9 Days Luxury Rajasthan Tour from Delhi | Royal Rajasthan

Nine days, four Rajasthan cities, and the desert

The full circuit with the distances given room: Jaipur to Jaisalmer alone is 560 km, and every itinerary shorter than this drops Jaisalmer, which is the one people remember.

Jaipur

Amber Fort on its ridge above Maota Lake, begun 1592 — the painted Ganesh Pol gateway, the Sheesh Mahal where mirror fragments turned a single candle into a ceiling of stars, and the water-cooled Sukh Niwas.

The City Palace, still partly the royal family's residence; Jantar Mantar's nineteen stone instruments; and the Hawa Mahal, the 953-window screen of 1799.

Jodhpur

Mehrangarh rises 120 metres straight off the rock and was never taken. The museum inside is the best-run in Rajasthan, and the cannonball scars on the second gate are from a failed Jaipur siege.

Below it, Jaswant Thada in marble thin enough that light passes through it, and the blue lanes around the clock tower — a lime-and-copper wash that kept termites out.

Jaisalmer

Sonar Quila, the golden fort of 1156, is one of the last living forts on earth: around three thousand people still live inside its walls.

The Jain temples within are carved to the point of lace. Patwon ki Haveli is five merchant mansions built side by side. Gadisar Lake, a 14th-century reservoir, is best at dawn.

Then Sam dunes for a camel ride at sunset and a night in a desert camp.

Udaipur

The City Palace along Lake Pichola, built up by twenty-two rulers across four centuries. Jagdish Temple from 1651, Saheliyon ki Bari, and a boat at sunset with the Aravallis going dark behind the water.

Two options

AC transport with a government-approved guide; or the same with four-star hotels.

Practical

October to March. The desert passes 45°C from April and approaches freezing on December nights.