Delhi: 15th Century Neemrana Fort - Car, Guide, Lunch

A 15th-century fort you can walk into and then eat in

Neemrana sits on the Delhi–Jaipur highway, about two and a half hours out, on a hillside in Alwar district. The fort was built in 1464 by a Chauhan ruler, abandoned in the twentieth century, and restored from near-ruin in the 1980s into one of India's first heritage hotels.

What that means for a visitor is unusual: the building is alive. You are not walking through a roped-off monument but through a working property of twelve tiers cut into the rock, with courtyards, hanging gardens and open pavilions at every level.

The fort

Twelve levels, each one stepping back into the hillside, with views running out across the plain from most of them. The old zenana wings, the hammam, and a sequence of terraces that turn out to have been a rainwater-harvesting system as much as a decorative one.

Your guide covers the Chauhan history — they held this country after losing Delhi to Muhammad of Ghor in 1192 — and the restoration, which is a story in itself.

The village walk

Below the fort: a working Rajasthani village where you walk through the lanes, see traditional houses and, if the household is willing, get taken inside one.

Neemrana Baoli is the thing to ask for — a nine-storey stepwell, cut in the 1760s, largely empty of visitors and genuinely startling when you reach the edge and look down.

Lunch

Included, at the fort, which is the right place for it.

Practical

Seven hours door to door, private air-conditioned car with driver and a guide throughout.

There is real climbing — twelve tiers means stairs, some of them steep and uneven. Flat shoes.

The property also runs one of India's longest zip-lines across the ravine beside the fort, booked separately and on site.

Entry to the fort is paid on the day.