Ticket prices
Taj Mahal Ticket Prices: How the Fee Actually Works
ASI prices entry by nationality, not age, and the mausoleum interior is a separate add-on you choose upfront. Rates move, so we point you to ASI's live fee page rather than print a number that goes stale.
Check dates and availability ↗Three tiers, set by nationality
The Archaeological Survey of India prices entry by nationality, not by age or residency. Foreign nationals sit on the top tier. Citizens of SAARC countries — India's immediate neighbours — and of BIMSTEC countries sit on a middle tier, well below the foreigner rate. Indian citizens and OCI cardholders pay the lowest tier by a wide margin. There is no student rate, no senior rate and no resident rate; a foreign national living in India still pays the foreigner fee. Children under fifteen enter free regardless of nationality, which ASI states explicitly. You will be asked for photo ID at entry, so carry the passport you booked with. Current rupee figures move — check them on ASI's own visiting-hours page before you travel.
The mausoleum ticket is separate — and you choose it upfront
The white marble tomb chamber at the centre, where the cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan sit behind a perforated marble screen, is not covered by the entry ticket. It's a flat add-on charged the same rate for everyone — Indian, SAARC, BIMSTEC or foreign. ASI describes it as optional, and a great many visitors skip it, since the exterior, the gardens and the plinth are what most people came to see. The important practical point: when booking online you must pick “Taj Mahal with Mausoleum” at the moment of purchase. There is no way to add it afterwards to an existing e-ticket, so decide before you pay, not at the turnstile.
What is actually inside the price
The foreigner ticket is not a single fee. ASI's booking system breaks it into an ASI component and a pathkar — a toll levied by the Agra Development Authority that makes up a large share of what a foreign visitor pays, which is a big part of why the foreigner rate sits so far above the domestic one. That toll is not wasted money: Agra district administration confirms it's valid the same day across the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's Tomb and Itimad-ud-Daulah, taking a bite out of what you'd otherwise owe at each — see our combined-ticket guide for how that plays out.
What the foreigner ticket includes
ASI bundles several things into the foreign, SAARC and BIMSTEC tickets at no extra cost, and states so plainly: shoe covers, a half-litre bottle of water, a tourist guide map of Agra, and the battery bus and golf cart service that carries you the last stretch from the car park. None of these inclusions is listed against the domestic ticket. Shoe racks sit free of charge immediately below the main mausoleum. Wheelchairs and a first aid box are available at the ASI office inside the complex. It's a genuinely decent bundle, and worth knowing about before someone at the gate offers to sell you shoe covers.
Booking online undercuts the gate
Booking online is cheaper than queuing — ASI knocks a modest discount off both the foreigner and domestic base fare when you book through its own portal rather than paying at the counter. The saving is small in absolute terms and isn't really the reason to book ahead — avoiding the ticket queue in Agra heat is. Note the online discount applies to the base entry fee only; the mausoleum add-on is charged at face value either way. Ticket windows at the gates open one hour before sunrise and shut forty-five minutes before sunset, which is earlier than most people expect.