Sikandar Lodi's new capital, Akbar's red sandstone fortress, Shah Jahan's marble elegy — Agra keeps the whole Mughal arc inside a few kilometers of the Yamuna.
1504
Lodi capital
Sikandar Lodi moves his court to Agra.
1573
Akbar's fort
Red sandstone walls rise on the Yamuna.
1653
The Taj
Shah Jahan completes the marble tomb.
1803
Company rule
The British take the Mughal seat.
Shah Jahan's tomb for Mumtaz Mahal, 1632–53 — twenty thousand workers, and a symmetry broken only by the emperor's own grave.
Closed Fridays. Enter at sunrise via the East Gate; pay extra for the main mausoleum. Once a year, during Shah Jahan's three-day Urs (dates follow the Islamic calendar), entry is free for part of each day and the real graves in the crypt below are opened.
3 hrs
Akbar's red-sandstone citadel of 1573; Shah Jahan spent his last eight years imprisoned here, in sight of the Taj.
Afternoon light is best on the red sandstone; hire an official guide at the gate.
2.5 hrs
Akbar's ceremonial capital, built in the 1570s and abandoned within fifteen years — palaces, a mosque, and the 54-meter Buland Darwaza.
Avoid touts at the car park; the mosque and tomb are free but shoes must come off.
Half day
The 1628 tomb of Nur Jahan's father — the first all-marble Mughal tomb, and the Taj's dry run.
Much quieter than the Taj; go in the morning.
60 min
Akbar's own mausoleum, begun in his lifetime and finished by Jahangir in 1613, mixing Hindu, Islamic and Jain motifs in a garden full of blackbuck.
On the Delhi road; combine with Dayalbagh.
90 min
Built around 1635 as the tomb of Shah Jahan's poet-scholar minister Afzal Khan, it remains Agra's only monument fully faced in Persian glazed tilework.
Free and quiet; much of the tilework has gone, so look for the surviving panels.
30 min
Laid out around 1528 by Babur, it is regarded as India's oldest Persian-style Mughal garden, predating the Taj Mahal by over a century.
Combine with Itimad-ud-Daulah and Chini ka Rauza.
45 min
Believed to predate the Mughal era, this Shiva temple with its silver lingam is considered the oldest sanctuary in Agra, anchoring the old city's spiritual life.
Go for the evening aarti.
30 min
One of north India's oldest Christian cemeteries, with Armenian graves and the 1803 tomb of the Dutch soldier John Hessing, built as a small red-sandstone Taj.
Ask the caretaker to open the gate if it's closed.
45 min
A white-marble memorial temple of the Radhasoami faith, under construction since 1904 and still being carved.
Photography restrictions apply; dress modestly.
60 min