and each moment as it comes, lean into the discomfort and soak up as much as you can from what will become a life-changing travel experience.
That’s It!
If you’ve made it down here, thank you so much for reading!
That covers everything you need to know about visiting India’s Golden Triangle.
