Golden Triangle Add-on Tour

Activity Level

Easy

Activity

Culture

Overview

Visit the Taj Mahal at sunrise and discover northern India’s great cultural trio: Delhi, Agra and Jaipur

Complete northern India’s Golden Triangle – the great backpacker route linking Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Whether you decide to go before or after your main adventure, this add-on tour is the perfect way to experience the best of Rajasthan. Of course, you visit the magnificent Taj Mahal (at sunrise to catch it in the perfect light) and explore the riveting cities of Delhi and Jaipur. But you also take time to see lesser-known highlights, including the 1,000-year-old Chand Baori stepwell, providing a rounded insight into the three great cities of the Golden Triangle.

Key Information

Trip Code: XBS
Countries: India
Carbon Footprint: 50.2kg CO2e per person per day

What's Included

All accommodation
All breakfasts
5 day Golden Triangle add-on tour, with all transport (car) and listed activities
Drivers and local sightseeing guides
Arrival and/or departure transfers

Don't Forget To

Request a single room if required, purchase travel insurance and arrange any visas and vaccinations. Speak to your sales representative for Dates & Prices, and to discuss any logistics. Please be aware that a tour leader does not accompany this adventure and a compulsory sole traveller supplement applies.

Highlights

Complete the famed Golden Triangle, visiting Delhi, Agra and Jaipur
See the Taj Mahal at sunrise, the most beautiful time to visit
Wind through the back lanes of Jaipur on a rickshaw tour
Visit the ancient Chand Baori stepwell – one of India’s lesser-known treasures
Explore the Moghul city of Fatehpur Sikri with a local guide
Marvel at the imposing Red Fort of Akbar

Itinerary

First Destination: Delhi
Next Destination: Delhi

Accommodation:Traditional Havali (or similar)
Meals included:Breakfast

Accommodation:Traditional Havali (or similar)
Meals included:Breakfast

Accommodation:Royal Regent Hotel (Golden Tulip) (or similar)
Meals included:Breakfast

Accommodation:Hotel Deventure/Hotel Regent Grand (or similar)
Meals included:Breakfast

Meals included:Breakfast

First Destination: Delhi
Next Destination: Delhi

Begin the journey to Jaipur after breakfast, a four to five-hour drive. Stop in the village of Abhaneri en route to visit the Chand Baori. One of India’s lesser-known wonders, this 1,000-year-old stepwell is one of the largest in the world, with 3,500 steps plunging 65ft (20m) into the ground.

Then transfer to Jaipur. Built in the late 18th century, this is a planned Moghul city of broad sandstone avenues, which were later painted pink. The evening is free for you to explore and relax.

Accommodation:Traditional Havali (or similar)
Meals included:Breakfast

Explore Jaipur in the local style, taking a rickshaw to the flower and vegetable markets and Govind Ji Temple, which sits inside the City Palace complex.

Out of the rickshaw, continue your exploration at the lakeside Amer Fort and see the Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds), a five-storey landmark built of pink sandstone, which allowed the women of the royal household to observe street festivities without being noticed.

Later, pick up some souvenirs and enjoy sightseeing with a walk in the local bazaars.

Accommodation:Traditional Havali (or similar)
Meals included:Breakfast

Drive (approximately four hours) to Agra after breakfast. An hour before reaching Agra, stop to visit the Moghul city of Fatehpur Sikri. This impressive, well‐preserved citadel served as Akbar’s capital from 1571. The mosque, designed to hold 10,000 worshippers, the palaces, residences and halls of audience, are all of decorative red sandstone. The magnificence, however, only lasted 14 years; in 1584, Akbar left Fatehpur Sikri to secure his outlying territories, leaving the city much as we see it today.

Here, we join a local guide for an exploration. Your driver helps to arrange this locally as the guides cannot be booked in advance. Please note, there have been instances where the guide has insisted visitors pay an offering in the shrine. There is no obligation to pay an offering, and it is fine to refrain from doing so.

In the evening, embark on a two-hour heritage walk around Agra. Your exploration visits both city landmarks, such as the Jama Masjid mosque, and the everyday wonders, such as a bridalwear workshop and Rawatpara spice market. It ends with views of the Taj Mahal.

Accommodation:Royal Regent Hotel (Golden Tulip) (or similar)
Meals included:Breakfast

Head out early to reach the Taj Mahal in time for sunrise – the most beautiful time to visit. The Taj’s shining white marble walls, inlaid with semi‐precious stones, never fail to amaze a first-time visitor.

Return to the hotel for breakfast and then head back out to visit the imposing Red Fort of Akbar, whose mighty sandstone walls enclose the white-marble Pearl Mosque and the palaces, halls, courtyards and fountains of his sons and successors, Jehangir and Shah Jahan. It is here that the latter spent his last years, imprisoned by his own son, Aurangzeb.

Transfer (approximately four to five hours) back to Delhi in the late afternoon.

Accommodation:Hotel Deventure/Hotel Regent Grand (or similar)
Meals included:Breakfast

Your Golden Triangle add-on tour ends this morning. If you have an onward flight from Delhi today, a transfer to the airport is included. If you are joining your main trip, the tour leader contacts you with information about this evening’s welcome briefing.

Meals included:Breakfast

Dates & Prices

Accommodation

Comfortable hotels

We stay in good quality hotels throughout. The hotels used may differ to those listed due to availability.

Your Delhi hotel is typically the same hotel as your main trip itinerary.

Worth knowing

A compulsory solo supplement may be applicable. We need a minimum of two people to operate, otherwise a sole traveller supplement is applied (this is in place of a single supplement, not in addition).
Twin-share rooms are subject to availability. If no twin-share match is available, a compulsory single supplement is required until a twin share is available.

Essential Information

This trip is rated Activity Level 1 (Easy). For more information on our trip gradings, visit the Activity Level Guidelines page. If you have any queries about the difficulty of the trip, please contact us.

Itinerary: There is a lot to see in the time, but everything is scheduled so it doesn’t feel too rushed. The heat and bustle of some cities can be a little overwhelming; that said, there are places where you can find peace, and this is one of the few places in the world from where you will return with great stories and memories to last a lifetime.

Monuments: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is responsible for the conservation of many monuments in India, including the Taj Mahal, and very occasionally this may mean that work is taking place at sites visited on this trip. The ASI’s schedule is never published so it is not possible to forewarn when work is taking place. The Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays. If necessary, we reverse the itinerary to first go to Agra and then to Jaipur.

Journeys: There is quite a bit of driving involved. The drive to Jaipur may take between four to five hours. Road journeys can sometimes take longer due to traffic, national or religious holidays, or road damage after the monsoon.

Post-tour

Start: Delhi hotel
End: Delhi airport

A car collects you from your Delhi hotel in the early morning for the drive to Jaipur.

On the last day, a departure transfer to Delhi airport is included – if you have not booked flights through Exodus, please ensure you have supplied us with your flight details in advance.

Pre-tour

Start: Delhi airport
End: Delhi hotel

If you have not booked flights through Exodus, please ensure you have supplied us with your flight details in advance. An arrival transfer from Delhi airport to the hotel is included.

Your add-on tour ends at the Delhi hotel in the evening and your main Exodus tour usually begins the same day.

India

To avoid possible problems at immigration, make sure your passport is valid for a minimum of 180 days at the time of entry into India.

Travellers from the UK, US, CA and EU normally need a visa to enter India. Please note, visa requirements often change and it is your responsibility to obtain any required visas for this trip. Therefore, we recommend that you check with the nearest embassy or consulate of your chosen destination(s), including any countries you may be transiting or transferring through.
Some local governments provide guidance on what visas their citizens need. To help, we’ve gathered a selection of useful links below.

• Australia: www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/asia/india
• Canada: www.travel.gc.ca/destinations/india
• United Kingdom: www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/india/entry-requirements
• USA: www.travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/India.html

Travellers eligible for an e-visa, which includes those from the UK, US, CA and EU, can apply at www.indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html.

For more information on applying for your Indian Visa, including details required for your start hotel and local reference contacts, please click on this link: Indian Visa Information.

New Digital Arrival Card

Travellers from the UK, US, EU and Canada must also complete a Digital Arrival Card. This can be filled online up to 72 hours before arrival via the official Indian visa website https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/earrival/. This is separate from the Indian e-visa process and this remains the same. Physical cards will remain at the arrival airport until 1 April 2026, at which point the Digital Arrival Card will be made mandatory.

All breakfasts are included in this trip.

India is famous for its food and there is ample opportunity to try various curries, including the familiar tandoori, biriyani and rogan josh. If you are a vegetarian, India is a great destination. There are wonderful desserts and excellent beers, soft drinks and Indian specialities such as lassi, a refreshing yoghurt drink.

Allow at least 2,600-4,350 Indian rupees (US$30-US$50) per day for lunch and dinner. You can eat out very cheaply in India, but if you go to the more expensive restaurants, most of the time, you will spend more than the suggested amount. In most towns we visit, there is a good selection of restaurants and a choice between Indian and Western food. Please note, service in restaurants can be quite slow. Tea and soft drinks are very cheap. A large bottle of beer is approximately 350 rupees (approximately US$4).

During October/November, and from February to April, the days are normally warm or hot and nights cool or mild. Humidity is very low and little or no rain falls.

It gets very cold in the early mornings and evenings in December, January and into February and warm clothes are essential. During this time, nightly temperatures in Delhi can be only a little above freezing. Come prepared for both cold and hot temperatures during the winter period.

In July, August and September, expect hot (or very hot) days and warm nights. Rain is also possible at any time from the end of June until September and can be very heavy. However, it moderates the temperatures.

As a certified B Corp, we’re on a mission to improve our social and environmental impact across all our adventures.

We do this through our innovative Thriving Nature, Thriving People plan.

This ‘nature positive’ approach is designed to help nature and communities thrive in harmony through practical solutions, such as reducing carbon and waste on our trips, supporting conservation projects through the Exodus Adventure Travels Foundation, and rewilding 100 square metres for every Exodus traveller.