Night viewing
Taj Mahal Night Viewing: Dates, Tickets, Rules
Five nights a month, 400 people a night, thirty minutes each — and you never get closer than the gateway. Official dates inside.
Check dates and availability ↗ASI full-moon dates for night viewing, 2026–27 (signed ASI Agra Circle notice). Viewing runs the full moon plus two nights either side, Fridays excluded.
| Month | Full-moon date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | 28-08-2026 | Friday |
| September 2026 | 26-09-2026 | Saturday |
| October 2026 | 26-10-2026 | Monday |
| November 2026 | 24-11-2026 | Tuesday |
| December 2026 | 23-12-2026 | Wednesday |
| January 2027 | 22-01-2027 | Friday |
| February 2027 | None — no night viewing | Ramzan, 17-02 to 08-03-2027 |
| March 2027 | 21-03-2027 | Sunday |
Five nights, minus Fridays and Ramzan
Night viewing runs on five nights each lunar month: the full moon itself, plus the two nights before and the two after. Two things cut into that. Fridays are removed with no replacement night, and there is no night viewing at all during the month of Ramzan — ASI's 2026–27 notice specifies that February 2027 has none for exactly this reason. The effect can be significant. In August 2026 the full moon fell on a Friday, and ASI's booking system showed only three open dates for the cycle rather than five. Check the actual available dates rather than assuming five.
What you actually see
Manage expectations here, because a lot of marketing does not. Night viewing is not a wander through moonlit gardens. ASI's own instructions specify the viewing point as the red sandstone platform of the main gateway. You stand there, several hundred metres from the mausoleum, and look at it for thirty minutes. You do not walk down the watercourse, you do not reach the plinth, and you do not enter the tomb chamber — which makes the ₹200 mausoleum supplement irrelevant at night. What you get instead is the silhouette against a dark sky with moonlight on marble, which is genuinely unlike the daytime monument.
Eight batches of fifty
Capacity is tightly controlled. The night runs in eight consecutive half-hour slots, fifty people per slot, four hundred people per night in total. Your ticket names your slot, and you must report for security screening half an hour beforehand, entering by the Eastern Gate only. Two cautions. Official sources disagree on the hours — ASI gives 20:30 to 00:30 while UP Tourism gives 20:00 to 23:59 — so trust the time on your own ticket. And the published reporting point is the Shilpgram complex, which was demolished in July 2026; no replacement muster point has been published, so confirm where to assemble when you book.
Booking: online, seven days ahead
The rule changed and most travel sites have not caught up. ASI Agra Circle's signed notice states that night viewing tickets can be booked or purchased online starting seven days prior to the date of viewing, through asi.paygov.org.in. The frequently repeated instruction to buy in person at the ASI office at 22 The Mall, Agra, twenty-four hours in advance, reflects the older arrangement — though note that ASI Agra Circle's own visitor page still describes that counter, so the two official sources conflict. Four hundred tickets a night is not many, and popular dates do sell out, so book as the window opens.
Prices and the stricter night rules
Night viewing is a wholly separate ticket from day entry, priced at ₹750 for foreign visitors, ₹510 for Indians and ₹500 for children aged three to fifteen of any nationality. The booking system will not let you combine it with a day ticket in the same transaction. Restrictions at night are tighter than by day: only handheld still cameras and binoculars are permitted, video cameras and spare batteries are prohibited, and mobile phones — allowed on silent during the day — are barred entirely. Tripods are prohibited at night as they are during the day.
No refunds if the moon hides
ASI's refund policy is explicit that night viewing tickets are strictly non-refundable, and that reduced or obstructed visibility from fog, cloud, rain or other conditions, including the moon not being visible at all, gives no entitlement to a refund or compensation. This is a real risk in an Agra winter, when December and January fog regularly blanks out the river plain. Note that ASI's separate night-viewing instruction sheet describes a partial cancellation allowance with a deduction, which contradicts the refund policy. Given the conflict, plan on the assumption that you will not get your money back.