Chini ka Rauza

Agra is a city of marble and red sandstone, and then there is Chini ka Rauza, dressed head to foot in glazed tile. Blues, oranges and greens run across a Persian hasht-behesht plan; the tiles are weathered now, but low light still brings them up. The tomb was built around 1635 for Allama Afzal Khan Shirazi, a Persian poet-scholar who rose to become Shah Jahan's finance minister. It stands a kilometre north of Itimad-ud-Daulah on the Yamuna's east bank, an easy addition to the Baby Taj and Ram Bagh circuit. Entry is free, the site is ASI-protected, and most days the courtyard is yours alone.

Agra's only tomb faced in Persian glazed tile, free to enter and usually empty