This is a great surprise for me. The Holday Inn cost so low and it is 100% like western Holday Inn. The rooms and bathrooms (Most important) were great. The bathrooms had hot cold gushing water, what a heaven in Agra. Room Service was great. Beds were clean and good quality. Location is a bit away from Taj, it takes 15 minutes more than all the other hotels.
The best part was the ability to book on line at https://holiday-inn.com. If you get Preferred guest card on line, you get better rooms. If you book in advance, you can get an incredible rate of Rs 1, 200.
Do watch out for the car rental place. Get them to pick you up at the Railway station, ask for Toyota Qualis. They have full day and half day rental. The guys are really good and helpful. So where is the catch? These guys are really slick. They will throw in a guide or ask very nominal price for them. Then the trick is to get you to the traps at Restaurant “Onley”, and the store next to it. The other trick that is setup at the Taj is to show you the “Star diamond” or something like that, which is another tourist trap store. When you get there you will obviously spend over Rs 5000, which gives them a handsome profit. The stuff is good, but way overpriced, and you will notice, umpteen victims there.
Don’t forget to see Fatapur and Sikri. It’s a 40 minute haul, but if you have a good guide, you will be glad you visited. If this site was in Europe, Like Rome, It will get millions of tourists. Read about the history at https://whc.unesco.org/sites/255.htm