There’s nothing I can add about the grandeur of the Taj Mahal itself. It’s a true wonder.
But I want to write about our experience eschewing private cars and couch tours, and instead taking the Gatimaan Express return train trip from Delhi to Agra for the day.
Firstly, the train routinely takes longer than advertised. It’s is meant to be a breakthrough train for India, travelling at 160 kph, covering the distance in 100 minutes. A car will take about 3 - 3.5 hours. But actually in both directions it was closer to 135 minutes. The Exec Chair food and service was generous, but we didn’t appreciate the multiple requests for tips from the staff. It wasn’t clear what the official tip request was, and what the opportunistic requests were. Nizamuddin train station in Delhi is also a dump. Agra Cantt at least had a semi-rural charm ( cows and monkeys wandering between the stacks of luggage) .
Secondly, even the pre-paid taxi booths at Agra Cantt station are run by the touts! Having read warnings about the large number of touts greeting the Gatimaan at Agra I thought I was prepared. We got off the train, we brushed off the cacophony of "taxi sir! " and "guide sir! " requests, and headed straight for the pre-paid taxi booth.
In fact, for the last few meters we were led to that booth by the touts, and that was the first warning. The second was that the so called "policeman" in the booth would not make eye contact, and was wearing what was the same color as a police uniform, but bore little other resemblence. Basically he was a front for the touts. What was meant to be pre-paid soon turned into a post-paid. Here I should have listened to my gut and gone to the official tourist office. Instead I went along with it and we hoped in the taxi with a deal for 1000 rupees for a day of driving around Agra.
Then another person hops in, the same tout that guided us to the pre-paid taxi booth, and announces that he is our guide for the day, for a mere 500 rupees extra. We tried to argue that we didn’t need him, but he said he was necessary because the driver didn’t speak english, it was him or nothing, and that we had already agreed to the 1000 rupees at least. I asked for his credentials and he showed some dodgy semi-official looking papers. Against my better judgement we took him along, intending to ignore him.
Suffice it to say, it was an awkward day and by the end I think he was as sick of us as we were of him. They happily delivered us to Agra for the return trip quite early.
Oh, and while the Taj took credit cards ( thankfully with demonetization) , the Agra fort did not, which led to another expensive trip to a dodgy money exchange joint.
All up - we got fleeced bad, and I thought I was prepared against it : ( Take a trusted hotel driver from Delhi. Including transport in Delhi to Nizamuddin it will be faster. Or if you really want to take the train, prebook a guide with the official tourist office to meet you on the platform by name.