Jaipur: 2-Day City Sightseeing Tour with Cab & Guide

Two days, which is what Jaipur actually deserves

Everybody does Jaipur in one. Two days means the old city gets a morning of its own and the hill forts get another, and neither is a march.

Day 1: the walled city

Pickup from your hotel or Jaipur airport or station.

Hawa Mahal first, for the morning light on the facade. Built in 1799 as an extension of the City Palace zenana: 953 windows across five storeys, and less than a metre deep for most of its height — a screen so the women of the court could watch street processions unseen, with a lattice that accelerates airflow and cools the corridors behind.

City Palace, part of it still the royal family's home, with the armoury, the textile galleries and the two silver urns in the Diwan-i-Khas — the largest silver objects in the world, cast so a maharaja could carry Ganges water to England.

Jantar Mantar next door: nineteen masonry astronomical instruments from the 1730s, UNESCO-listed, with a 27-metre sundial still accurate to about two seconds.

Then the bazaars — Johari for gemstones and kundan work, Tripolia for lac bangles made over a flame in front of you, Bapu Bazaar for block print and mojari slippers.

Day 2: the hills

Amber Fort early, before the coaches: the Ganesh Pol gateway, the Sheesh Mahal, and the water-cooled Sukh Niwas.

Panna Meena ka Kund, the 16th-century stepwell below it, criss-crossing staircases dropping eight storeys and almost always empty.

Jaigarh above, holding Jaivana — the largest wheeled cannon ever cast, fired exactly once.

And Nahargarh at sunset, with the whole grid of the walled city below.

Three options

Car and driver; car with a guide; or car, guide and all monument entrances.

Practical

Entrance fees are about ₹1,500 a head for a foreign adult where not included.