Delhi-Agra day trip: pay for a tour or do it on my own?

Some tour companies e.g. Intrepid, Imaginative Traveller, Adventure Travel (a few off the top of my head) will require full payment in home country before accepting clients. They are usually booked via a Travel Agent or directly through their offices located worldwise. This is o.k. You can withhold payment if the tour company is Indian and located in India - send a small deposit only. Most of the outside India companies are reliable and have good reputations from what I can gather.
If your friend goes with you - great and book that train Varanasi to Agra, then either train, bus or car to Delhi that evening. This would be much easier than going all the way to Delhi and then to and fro to Agra. And as Karuna suggests, you can do this on your own too.

Ooh, yes- should have made that clear. It's India-based tour companies who ask you to wire/send money upfront that you should be wary of. The international ones are more pricey but a better bet with your money. Thanks for explaining that Aishah, I missed it!

djkittycat, I would not try the Agra thing on your first day,especially considering this is your
first visit to India.

Hopefully you should have a day or two to spare at the end of your tour which will give you ample time for a Day visit to Agra and you will also feel
more confident after your tour.Also your tour operator may be able to set something up for your
Taj visit.

@dephil13,post # by hal2004 seems pretty spot on as
far as cost wise goes, mind you the 100 bucks their asking doesn't sound too bad either considering what they are offering.

rgds

vandy

Hmm, ok. I spent some time looking up the trains, and it is unlikely that the train already being booked for us to Delhi stops in Agra. I would have to book an overnight train from Varanasi to Agra Fort station, and hope it's either on time or not tooooo late (as in maybe only 1 or 2 hours late), for this to work. If it was really late, then I could just take the train that I had already paid for through the tour, and let go of my desire to see Agra this time. But I do have until midnight to get to the airport (3 hours before my flight) so maybe it'd be possible.

So, buy the ticket ahead of time online and take my chances? (In order to do that I have to call my credit card company and let them know it's me doing it, and do it over the phone. Joy! You wouldn't believe how hard it was for me to book my flight and prove it was me doing it! I appreciate fraud protection, but methinks they have something against India.)

Do you have the name of the train that the tour provides? It's possible it stops somewhere near Agra that isn't Agra, like Tundla Junction or something.

This is beginning to sound a little complicated, I feel for you.

I can attempt to get the train name, or at least the time. The booking agents in North America don't necessarily have specifics.

What I'm going to do, I think, is ask my former Mexico tour guide if she knows any of the tour guides in India, so I can email them. We'll see if that pans out.

Anyhow, I have a month or so before the 90 days comes for the train. I have to time think on this.

I was perusing Namaste Tours, and I wonder if they can pick me up after I get to the airport, drive me somewhere for a nap, wake me up and take me to Agra, et al, then return me to the tour start hotel. The testimonials on that site mentioned drivers waking people up on time. Heh. It would be worth it, I think. Or perhaps, since Agra is like 4 hours from Delhi, I could sleep in the car and get to Agra at like 6 in the morning! I think I'll email them to see if it's possible. This way, I won't have to potentially miss any trains, or miss the last train ride with my group.

Yup, any car tour company can do that for you. Drivers aren't always completely prompt- bring a small alarm clock just in case!

The Taj is spectacular, but I don't think it's worth the sort of stress and anxiety you might put yourself through trying to squeeze it in at the start or end of the tour.

It will still be there next time, surrounded by touts.

I don't know if there will be a next time for a loooong time...well certainly not in the winter. But, I have a month to decide on this.

I don't think it'd be stressful to find a trustworthy tour for that first day if it works out. If not, so be it. I'll just enjoy what I see!

If you can find a driver/guide who will stick with you, and you can manage the lack of sleep it's probably worth a go, then. I had about 20 hours travel from Toronto to Hyderabad (one stopover) and I slept for maybe 6 hours of it, arrived at 12:30am, got to the hotel at 3am, slept for about 4 hours, then spent the first day with a driver going all over Hyderabad. The jetlag/exhaustion didn't hit me until about day 3.

GOOD evening and greetings from tamilnadu express from Chennai to delhi. we ll be there around 9hrs. thank you for this threat. i also have only 1day for agra! first thought about doing the bus guided tour for 1800rs + TAJ MA HAL EXP. But ar i now recognized is everything quite reachable by walk or auto. i just have to get such a train ticket. ok i could also get off tonite at agra at 3.30am but thats too early. bye

First class,
one day in Agra is plenty...do u agree??

HI i just booked it for tomorrow . taj exp. at 7am and back at 6.55pm costs ca. 160rs 2S I ll let u know in the next days. it departs from nizzamuddin station. currently i am there waiting for my train back to new delhi station, cause i visited bahai temple. impressive pics at dawn. but the neighbourhood (got off at ohkla) is not the best ;-) bye SIMON

Hi all,
Friends I will be staying in Paharganj, wish to go to agra can any one suggest what travel would be better Train OR bus. And i also want to know are their any buses which live from delhi for agra and return the same day. My main interest is Tajmahal & Agra Fort, Akbar's Tomb & Fatehpur Sikri.
And I wish to visit Agra with my family consisting of 7 people. Please suggest me the suitable mode