Taj Mahal, Uttar Pradesh, India

5Nibedita B 5:00 PM Dec 23, 2022

Fantastic architecture of the Mughal era
Who hasn't heard of the Taj Mahal -the symbol of love. Situated in Agra, this fantastic structure of white marbel is a mausoleum of Shahjahan and his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. I recently visited this place and the govt has really made a beautiful walkway called the Taj walkway outside of the main entrance. There are electric buggies that can carry tourists from the main road through this walkway to and fro. The entrance requires tickets that you can purchase online as well. Shoes are not allowed in on and in the mausoleum area, so a shoe cover is provided inside in 10rs only per pair. Please don't buy from outside as they sell in 20rs or so. As always, in the walkway and the area outside near the Taj, you will find plenty of guides annoying you to take their services and also the local shop keepers forcing you to buy stuff. Other than these disturbances, it's an absolutely amazing experience to witness this marbel beauty. Try and go early morning around 6.30 or 7 to experience minimum crowd inside.

5pranaymehta 5:00 PM Jan 1, 2023

Seeing is believing - Taj Mahal is magnificent and majestic
The first sight of Taj Mahal will instantly give you a feeling of awe and admiration for this majestic monument. 'Seeing is believing' is certainly true for this historic symbol of love. When you see it the first time, just stand for 5 minutes in front of the monument to soak it in. We visited Taj Mahal on Sunday 1-Jan-2023 from Jaipur for a day trip to Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri. Some tips from our experience: 1. Avoid visiting Taj Mahal on Sundays because you will find a lot of local people just visiting the place casually due to very cheap ticket prices for Indian nationals. You can easily avoid this rush by visiting on other days of the week. For us, 1st January combined with Sunday, was not a great pick for the day to visit the monument in terms of the rush. 2. Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays for Islamic prayers. 3. An official guide wearing a Government ID badge is highly recommended. We had a very professional guide (Keshav Singh), who gave us an exceptional tour of Taj Mahal and managed to skip the queues at various places. His fee was Rs 700, which was very reasonable for the service and information. 4. Book the tickets online in advance from official government website. You will save a lot of time in buying the tickets on site. No need to take ticket print outs. QR code on the phone will be scanned there. 5. We also took a professional photo package from a registered photographer there. There are various packages and we opted for the minimum 40 photos for Rs 70 each. While we were skeptical at first about the need for professional photographer in these days of mobile phone camera, the end result proved that it was worth it. Out photographer, Gyan Singh, took fantastic photos of us in front of Taj Mahal, in various poses, despite the massive crowd. The album was ready when our tour finished and he also uploaded many photos on our phones. Certainly worth considering, but this is really optional and do not get pressured into this. 6. Overall, be careful in selecting the guide and photographer and only opt for officially registered professionals. Be alert for scams and people selling souveniers at multiple times the price you can buy outside. However, I would also say that this is also their living and the prices are really not that expensive, especially if you are an international tourist. Our only regret is that we visited this beautiful wonder of the world during the day time. Nevertheless, we are committed to visit again for sunrise and sunset/moonlight experience in future.