The Golden Triangle: Five Days Touring India
Considering a visit to some of the iconic sights in India? Maybe the Golden Triangle? Read this trip report and decide whether this is for you!
Delhi, Agra, Jaipur – a taste of India!
This was an entry level visit to this huge and diverse country. It gave but a small taste of tourist travel in India, a country like no other I have visited (and I have visited many!). The Golden Triangle – Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur – is a well-trodden route for first-time visitors, and I could see why it’s such a popular choice.
I landed at Delhi airport after a fairly long trip from Heathrow and although it wasn’t a fast process through immigration (remember you have to get a visa in advance if you’re travelling from the UK) I eventually reached my tour group outside the airport. Although I generally travel independently, I had made the decision to join a tour group for this trip. I’d say that was a very good decision!
The tour guide was a young man who had lived in Agra all of his life, and he knew exactly where to take our group of six for sight seeing and food. He had many connections which, literally, opened doors for our group and allowed us to visit places we couldn’t have got access to on our own. It also meant I did not need to make transportation decisions. The mini bus driver Mr Singh was a careful driver who took away any stressful decisions about travelling in a country where the rules of the road are definitely different to what I am used to – cows in the middle of the highways included.
First Stop: The Hotel in Delhi and a Rest!
Now when you are part of an organised tour group your hotels are picked for you. I wouldn’t have chosen any of the three hotels I stayed in, but they were all clean with yummy breakfasts – including Indian delicacies – so who is to complain!
Time To Explore Delhi
Suitably rested overnight the group met for our tour of Delhi on the first full day in India. Delhi is a HUGE city. Driving from one end to the other literally takes hours, and that is not just because of the traffic but simply because it is massive, 573 squared miles according to Google. But I didn’t need to worry about how to negotiate this as the tour guide and driver had all of that planned out. All I had to do was buckle my seatbelt and sit back and chat with the other tour members.
Now what I will say about being a part of a group tour is that it is amazing to meet other people and travel with them for days at a time. It took a day or two to get to know each other but we started to bond on this first day in Delhi as we experienced new sights, sounds, and smells together! The bottle of Indian rum the tour guide provided certainly helped.
The old walled city of Delhi is a must see. The Jama Masjid Mosque was built by Mughal emperor and founder of somewhere all of us will have heard of – the Taj Mahal.
Suitably cloaked up as per the rules of the mosque there were some wonderful photo opportunities of this amazing place to be had. (And that is another point to note, make sure you pack your suitcase with covering up in mind if you are to do this trip – think below the knee trousers or dresses, and forget about the vest tops, covering shoulders is the way forward. Some temples, mosques and so on will have cover ups for you to borrow if need be, but I felt much more comfortable wearing long trousers/skirts and longer sleeved tops during my days sight seeing).
Whisked Around Old Delhi
Next on the agenda was a rickshaw ride round the maze of the old city. The driver of the cycle contraption was half my size – I did make sure I had some extra rupees to give him at the end as it was a tough gig for him!
Some of the route was traffic free – other than the other rickshaws of course – but some was not and I think my heart rate did increase considerably during this part!
Seeing the food and spice bazaar was a highlight, the colours give such a flavour of modern and traditional life in this part of the world. I got a glimpse of the Red Fort, built in 1638 and now a UNESCO world heritage sight. Apparently the decapitated bodies of prisoners are built into its foundations, but there was no chance to investigate that further as we were whisked on to our next stop.
The convenience of a guided tour versus the ability to make decisions yourself as to what you might want to see more of is something you must consider when opting for a group tour like this. I would have liked to explored Old Delhi some more but now on to New Delhi…..
New Delhi
New Delhi was largely designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, a British architect. His buildings looked very impressive through the window of the mini bus; apparently it was too crowded to stop and examine them further. New Delhi certainly is full of people, and traffic, so I could see that parking up and fighting through crowds would, indeed, be a challenge. I am pleased to have seen Raj Path, the State Houses and India Gate though, even if I tried not to blink and miss them!
Remembering Mahatma Gandhi
Where I was pleased to spend some quality time though was at the remembrance home to Mahatma Gandhi. He spent the latter part of his life here and it was where he was assassinated on the 30th January 1948. My visit happened to be on the 31st January and that felt special.
It was so peaceful, and walking barefoot on the grass next to where he was killed made me feel connected to a man who was known for his non violent protests in his attempts to achieve social justice.
Gurudwara Bangla Sahib
In that vein of ‘making the world a better place’ the mini bus continued on to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, one of the most prominent Sikh houses of worship in Delhi. I learned so much on this trip, including more about the Sikh religion and the importance of cooking and eating together and serving each other, in the context of community and cooperation with others. The tour of the kitchens was fascinating and I learnt that anyone can visit here and eat a meal without cost to them.
Agra
Day 1 ended with arrival in Agra and my first glimpse of the Taj Mahal. All I can say is that that is a highlight of my decades of travel, and is likely to remain so. Let’s face it, the Taj Mahal is one of the most iconic sights in the world, a glimpse of it cannot disappoint.
The Golden Triangle is famous for its rich history, and Agra plays a huge part in that. In addition to the Taji Mahal, I saw some wild monkeys, who live in the vicinity of the Taj Mahal. Seeing animals in their natural habitat is also always a highlight of my travels so this was a great end to the day.
Now if you say ‘India’ to a lot of Brits they will immediately think of FOOD. I was both excited (I love Indian food) and nervous (would it be too spicey or too much for my tummy) on the run up to this trip about what I would eat. I’m pleased to report that everything I did eat was delicious, and my tummy coped well with the familiar and new tastes. Our first ‘proper’ meal of traditional Indian food was tonight – a venue picked by our guide – and it passed with flying colours! I’m a big paneer fan and this was an ingredient used a lot so yes please, and thank you.
The Taj Mahal
It was an early start on Day 2 to see sunrise over the Taj Mahal. Nobody complained about that though and we were very lucky with the weather as apparently sometimes the mist is so thick you can’t see the beautiful outline of the edifice until you are standing right underneath it.
As I don’t have the words to describe how wonderful this visit was – sunrise and what followed – you can experience it for yourself here with some of the most beautiful pictures! (For those of a certain age, I did try to replicate the picture of Princess Di sitting on a bench alone but it was a bit too busy to really do that one justice!)
An amazing and wonderful place.
Arga’s Red Fort
Later we visited Agra’s Red Fort, which on any other trip would be a highlight but it was a hard act to follow the mystical Taj.
The Pink City of Jaipur
A friend had done a similar tour of the Golden Triangle a few months before and her favourite part of the trip was the pink city of Jaipur. So I reluctantly but excitedly left Agra and any further glimpses of the Taj Mahal I could engineer. Rooftop bars in the city were a favourite vantage point (I do love a rooftop bar and our hotel the Agra Grand Mercure had a lovely one, as did another hotel across the street for a different angle!).
The guide had arranged a nice surprise for the journey, not on the itinerary – a stop at the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Now, much to the disgust of my mini bus mates, I had never seen this film. But I could still appreciate the specialness of the stop. And it’s now top of my list of films to watch as the hotel was amazing.
The hotel selected for our group to stay in in Jaipur was unfortunately not the Best Exotic Marigold hotel but the Radisson. Its rooftop pool was used by pigeons as a bath rather than by any humans, which was a bit unfortunate! I was here to see Jaipur though, not to spend my time swimming on a rooftop.
This part of the Golden Triangle was vibrant, stunning, and rich with history. The Amber Fortress, the Jal Mahal, Patrika Gates and the Jantar Mantar are some of the sites the group toured here. The highlight was the Amber Fortress and I am pleased to say that we reached the hilltop Amber fortress by jeep, and not on the back of an elephant. Some tourists are, however, still utilising these poor elephants to get to the top of the steep hill.
Jaipur did not disappoint – the pink city will be forever in my heart.
Home Time
Day 5 and back to Delhi for one more night. I could now say I had visited the Golden Triangle, though only really a minuscule portion of India itself.
The Golden Triangle is a perfect introduction to India. India is one of the oldest and greatest civilisations in the world but it’s also squalid in places, chaotic, over crowded, and the roads are like nothing I have ever seen! I am privileged to have visited though and would recommend this trip to anyone. As well as seeing some wonderful sights I also met some wonderful people, not least my new friends from the tour who I shared this amazing experience with.
Hopefully this trip report has given you a taste of whether this is a trip for you. If you’re a beach babe glamour puss who is happy frequenting the Canaries, Greek Islands or even Dubai, this trip might not suit. However if you’re a culture vulture who fancies a bit of an adventure then this could be for you! I loved it and it will have a special place in my travel memories. I didn’t even scratch the surface of what this enigmatic country has to offer, but the Golden Triangle was an unforgettable start!
