From Delhi: Same Day Guided Jaipur Tour with 5 Star Lunch

A long day, with a proper lunch in the middle of it

Delhi to Jaipur is 270 km each way, and the thing that ruins most versions of this trip is the food stop — a roadside place at one in the afternoon when everyone is already tired. This one puts lunch at a five-star hotel in Jaipur instead, which sounds like a small difference and is not.

The drive

Early pickup from anywhere in Delhi in a private air-conditioned car, then the expressway. Four to four and a half hours with a break.

Amber Fort

Your guide meets you here. The complex was begun in 1592 by Raja Man Singh on the ridge above Maota Lake — pale sandstone and marble stepping up the hillside.

The Ganesh Pol gateway is the one people photograph. The Sheesh Mahal behind it is set with thousands of mirror fragments so that a single candle would fill the chamber with light. The Sukh Niwas was cooled by water running in channels through the walls, four hundred years before air conditioning.

Jal Mahal

A photo stop on the causeway. Four of its five storeys are under Man Sagar Lake and there is no way in — no boat, no ticket, whatever anyone at the roadside tells you.

Lunch

At a five-star hotel, sitting down, with Rajasthani dishes on the menu — dal baati churma, gatte ki sabzi, lal maas if you eat meat.

City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal

The old-city cluster in the afternoon. The palace is still partly the royal residence; the observatory's 27-metre stone sundial still reads to within a couple of seconds; and Hawa Mahal's 953 windows were built so the court's women could watch the street unseen.

Two options

Private car and guide, with entry fees paid on the day; or the all-included version with tickets and the hotel lunch covered.

Practical

Around eleven and a half hours door to door. Tell us about vegetarian, Jain or no-chilli requirements when you book.