Should first-timers do the Golden Triangle?
The Golden Triangle is famous for a reason, but it is also where many travellers meet India at its busiest and most transactional. Do it with good pacing, or use it as a short introduction before Rajasthan or another region takes over.
Answer
The Golden Triangle works because the sights are powerful and the route is legible: Delhi’s layers, Agra’s Taj Mahal, Jaipur’s forts and palaces. The catch is that it can make India feel like queues, guides, traffic and negotiations before the country has had time to soften. If you do it, give each stop a job and do not cram the days with every monument on the map. A better version uses the triangle as a doorway, then slows down in Rajasthan, Varanasi, Kerala or wherever the trip actually starts to breathe.