Places to visit in Agra, and the order to see them

The white marble tomb Shah Jahan built for Mumtaz Mahal in the 1630s and 1640s, on the bank of the Yamuna. Walk the long garden from the main gate, then up onto the plinth to see the inlaid stone flowers and the calligraphy around the arches up close.

The red sandstone fort of the Mughal emperors, about 2 km up the river from the Taj. Inside are the halls of public and private audience, the white marble Khas Mahal, and the Musamman Burj, the tower where Shah Jahan spent his last years looking out at the Taj.

The great mosque built in 1648 by Jahanara, Shah Jahan's daughter, facing Agra Fort across the railway. Its red sandstone domes have white zigzag stripes, and the courtyard is calm after the fort crowds.

The old city's main bazaar, a tangle of narrow lanes behind Jama Masjid selling wedding trim, saris, bangles, shoes and spices. It is the place to try Agra's petha sweets and street snacks.

Called the Baby Taj: a small white marble tomb built by Nur Jahan for her father between 1622 and 1628, on the east bank of the Yamuna. Its walls are covered in inlaid stone patterns, the first Mughal building done this way, before the Taj.

The tomb of Afzal Khan, Shah Jahan's prime minister, built in the 1630s. What is left of its glazed tile work, in blue, green and yellow, is a rare Persian style in Agra.

Said to be the oldest Mughal garden in India, laid out by Babur in the 1520s beside the Yamuna. The terraces, water channels and riverside pavilions show the pattern later used at the Taj.

A Mughal garden on the far bank of the Yamuna, directly opposite the Taj Mahal. From the riverside path you see the Taj side on, with no crowds, and the river in front of it.

A forest park on the east side of the Taj, with paths through acacia scrub, a few watch towers and views of the Taj dome over the trees.

The tomb of the emperor Akbar, finished in 1613, about 10 km north-west of the city. A huge gateway with four white minarets opens onto gardens where deer and monkeys graze, and the tomb itself rises in five storeys of red sandstone and marble.

The tomb of Mariam-uz-Zamani, Akbar's wife and Jahangir's mother, a low square building of red sandstone with carved panels. It is quiet and rarely visited.

A Sikh gurdwara on the Mathura road, built where Guru Tegh Bahadur is said to have been arrested in 1675. The large red sandstone complex has a langar that serves free meals to everyone.

The red sandstone city Akbar built in the 1570s and left after about fourteen years, about 38 km west of Agra. Walk through the Diwan-i-Khas with its carved central pillar, the five-storey Panch Mahal, and the courtyards of the royal palaces.

The great mosque of Fatehpur Sikri, entered by the 54 m Buland Darwaza gate. In its courtyard is the white marble tomb of the Sufi saint Salim Chishti, with carved stone screens where visitors tie threads to make a wish.

A busy, easy-going market near the Cantonment, with shops for leather shoes, handicrafts, marble inlay and petha, and chaat and sweet stalls at night.