Indian Airlines flights from Agra's Kheria airport, 7km out of the centre, have been suspended while the airport is upgraded to take international traffic. However, you can still book and re-confirm tickets at the company's office in the Clarks Shiraz (daily 10am-1.15pm & 2-5pm; tel 0562/226820, 821823), which also hosts the Jet Airways and Lufthansa counters.

BY TRAIN

Train tickets, especially to the capital, should be booked well in advance at either Agra Cantonment or Agra Fort stations, which both have fully computerized booking offices with separate tourist counters. The fastest and most expensive service to Delhi is the fully a/c Shatbadi Express #2001 (8.10am; 2hr); in the other direction as #2002 (8.17am), it travels to Gwalior (1hr 15min) and on to Jhansi (2hr 25min) from where you can catch a bus to Khajuraho . A convenient early-morning service to New Delhi is the A P Express #2723 (5.30am; 3hr 10min); the fastest midday train is the Kerala Express #2625 (depart 12.18pm; 3hr 25min). Although the Udyan Abha Toofan Express #3008 travels all the way to Calcutta (12.50pm; 30hr) via Moghul Sarai and Patna , it is nearly always late. The best train for Varanasi is the nightly #4854/4864 Marudhar Express (9.05pm; 13hr 45min). You can also pick up trains to Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram . For Goa , return to Delhi and catch the superfast #2432 Trivandrum Rajdhani (depart 11am; 25hr).

Agra's principal Rajasthan train is the #4853/4863 Marudhar Express, which leaves Agra Cantonment daily at 7.15am for Jaipur (7hr) and Jodhpur (13hr). Others depart from Agra Fort station but the line is currently being upgraded; check to see if regular services have been reinstated. Also from Agra Fort, the daily #5311 Lalkuan Kumaun Express (departs 9.30pm) travels to Lalkua and Kathgodam , the nearest railhead to the hill station of Nainital in northern Uttar Pradesh. Regular daily trains connect Agra Fort with Kanpur and Lucknow.

BY BUS

Travelling by bus along the main highways, especially to the capital on the Grand Trunk road and to Jaipur on NH-11, is considerably more hair-raising than travelling the same routes by train. Accidents, most of them head-on collisions with other buses or trucks, are disconcertingly frequent.

For those unable to get hold of a rail ticket, seats on Rajasthan Roadways buses, which leave from Idgah bus stand in the southwest of town, should be booked at the bus stand itself: for any destinations further afield than Jaipur, take a bus to Jaipur (via Bharatpur ) and pick up a connecting service from there. One exception is Ajmer , jumping off town for Pushkar , which has its own direct service (10hr). Deluxe and a/c services for Jaipur (5hr) leave from the forecourt of Hotel Shakpura , next to the bus stand. There's a booking office in the lodge for fast and direct private buses to Delhi (5-6hr) and Gwalior (3hr 30min), and early morning departures for Khajuraho (12hr), Lucknow (9hr 30min) and Nainital (10hr). Additional buses to the same destinations leave from the tourist office on Taj Road: book a day in advance at the office. If you're heading southwest towards Bharatpur via Fatehpur Sikri , catch one of the regular services from the Idgah bus stand (1hr).

Agra Fort bus stand , chaotic, dusty and potholed, has frequent services (several each hour) on rickety, often windowless buses heading for Delhi, Mathura, Haridwar, Rishikesh and Dehra Dun, and as afar afield as Lucknow. Tickets are sold on the buses. Unless you fly, getting to Khajuraho involves a twelve-hour bus journey (daily; 5am), or a train to Jhansi (2hr 45min-3hr 50min), and then a six-hour bus ride from there.