Ninety seconds on Mehtab Bagh
From this garden on the far bank of the Yamuna, the whole Taj Mahal faces you across the water, and it is among the best places in Agra to see the monument from outside its walls.
Laid out as a square about 300 metres a side, the Moonlight Garden lies on the north bank of the Yamuna in exact line with the Taj Mahal on the opposite bank, so the tomb faces you straight across the river.
Excavation has uncovered a huge octagonal pool at the centre of the garden and a gateway in its north wall. Some sections are still closed off while restoration continues.
The best-known story about the site is the Black Taj: Shah Jahan, the legend goes, meant to build a second tomb here in black marble, facing the first. War with his sons interrupted the plan, and his son Aurangzeb did not complete it.
Before buying a ticket, walk a little way down the track outside: it leads to another garden, still opposite the Taj but off to the side, and the view from there is free.
Inside the paid garden you can explore all four quarters of the charbagh. Evenings are the busiest time, when the air is cooler, and the gate shuts at sunset, when you have to leave.
To keep watching after dark, a separately ticketed viewpoint is open from sunset until midnight. On the full moon the garden itself reopens for a twilight viewing.
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