Fatehpur Sikri

Day 1

Buland Darwaza

One of the tallest gateways in the world, marking the entrance to the Jama Masjid.

Day 1

Panch Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri

Akbar's five-level pavilion at Fatehpur Sikri is all columns and no walls: 176 of them, each carved differently, thinning from 84 on the ground floor to four holding up a chhattri at the top. Jaali screens once filled the gaps, so the women of the neighbouring zenana could take the breeze and watch the Sikri fortifications and the town below without being seen. The screens are gone, so the view now comes unfiltered. The pool in front, the Anoop Talab, once held water and was the setting for music.

Day 2

Taj Mahal (Agra)

The Taj Mahal stands in white marble on the southern bank of the Yamuna River at Agra. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned it in 1632 to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and nothing else the Mughals built comes as close to perfection. The whole structure is symmetrical, and the geometry is exact. You come in through a grand red sandstone gateway, then across a formal geometric garden divided by long reflecting pools. The mausoleum sits on a massive marble plinth, a central dome above it and four identical minarets at the corners. The white marble is intricately inlaid with semi-precious stones, and it changes colour through the day — soft pink at dawn, brilliant white under noon skies, shimmering gold under a full moon.

Day 2

Agra Fort