Day 5: Ranthambore National Park 🇮🇳

Our pre-booked train from Agra Fort to Sawai Madhopur (#12948 / Azimabad Express 1225-1625) (click here to read about travelling by train in India) was running late, so it eventually arrived around 2pm. This meant it was going to run late and we eventually arrived into Sawai Madhopur around 7:30pm. Our hotel had a driver waiting at the train station to collect us (very good considering we were 3 hours late!) and we eventually made it to the where we were staying. We visited an off-license nearby to buy some beer for the night, and then ate at the hotels onsite restaurant for dinner.

We stayed at the Ankur Resorts, Ranthambore and sorted all of our safaris through them. In hindsight, we may have taking more time to book these ourselves to have more control over what zones and where we were heading. It certainly is easier to book through your hotel, and you do have to book months in advance to really get to pick your excursions, but booking online or in person is tricky!

The main takeaway from our stay here was that it was too quick a turnover. We stayed for just one night, and completed two safaris over one day, and then rushed to our train onto Jaipur after a very quick dinner. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any elusive tigers, and completing more safaris would certainly increase our chances of spotting one! You can read below some helpful hints and tips to make your Ranthambore trip extra special!

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When is best to visit Ranthambore?

Of course, most people don’t have the flexibility to arrange their India trip around a trip to spot a tiger, however if you find yourself in Rajasthan during these months, an excursion is definitely worth it. The greatest number of tigers are spotted in Summer – March to June – as this is when it is hottest, and big cats and other mammals will be spotted at water holes and rivers, and less foliage on trees will make these animals easier to spot. Visiting in March and October is better as it can be quieter due to fewer crowds. The park has been traditionally shut from 1st July to 30th September due to monsoon season however for the last few years, zones 6-10 have been kept open during these months (the chances of seeing a tiger in these zones are however much slimmer).

Where should I stay when I visit Ranthambore?

The main town closest to Ranthambore National Park is Sawai Madhopur, and here you will find many hotels and hostels, as well as restaurants, bars and ATMs. The train line is linked nicely to major cities such as Jaipur, Jodhpur, Agra and Delhi, so getting here is very easy! The nearest airport is in Jaipur, where you can grab a train to Sawai Madhopur or a taxi for a 3 hour journey. We stayed at Hotel Ankur Resorts, but there are many other hotels in the area to choose from.

Which safari zone is best to spot a tiger?

Ranthambore National Park is divided into 10 zones: the original zones 1-5 and (newer) buffer zones 6-10. Most blogs suggest that the buffer zones 6-10 have limited sightings, however the expanding number of tigers in the area has proven that mostly wrong. Zones 1-5 are also shut during monsoon season, so if visiting during this time 6-10 might be your only option. It’s useful to also know when planning your trip that zones 1-5 share the same main park entry gate just outside of Sawai Madhopur, where you will likely stay. The entry points for zones 6-10 are all spread out further away and could take you up to 45 minutes to get there.

You can read more about Ranthambore’s zones here.

What type of safari should I go on?

Ranthambore offers three types of safaris: regular safari, half-day safari, and full-day safari. By far the most common (and most affordable) is the regular safari. These typically last 3.5 hours and you stay inside a single zone in the park. You can book either a 6-seater gypsy jeep or a 20-seater canter truck. All vehicles are open-topped, and the cost is on a per-seat bases (no canters are allowed in zone 2). The exact timings for the morning and afternoon regular safaris change based on the season but you can generally expect your morning safari to start 30 minutes after sunrise and your evening safari to end 30 minutes before sunset. If booked through a hotel, you will generally have pick-up and drop-off to and from your hotel arranged for you.

Prices for regular safaris have gone up in recent years. We paid ₹2500 (£30) per person per safari for a gypsy ride (canter safari was ₹2000) when arranged through our hotel, but our travel guide lists the price as ₹1470 and ₹1250 respectably. The park’s official website now lists the fee as ₹2900/₹2300.

You should plan at least two regular safaris. Most people will recommend more as it takes on average three to get one tiger sighting (of course you might be lucky and see one straight away!). We did two regular safaris (a morning and a evening) in two different zones, and were unsuccessful in our sightings.

Half-Day and Full-Day Safaris

A higher cost, but a more flexible option is to take a half-day (6 hours) or full-day (12 hours) safari. These longer safaris can only be booked in-person at the booking office or through a local agent (hotel or travel agent). You will have the park nearly to yourself outside of the normal morning and afternoon safari times. Only 5 full-day safari jeeps and 5 half-day safari jeeps are allowed each day. A big advantage of these safaris is that you can go into ANY zone. The guide can use other sightings that day to choose the zone and you can switch zones part way, if you want. Half-day and full-day safaris are booked on a “per-vehicle” not “per-seat” basis. All half-day and full-day safaris are in a 6-seat gypsy (no canters). For a full-day safari, expect to pay at least ₹100,000 (over £1000!). For a half-day safari, plan to pay at least ₹60,000 (£650). These costs include the safari permit, entry fee, vehicle, and guide charges for 1-6 people.

How should I book a Ranthambore Tiger Safari?

The online booking process is quite complicated, and often wouldn’t work when we tried before our trip. We were happy to pay a minimal commission for our hotel to arrange the safari for us. It is certainly a lot easier, and they will also arrange transport to and from the gates. Make sure you do your research into zones though, and when you book in advance through you hotel, try and request the zones you want along with what type of safari. Of course there is no promise of a tiger sighting so any zone is fine for the experience – you will definitely see something! Bookings open a year in advance now (it used to be 90 days), so as soon as you know your travel plans, make your booking to ensure the best zones!

Blogger ‘Ivan the Intrepid’ has a very good in-depth post about booking your safari online & in person. You can read this here.

What should I bring to my safari?

1. Warm jacket and hat for chilly winter mornings
2. Hat and sun cream for the summer
3. Lightweight scarf to cover your face (roads kick up lots of dust, and jeep fumes can be overpowering)
4. Water and snacks. Lots of water
5. Binoculars to view and search for wildlife
6. Passport to check against your booking

One last thing…

I totally understand that you’re probably in Ranthambore to see a tiger, but try to enjoy the landscape and other wildlife too. You should see lots of other animals and birds. You would hate to come away disappointed that you didn’t see a tiger having forgotten about all of the other wonderful things you did see. Enjoy the experience, and a tiger is the jewel in the Ranthambore experience.

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Day 3-4: Agra and the Taj Mahal 🇮🇳

We had pre-booked our train (#12002 / Bhopal Shatabdi Exp 0600-0805) from Delhi to Agra (click here to read our post about train travel in India) so we were up early and at the station in enough time for our 6am train. It was only a couple of hours long, and so we had booked in the standard seating area. We spent the majority of the journey asleep to make up for the 4:30am wake up!

We had also managed to be sneaky and arranged for our hotel to pickup our luggage from the train station to store it at the hotel so that we didn’t have to travel all the way to the hotel to then go to the bus station for our half day trip to Fatehpur Sikri. The bus to Fatehpur runs from Idgah Bus Stand, which is only a 15 minute walk from Agra Cantt train station, so once our luggage was safely collected, we walked to the bus stand and was directed onto a bus to Fatehpur that was the next to leave. We waited only 10 minutes and it cost us ₹40 (about 40p) per person for the hour trip.

Fatehpur Sikri

Once the capital of the Mughal empire in the 16th century, this magnificent fortified city is easy to visit on a day trip from Agra. Once we had arrived at around 10am, we made the most of our time and were only really here for a few hours, but mostly because we were excited to get back to Agra to get a glimpse of the Taj! Depending on how long you are visiting though, you may wish to stay to experience the red-sandstone palace during sunset and stay in one of the decent hotels in the village.

We got off the bus just before the last stop, as the entrance to the site began. The beautiful mosque, Jama Masjid, sits at the top of a huge flight of stone steps and the main entrance is a spectacularly high gate which you will see as you start to ascend the hill up from the main road. Once you make it up the steps and through the daunting gate, you will find courtyards and palaces inside, as well as the tomb of the Mughal saint Shaikh Salim Chishti, where women hoping to have children come to tie strings for fertile luck. This entire area is charming, and usually very quiet, so it’s perfect for contemplation and your first experience of ancient India outside of Delhi.

We ate at Ajay Palace for lunch atop the rootop, which served great homemade curries and chapati (note that it’s not ‘Ajay Restaurant By Near Palace’ – it’s 50m further down the road and also a hotel – walk through and up the stairs.

By spending a little too much time enjoying the views at lunch, we had just missed a bus Agra-bound. Our travel guide advised buses ran every half hour, but it seemed to be more like an hour than half hour. The bus station is on the main road and once we saw the bus arrive from our lunch perch, we rushed down to make sure we got on – they don’t see to wait long! Again, ₹40 (about 40p) per person for the hour trip back to Agra.

Agra Fort

Rather than heading all the way back to Agra’s bus stand, we got off the bus on the main road towards Agra fort and flagged down a tuktuk to take us to the entrance of Agra Fort. The Amar Singh Gate to the south of the fort is the only entry point and you can buy your entrance ticket here ₹550 (about £6) per person (foreign tourist charge).

Agra Fort is easily forgotten about, considering the countries most famous landmark is just downstream, but travellers that visit here will witness one of the finish forts in India within these walls. Courtyard after courtyard, and the many fairytale palaces and audience halls, it will take some time for the sheer scale of this fort to really sink in. You can also grab your first glimpse of the Taj from here.

The hotel we stayed at in Agra was the Hotel Taj Resort. We have already mentioned the pickup of our luggage which was very helpful, but the main attraction to this hotel was that it was only 500 metres to the entrance of the Taj Mahal. This would really help us out in the morning for our early morning visit to the sight. In fact we were so close, the road the hotel sits on is cycle tuk-tuk only – you aren’t allowed to ride a loud engine through this area!

The hotel also offered free breakfast, and a lovely pool. We ate in the hotel restaurant for dinner that evening, with silhouette views of the palace.

Taj Mahal

The magnificence of the Taj when you first see it is quite overwhelming. There is something magical about seeing one of the most famous buildings in the world, something that most have only seen in TV shows or films, right in front of you in the hazy morning glow.

I knew to be in with the best chance of seeing the Taj at it’s quietest we would have to leave pretty early. Matt was adamant we would would be fine getting there at 7:30am but as sunrise was around 6:30am, I knew we would have to there by then! We left our hotel at 5:30am, and as we were close it was around a 10 minute walk to the entrance. We entered at the East Gate, and the ticket booths were quite obvious once we reached the gate. You walk through the gate and towards the ‘Great Gate’ and the Taj will be right in front of you.

Entrance into the Taj Mahal is ₹1000 for foreign tourist (note the Taj is closed on Friday’s for prayer, so plan your trip accordingly). Tour groups tend to enter through the east and west gate, and therefore the south gate (where we entered) usually has less queues. This works well for you, as it is closer to the more budget hotels for the budget conscious traveller. Again, the gates have separate entrances for male and female, and then foreign tourists (a perk of your expensive entry price!).

Spend some proper time exploring the site – it really is beautiful. Pace through the ornamental gardens and then make sure you get a picture in front of the reflective pond, and on the Princess Diana bench – everybody that knows the Taj will ask to see this! You can climb up the steps and go inside the Taj (no photos allowed in here), and this is fascinating – look out for the “Pietra Dura” – 35 different precious stones used to create the marble inlay on the building, as well as the calligraphy that surrounds each side of the building (the calligraphy gets larger as it gets higher, giving the impression of uniform size when viewed from the ground!). The Taj Museum opens at 9am, but we were there at 6am so we were unable to go. Free entry so worth a look!

Tips for the Taj

1. Leave your bag in your hotel – backpacks are not permitted, and the only storage facility is at the West Gate. Use a bumbag to keep money, phone and passport.
2. Small cameras or phones only – use a small camera or camera phone (instead of bag with multiple lenses that you won’t get in). Video is only allowed in certain places, and you can’t take any pictures inside the mausoleum. Tripods and drones are banned.
3. No food or drink in the site – but a bottle of water is included in your entry fee.
4. Closed on Fridays – important in your itinerary planning! You wouldn’t want to get here and not be able to visit the site!

We then went back to our hotel for breakfast (it was too early when we left to see the Taj!) and then spent some more time around the pool as we were getting a lunchtime train, but if you have more time, it is worth visiting the following places:

• Mehtab Bagh – relaxing gardens that have the perfect view of the Taj – go for sunset for the most awe-inspiring sunset view of the Taj
• Akbar’s Tomb – further out of the city, but worth seeing this huge tomb of the greatest Mughal emporer
• Kinari Bazaar – one of India’s most hectic, but mesmerising markets is worth a visit if you are the shopping mood

Our pre-booked train from Agra Fort to Sawai Madhopur (#12948 / Azimabad Express 1225-1625) (click here to read about travelling by train in India) was running late, so it eventually arrived around 2pm. This meant it was going to run late and we eventually arrived into Sawai Madhopur around 7:30pm.