Jaipur: Private Full or Half-Day Sightseeing Tour by Car (from $8.24)

Flexible, which is the reason to book private

Four options, and the itinerary bends: if the mirror room at Amber holds you for forty minutes, it holds you for forty minutes, and if you would rather swap a monument for a bazaar your guide will do it.

There is also a guide-only rate, useful if you already have a car and driver for your India trip.

Amber Fort

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, begun in 1592 by Raja Man Singh on a ridge above Maota Lake. Rajput courtyards built with Mughal craftsmen, which is why Persian inlay sits beside Hindu carving.

The painted Ganesh Pol gateway. The Sheesh Mahal, where thousands of convex mirror fragments in the ceiling turned one candle into a sky of stars. The Sukh Niwas, cooled by water running in channels through the marble. And the zenana, twelve queens' apartments arranged so none overlooked another.

Jal Mahal

From the causeway over Man Sagar Lake. Four of five storeys underwater; no boat, no entry.

City Palace

Courtyards, the armoury, the textile galleries, and the two silver urns cast so a maharaja could take Ganges water to England. Part of the complex is still the family's home.

Jantar Mantar

Nineteen masonry astronomical instruments from the 1730s, UNESCO-listed, including the 27-metre Samrat Yantra sundial that still reads to within a couple of seconds.

Hawa Mahal

The 953-window screen of 1799, best from the street opposite.

With the full day

Room for Panna Meena ka Kund, the stepwell below Amber, or Nahargarh at sunset, or the bazaars — say which when you book.

Four options

Full day with guide only; half day by car with guide; full day by car with guide; or the fullest version with more included.

Practical

Private air-conditioned car with hotel pickup and drop-off on the vehicle options.

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