Jaipur: Private Full-Day sightseeing tour by Tuk-Tuk

The flower market at seven in the morning

Jaipur's wholesale Phool Mandi, inside the walled city, is the best hour of the day and almost no visitor sees it because it is finished by eight.

Marigold by the sackful, roses, jasmine and tuberose, strung into garlands for the day's temple offerings and weighed out to the sellers who will be at their stalls by seven. It is loud, wet underfoot, entirely functional, and extraordinary to photograph.

A tuk-tuk gets you into it; a car does not.

Then ten hours of the city

Amber Fort on its ridge above Maota Lake, begun 1592 — the painted Ganesh Pol gateway, the Sheesh Mahal where mirror fragments turned one candle into a ceiling of stars, and the water-cooled Sukh Niwas. The tuk-tuk makes the climb, slowly.

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

Jal Mahal from the causeway — four of five storeys underwater, no entry.

City Palace and Jantar Mantar in the old city, and Hawa Mahal from the street opposite.

And the bazaars, which is where a tuk-tuk earns its place: Johari for gemstones, Tripolia and Maniharon ka Rasta for lac bangles made over a flame in front of you, Bapu Bazaar for block print and mojari slippers.

Ten hours is long enough to add Nahargarh at sunset, which is the best view of the city there is.

Practical

Ten hours, with a pickup before dawn — the whole shape of the day depends on it.

A tuk-tuk is open to the weather and the dust. October to March is when this is a pleasure; from April to June take a car instead.

Entrance fees are separate — around ₹1,500 a head for a foreign adult across the main monuments.