From Delhi: Golden Triangle Tour w Jodhpur & Jaisalmer 9D/8N

Nine days, and Jaisalmer is why

Jaisalmer is 560 km west of Jaipur, almost at the Pakistan border. Every shorter Rajasthan itinerary drops it, and it is the place people remember longest.

Days 1–2: Delhi

Met on arrival, with an optional evening at India Gate and Connaught Place.

Then the capital: Jama Masjid and a rickshaw through Chandni Chowk, Raj Ghat, Humayun's Tomb — the 1560s Mughal garden tomb the Taj descends from — and Qutub Minar with its 1,600-year-old unrusted iron pillar.

Days 3–4: Agra

The Taj Mahal at sunrise, and Agra Fort with the Musamman Burj where Aurangzeb imprisoned his father for eight years, the Taj visible along the river.

Fatehpur Sikri on the road west.

Days 5–6: Jaipur

Amber Fort above Maota Lake, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar and the Hawa Mahal, with an evening in the bazaars.

Days 7–8: Jodhpur

Mehrangarh rises 120 metres straight off the rock and was never taken; the museum inside is the best-run in the state, 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, and the blue lanes around the clock tower — a lime-and-copper wash that kept termites out.

Day 9: 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 in houses their families have held for generations.

The Jain temples within are carved to the point of lace; Patwon ki Haveli is five merchant mansions side by side. Then Sam dunes for a camel ride at sunset and a night under the sky.

Three options

Car, driver and guide; or with four-star or five-star hotels.

Practical

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