9 Days Rajasthan Tour: Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer & Udaipur

The complete Rajasthan loop

Nine days covers the four cities that actually differ from one another: the pink city, the blue city, the golden city and the lake city. Shorter itineraries have to drop one, and it is always Jaisalmer, which is the one furthest out and the one people remember most.

Jaipur

Amber Fort above Maota Lake with the Sheesh Mahal, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar's stone instruments, and the Hawa Mahal. Evenings in the bazaars around Johari and Tripolia, where the gem cutters and lac-bangle makers still work.

Jodhpur

Mehrangarh rises 120 metres straight off the rock and has never been taken. The museum inside is the best-run in the state, and the cannonball scars on the second gate are from a Jaipur siege. Below it, Jaswant Thada in marble thin enough that sunlight passes through it, and the blue lanes around the clock tower — the colour was a lime-and-copper wash that kept termites out.

Jaisalmer

The drive west into the Thar. Sonar Quila, the golden fort of 1156, is one of the last living forts on earth: about three thousand people still live inside its walls.

The Jain temples within it are carved to the point of lace. Patwon ki Haveli is five merchant mansions built side by side, and Gadisar Lake is best at dawn.

Then Sam dunes for a camel ride at sunset and a night in a desert camp with nothing but sky.

Udaipur

The City Palace along Lake Pichola, built up by twenty-two rulers across four centuries. Jagdish Temple from 1651. Saheliyon ki Bari, the fountain garden built for a queen's attendants. And a boat at sunset, which ends the trip properly.

Three options

Private car, driver and guides alone, or with three or four-star hotels.

Practical

October to March. The desert legs are severe from April to June, and cold enough at night in December and January to need a jacket.