Jaipur: City Tour with Amber Fort & Ayurvedic Massage

Sightseeing first, then somebody fixes your back

Eight hours of Jaipur involves a climb at Amber, a lot of stone underfoot and a good deal of sun. Finishing with a proper Ayurvedic massage rather than a taxi back to the hotel is a genuinely sensible way to arrange a day, particularly halfway through a long India trip.

Amber Fort

The hilltop palace above Maota Lake, begun 1592. Courtyards stepping up the ridge, the painted Ganesh Pol gateway, and the Sheesh Mahal, where convex mirror fragments set across the ceiling turned one candle into a sky of stars.

The Sukh Niwas was cooled by water running through channels in its marble walls, and the zenana courtyard held twelve queens' apartments arranged so that none overlooked another.

Go early. Amber at nine and Amber at noon are different experiences.

City Palace

Royal textiles, courtyards, the armoury, and the two enormous silver urns in the Diwan-i-Khas — the largest silver objects in the world, made so a maharaja could take Ganges water on a voyage to England. Part of the complex is still the family's residence.

And the rest of the circuit

Jal Mahal from the causeway, Jantar Mantar's stone instruments, and the Hawa Mahal facade of 953 windows.

The massage

Ayurvedic treatment is warm medicated oil worked into the body in long strokes along the limbs, usually abhyanga, by one or two therapists. It is not a spa massage — the pressure is firm, the oil is generous, and you are expected to leave it on your skin for a while afterwards rather than showering it straight off.

Same-sex therapists as standard. Say in advance about pregnancy, injuries, recent surgery or high blood pressure.

Practical

Around eight hours with hotel pickup and drop-off in an air-conditioned vehicle.

Monument entrance fees are paid at each site — roughly ₹1,500 a head for a foreign adult.

Eat lightly before the treatment rather than after the fort.