Jaipur Tuk Tuk Ride Or Cab

Eight hours, a tuk-tuk, and a driver who lives here

The cheapest honest full day in Jaipur, and from October to March the most enjoyable. A tuk-tuk is open on both sides, gets down old-city lanes no car can enter, and puts you in the street rather than behind glass.

A cab is available instead, and from April to June it is the sensible choice.

The route

Amber Fort, eleven kilometres north on a ridge above Maota Lake, begun 1592 by Raja Man Singh. The painted Ganesh Pol gateway, the Sheesh Mahal where thousands of convex mirror fragments turned one candle into a ceiling of stars, and the Sukh Niwas, cooled by water running in channels through the marble.

The tuk-tuk makes the climb up the ramp, slowly.

Jal Mahal from the causeway — four of five storeys underwater, and no way in whatever you are offered.

Hawa Mahal, the 953-window screen of 1799, best from the street opposite in the morning when the facade goes properly pink.

City Palace and Jantar Mantar in the old city, and the bazaars — Johari for gemstones, Tripolia and Maniharon ka Rasta for lac bangles made over a flame in front of you.

What a driver-led day gives you

Not a script. Somebody's own city: where he eats, which lane is worth turning down, which viewpoint beats the one on the map.

It does not include a licensed guide — Rajasthan requires a licence to guide inside monuments, and an honest driver will tell you that rather than pretend. For Jantar Mantar in particular you either read up first or hire a guide at the gate.

Practical

Eight hours with hotel pickup.

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

A tuk-tuk is open to dust and weather. Sunglasses, and something over your hair if that matters to you.