EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Agra's densely populated heart is the sprawling labyrinth of bazaars, alleys and cramped, crumbling tenements clustered around the onion domes of the Jami Masjid, but the most useful landmark in the city is the fort immediately south of the mosque, rising above the sharp bend in the River Yamuna where it changes its course to flow past the Taj Mahal , 2km east. While budget travellers tend to congregate in the enclave of Taj Ganj , directly south of the Taj, most of the mid- and upper-range hotels, restaurants and other tourist amenities are dotted around the leafier commercial centre of Sadar Bazaar , and the old British military Cantonment area, insulated from the mayhem of the centre by a swathe of open parkland.

Of the city's monuments, Agra Fort provides the best insight into the private lives of the Moghuls, its high sandstone ramparts crowded with golden pavilions and richly inlaid marble apartments. Immediately across the river, the tranquil tomb of Itmad-ud-daulah , is even more ornately decorated, while Akbar's Mausoleum at Sikandra, 10km northwest, and the abandoned capital of Fatehpur Sikri , 40km west, are further unforgettable echoes of the most grandiloquent chapter in Indian history.