Jaipur Private City Tour with a Women-Driven E-Rickshaw Ride

Driven by women, which is the point

The rickshaws on this tour are electric, and the drivers are women trained and employed through a programme that put them behind the wheel in a trade that is almost entirely male in India.

That is not a marketing line attached to an ordinary tour — the driver is the person you spend the day with, and the fare is her income.

Why an e-rickshaw

Silent, which changes the old city completely: you hear the street rather than an engine. No exhaust, in a city with a real air-quality problem. And small enough for lanes where nothing else fits.

The walled city

Jai Singh II laid Jaipur out in 1727 on a nine-square grid taken from Hindu architectural treatises — the first planned city in India, with street widths fixed by rule and each trade allocated its own block. From an open rickshaw at walking pace, that plan is visible.

Chhoti Chopad and Badi Chopad, the great crossroads. The painted gateways, and the havelis behind them, most still lived in.

Hawa Mahal from the street opposite — 953 windows, five storeys, barely a metre deep, built in 1799 so the women of the court could watch processions unseen. There is something worth noticing about seeing that building from a rickshaw driven by a woman.

City Palace and Jantar Mantar, and the bazaars: Johari for gemstones, Tripolia for lac bangles made over a flame in front of you, Bapu Bazaar for block print and mojari slippers.

And the small temples inside the residential blocks that see no visitors at all.

Two options

The e-rickshaw tour with your driver, or the same with a licensed guide as well — take the guide if you want the monuments explained rather than only reached.

Practical

Eight hours. Monument entry is not included.

Mornings are far better than afternoons for this in any month.