Jaipur: Local Bapu Bazaar Walking Tour with Street Food

Jaipur's working market, with someone who knows the rates

Bapu Bazaar runs along the inside of the old city wall between Sanganeri Gate and New Gate, and it is where Jaipur itself shops. That is the difference between this and a souvenir circuit: the prices here are real, and so is the risk of paying four times them if you have never bought anything in India before.

What is sold, and where

Mojari — the curled-toe leather slippers, hand-stitched, sold from shops that have been at it for generations. A good pair should bend easily in the hand.

Bandhani and leheriya textiles, tie-dyed in the small dots and diagonal waves that are specific to Rajasthan, and quilted razais light enough to fold into a suitcase.

Lac bangles from the lanes off Tripolia, still made over a flame while you watch.

Juttis, dupattas, camel-leather bags, blue pottery — and a great deal that is machine-made and sold as handwork, which is exactly what your guide is there to tell apart.

The food

Pyaaz kachori, the onion-stuffed one, which Jaipur does better than anywhere. Mirchi vada if you can take the heat. Lassi in a clay kulhad from a shop that sells nothing else. Ghewar in season, a disc of soaked, honeycombed batter that is specific to Rajasthan's monsoon festivals.

On haggling

It is expected in the cloth and trinket shops and not in the food stalls. Your guide will tell you which is which, and will not steer you into a shop that pays commission — say plainly at the start that you want to be taken where locals buy.

Two options

The walk with a guide, or the walk with transfers from your hotel included. Whatever you buy is yours to pay for; nothing is built into the price.