India Highlight

Tourist Attractions in Agra

AgraUttar Pradesh

Explore the 10 best tourist attractions in Agra, Uttar Pradesh that every traveler must visit. This list covers a wide range of attractions including hill stations, temples, monuments, and much more — so there's something for every kind of traveler.

  • Taj Mahal
    Monument in Agra
    There's a moment, just before sunrise in Agra, when the Taj Mahal looks less like a building and more like something dreamed into existence. The marble hasn't caught the light yet. The Yamuna behind it is still the color of wet slate. Then the sun clears the horizon and the whole thing turns peach, then cream, then that impossible white you've seen in a thousand photographs but never quite believed. Commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to hold the body of his wife Mumtaz Maha...
  • Agra Fort
    Fort in Agra
    Located in Uttar Pradesh, the Agra Fort was built in the late 16th century as a military stronghold and royal household. After eight years of construction along the Yamuna River, this Mughal structure was used for government work when Agra was the capital. Today, you can visit the Agra Fort because it's preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Revealing the History This historic site began as a humble structure named Badalgarh Fort several decades before it was christened the...
  • Anguri Bagh
    Garden in Agra
    Most visitors to Agra Fort rush past the Anguri Bagh with barely a downward glance, eyes fixed on the marble pavilions and imperial chambers that line its edges. That's a mistake. This geometric garden — its name translates to "Grape Garden" — is one of the most deliberately designed outdoor spaces in Mughal India, a living grid of stone pathways and sunken flowerbeds that once held grapevines imported at enormous expense. The grapes are long gone. The geometry remains, sharp as the day it wa...
  • Itmad Ud Daulah Tomb
    Tomb in Agra
    Before the Taj Mahal existed even as a thought in Shah Jahan's grief-stricken mind, a smaller monument rose on the eastern bank of the Yamuna River. Itmad-ud-Daulah's Tomb, completed in 1628, introduced marble inlay work to Mughal architecture — a technique that would later define its more famous neighbor downstream. Here's the thing that nags at you as you stand in its garden: the building that pivoted Indian architecture forever is the one most people drive past with their faces pressed aga...
  • Jama Masjid
    Mosque in Agra
    Every visitor to Agra tilts their head toward the Taj Mahal, and almost nobody looks the other way. That's a mistake. Barely three kilometers from the world's most photographed tomb, the Jama Masjid of Agra stands in a wide courtyard paved with red sandstone, its three marble domes catching the same Yamuna River light that gilds the Taj at dawn. Built in 1648 by Shah Jahan — the same emperor responsible for that more famous monument — this mosque was dedicated not to a lover's memory but to h...
  • Taj Museum
    Museum in Agra
    Every year, millions of visitors pass through the western gate of the Taj Mahal complex, crane their necks upward at that white marble dome, snap photographs until their phone batteries die, and then leave. Most never notice the modest red sandstone building sitting quietly to the west of the main mausoleum. That building is the Taj Museum, and it holds something the Taj Mahal itself cannot offer — context. Without it, you're simply looking at a beautiful building. With it, you begin to under...
  • Tomb of Akbar
    Tomb in Agra
    Most rulers leave their tombs to the living. Akbar the Great didn't trust anyone else with the job. The third Mughal emperor reportedly began planning his own mausoleum while he still had a pulse, choosing a site at Sikandra — about eight kilometers north of Agra's center — and supervising early construction before his death in 1605. His son Jahangir finished the project in 1613, though he reworked the original design considerably. What you get is a monument caught between two temperaments: A...
  • Chini Ka Rauza
    Monument in Agra
    Located on the east side of the Yamuna River, Chini ka Rauza is a tomb built in the 1600s. Requiring more than a decade of construction, this historical site is a highlight for visitors as they explore greater Agra, India. Learn why this structure is called "China Tomb" right now. Discovering Allama Afzal Khan Mullah's Legacy This tomb was built for Afzal Khan, the Prime Minister to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the 1600s. He was more than a political advisor, however. Khan w...
  • Fatehpur Sikri
    Town in Agra
    According to legend, Fatehpur Sikri is the first planned city by the Mughal Empire. With a blend of several influences, including Persian, Hindu and Islamic accents, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is frequently visited today by travelers and religious believers alike. Dedicate some vacation time to exploring this historic site on your next trip to Uttar Pradesh, India. Revealing the City's Fascinating History During Emperor Akbar's reign, he visited the village of Sikri. Here,...
  • Mehtab Bagh
    Garden in Agra
    Most people who visit the Taj Mahal never cross the river. That's a mistake. On the opposite bank of the Yamuna, directly aligned with the mausoleum's central axis, Mehtab Bagh offers something the main complex cannot — distance. And distance, it turns out, is exactly what the Taj Mahal needs to be fully understood. From here, the white marble dome doesn't loom over you. It floats, suspended above the riverbank like something not quite of this world, especially at sunset when the stone turns...

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