Last Updated on March 2, 2025

TRAVELLING THROUGH RAJASTHAN

Rajasthan – the land of the kings – is a vast state in north-western India and, with over 61% of the land comprising the Thar desert, much of it is arid. It is filled with fascinating cities with palaces, forts, temples, lakes, mountains and spectacular scenery. One could easily lose oneself there for months on end. Most visitors will have far less time at their disposal which was certainly the case for me. On my first trip to India, I completed The Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur) which needs a week at least to even begin to scratch the surface. As I had a second week available to travel, I extended my trip from Jaipur (the capital city of Rajasthan) onwards to Jodhpur and Udaipur. I cannot recommend this more if you have time.

How to navigate Rajasthan

The distances between the cities in Rajasthan are considerable and however you decide to travel, it will eat into your time. You could opt to fly which sounds like the quickest method of travel, but is not necessarily so when you add in time in the airport before check-in plus inevitable delays. Not to mention the traffic getting to the airports. You could choose to travel by train but these trips are also time-consuming and restrict your options of where to go according to the train routes. It also means you cannot stop off en route at interesting places. The best option, in my opinion, is to hire a driver who will have their own car and will drive you between cities and look after you while you are in the cities. Each city has guest accommodation for the drivers which was one question I was concerned about.

I was invited to try out a driver from Popular India Vacations, a travel company with close to 20 years of experience in Rajasthan. Based in Jaipur, the company helped curate my itinerary, making very useful suggestions of where to go and what to see. Particularly for a first-timer like me, I found this very helpful. We were driven safely from city to city – the roads are no joke in India and although I always hire a car on international travels, I would definitely not do so in India. There is an art to driving there that one has no experience of and I do think it could be dangerous to attempt it. The highways are in good condition as these are national government roads, but venturing off onto smaller state roads to visit smaller towns, we found roads in sometimes very poor condition and I would not want to navigate these. Aside from which, having a driver gave me complete peace of mind, the luggage was looked after when we stopped between cities to explore places off the highways. I had access to a mobile wi-fi device – very useful as the e-sim bought before arriving in India did not work once I arrived. With a driver I had advice and guidance constantly about where we were going, where to eat, what sights not to miss. And to be honest, when in a very unknown location, a friendly face every morning, and someone to chat to about the travels, added great value to my experience.

My first foray into the state of Rajasthan began soon after I had visited Delhi and Agra (home of the Taj Mahal) and Jaipur, the largest city in Rajasthan. These three cities comprise what is known as The Golden Triangle which I have written about in a previous article. Please refer to that if you want to know about what to see in Jaipur or the other Golden Triangle cities. As international flights arrive into Delhi you will inevitably spend some time there before heading into Rajasthan.

Rajasthan holds a great many delights from huge cities to small towns and villages where you may want to visit temples and monuments, or famous holy lakes like at Pushkar. Here I will describe my experience of two cities, Jodhpur and Udaipur. Many cities in Rajasthan end with the suffix ‘pur’. This is because these three letters mean ‘city’. Jaipur, for example, was established in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, hence Jaipur. Jodhpur is said to have been established in 1459 by Rao Jodha, who was the chief of the Rathore clan. Prior to this the city was known as Marwar. Udaipur was established in 1553 by Maharana Udai Singh II of the Sisodia clan of Rajput.

On the trip, I learned about the history of the Rajputs who ruled a number of princely states in the area now known as Rajasthan. When the British ruled India, they refused to acknowledge the Rajput rulers as kings because as far as the colonial powers were concerned, there was only one king and he was on the throne in England. Rajput derives from the Sanskrit ‘rajaputra’ which translates as ‘son of a king’. When India attained Independence in 1947, most of the royal families in Rajasthan agreed to relinquish their kingdoms to be recipients of the privy purse but their descendants continued to wield power and live on as royalty in their palaces. Hence there continues to be a Maharaja of Jaipur, Jodhpur and so on and there is a City Palace in each of the large cities in Rajasthan in which the royal families reside.

Background to Jodhpur

The word ‘jodhpur’ may be very familiar due to its association with a particular kind of riding trousers. Indeed, the jodhpur originated here around the 1890s, developed by a polo player, Pratap Singh, the son of the Maharaja of Jodhpur, Takht Singh. I was fortunate to have an introduction to this sartorial history while visiting the Singh family museum at Hotel Castle Kanota where I spent a night while visiting Jaipur.

Jodhpur was once known as the Sun City – due to the number of days of sunshine it has, being on the eastern edge of the Thar desert. In more recent times it has become known as the Blue City. When you visit it is easy to see why – as most of the dwellings in the old city of Jodhpur are painted a particular shade of blue. There is an interesting history to this. Up until independence in 1947, only those of the Brahmin caste were allowed to paint their houses blue. After independence, the caste system was officially abolished and so this restriction was removed. It became popular to use this particular blue paint as it repels mosquitoes and keeps the houses cooler in the summer heat.

We wanted to maximise our time, having only one day in the city. Our driver arranged for us to go on a heritage walk through the old city with a guide who was born and bred and has lived much of his life in Jodhpur. This was a fascinating glimpse into life behind the shutters and doors of this intriguing place. He seemed to know absolutely everyone and took us indoors to see some of the living spaces of people he met along the way. He also knew exactly where to take us for good photographs. In fact, the whole of the blue city is achingly photogenic. That said, the tiny streets have their challenges – at least for me – being inhabited by hundreds of stray dogs (as in all the cities we visited) and having a standard of hygiene that I was unaccustomed to.

We witnessed quite a bit of food preparation in the old city and I was particularly intrigued to watch the boiling of milk which would eventually become the fabulous sweets one can buy in the city. We saw milk pails being delivered from the surrounding villages and the milk decanted into huge wok-shaped vessels set over wood fires. The milk was boiled and reduced down to be made first into a kind of cheese, I think, and then into the sweets.

We walked through the blue city for a few hours and eventually our guide took us to a large shop – it had at least five floors – where each cavernous room was filled floor to ceiling with clothing. I have no idea how the salesmen knew where anything was but I ended up buying scarves, a cashmere TV blanket – the cosiest and softest ever – and two gorgeous silk and cashmere jackets for a snip of what one would pay in London if one could even find them here.

We ended our walk at the vegetable market and the spice market which was lovely to see and my suitcase needed to make space for a number of packets of spices which also make great gifts. On the marketplace, we encountered a long queue at a samosa stall where we watched every stage of the process from the mashing of potatoes and chopping of chillies to the shaping, frying and serving. I rather regretted my decision to eat no street food on the trip.

The jewel in the crown of Jodhpur sights is the stunning Mehrangarh Fort. By this point in the journey we had visited a number of forts, yet each managed to exceed the previous ones in grandeur and splendour. While every fort we saw was built on a hill – they are after all strategically positioned – the fort at Jodhpur is set on a steep and very imposing hill that rises high above the blue city. At night the fort is illuminated and shimmers from its height. It is seriously impressive. The complex was so strongly fortified that although it was attacked it was never conquered.

The fort has an interesting history. The story goes that there was a hermit who lived on this hill and he was so incensed to be driven off it when the fort was due to be built that he cursed the Maharaja’s project, saying that there would be no water. Since the fort is on the edge of the desert, this curse was taken seriously and the gods needed to be appeased. The Maharaja consulted a priest who advised a human sacrifice was required. A bold man agreed – apparently – to be buried alive in the foundations – this is a practice I have also heard of in Bolivia so it is not particular to Indian history.

The Maharaja’s descendants, the current royals of Jodhpur now live in a massive palace outside town and set up a trust some decades ago to restore and preserve it (with the support of the Getty Foundation). Thus the fort is in a wonderful state. It also boasts the first audioguide in Rajasthan which was very informative and engaging. The fort displays a bounty of beautiful treasures – arms, traditional costumes, paintings, elephant howdas (the seating on elephants used to transport the royals), palanquins (a chaise that the maharajas and maharanis were carried in). We visited gorgeously decorated period rooms which were quite outstanding and palace courtyards. A highlight was an exhibition of miniature paintings for which this area is renowned. It took several hours to work our way through this outstanding collection, the architecture as memorable as the priceless artefacts.

Visual overload made us feel much in need of a complete rest when we finally emerged but our driver, Anand, was keen for us to see one more memorable sight. He drove us to visit the cenotaph for the royal family which is set in a lovely garden and comprises a beautiful marble monument, dubbed the Taj Mahal of Jodhpur. The marble used to build the outside walls is so delicate and thin that it becomes translucent when the sun shines on it in the afternoon light. We arrived just at the right time to see this effect. Although Anand was also keen for us to visit the museum at the Royal Palace, just out of town, I had reached my sightseeing limit. Jodhpur requires a few days to do it justice and I wished we had more time than one long day.

Where to Eat in Jodhpur.

After this marathon sightseeing day, we spent the late afternoon on a rooftop drinking masala chai and watching the busy streets below Pav Haveli. I had tried to get accommodation here, but it was fully booked and it looks really lovely. The rooftop alone is worth visiting, a small oasis in the midst of a very active city. It overlooks an old clock tower on the central market square of the old city. In turn, it is overlooked by the fort on its hill. That evening, as the sun set and the fort was illuminated, we had a very good dinner at the rooftop restaurant, Indique. The dishes were local and one, in particular, was something you would not find outside these desert cities – ker sangri is a dish made from a desert shrub.  It looks like shreds of red cabbage with soft berries on each strand.

On to Udaipur via Ranakpur

The drive from Jodhpur to Udaipur takes many hours – at least six. To break up this long drive, Anand took us to Ranakpur, home to an extraordinary Jain temple. This huge and magnificent temple is set in the foothills of the Aravalli Hills and is resplendent in marble, a forest of intricately carved pillars, each one unique. It is a huge complex with internal domes and huge elephant statues. The original temple was attacked during a period of religious intolerance in the distant past and more recently times, a Jain businessman financed its redevelopment and it has been restored to its former glory.

The roads up into the hills and through countless villages were not for the fainthearted and for the umpteenth time, I gave thanks for Anand’s excellent driving skills.  

Reaching Udaipur

Arriving in Udaipur after hours of driving in the hills, I felt transported to the Italian lakes (minus the alpine scenery). Udaipur is utterly beautiful and quite magical. The city is laid out along a series of lakes and we stayed on Lake Pichola which the old city of Udaipur overlooks.

By the time we reached Udaipur, we had been on the go non-stop for ten days and were feeling rather fatigued. Udaipur is the perfect city to rest as is it so beautiful around the lake. It just begs you to relax with a book and pots of masala chai which is exactly what we did. It is also a most romantic city. I wish we had been there for a week. During our two days, we did some sightseeing but we also spent time in the hotel enjoying the fabulous environment. Down by the lakeside, Udaipur is a sleepy place, the pace slow and relaxing. A few streets up is the Old City which is buzzing with bikes and tuktuks as in all the other cities we visited in Rajasthan. A bit further out is the New City, the third largest in Rajasthan,  but in truth, we chose to rather spend time at the lakeside.

I would recommend Udaipur as the last stop on the Rajasthan tour for two reasons. Firstly, by the time you are nearing the end of your trip, you will have seen the most extraordinary sights and will perhaps, as I found, be starting to suffer from visual overload and fort and temple fatigue. While the sights in Udaipur are lovely, nothing that I saw there compares to the Taj Mahal and the other monuments in Agra, the City Palace at Jaipur, or the fort at Jodhpur. Keep all your sightseeing energy for these cities. Secondly, Udaipur has great beauty around the lakes that the other cities do not share so I would advise reserving the days of relaxation for Udaipur. And do it last on your itinerary because that is when you will be most in need of a change of pace.

What to See in Udaipur

City Palace – This is one of the must-see sights in Udaipur and, as is the case with every City Palace in Rajasthan, it is packed with endless collections of paintings, furnishings and artefacts. The ticketing system is rather confusing as one pays a general entrance fee and then quite a hefty extra fee to visit the Crystal Collection and the Dunbar Hall – neither of which I think is essential viewing. That said, there was a crystal bed which was rather stunning, the likes of which I’d never seen before. This extraordinary creation was ordered from London by one of the Maharajas. By the time it arrived he had died and the crystal collection he had commissioned remained in boxes, unpacked for 110 years.

Boat trip on the lake – many people like to take a boat trip on the lake at sunset but I found that the views of the sunset were so stunning from the lakeside that I opted to take a boat trip during the day. While at the City Palace, you can buy a ticket for the boat trip – a short walk through the grounds takes one down to the boat pier. The trip itself is not very long and drops one off at Jagmandir Island where you can spend as many hours as you like before getting a boat back to the mainland. Jagmandir was once a pleasure playground for the royal family and now there is a hotel, a restaurant (open for dinner) and a café. Some guests were proactive and brought picnics or their own sandwiches. It is very pretty to stroll around and enjoy the views. The boat glides past the Taj Hotel, proudly perched on the lake. It is a relaxing way to spend a couple of hours.

Jagdish Temple – This Hindu temple is one of Udaipur’s most popular and vibrant. Our driver advised us to be there by 10 am when we would observe drumming at prayer time. This was indeed so. The temple is very beautiful with fabulous carvings of animals and female deities. It was a festival day when we visited and many people were wearing yellow. To the one side of the temple precinct, we were shown into a small internal workshop which turned out to be a gallery with an artist in residence who was painting miniatures, an art form for which Udaipur is renowned. He showed us how he mixes his colours from a variety of plants and applies them with the finest of brushes made from the hairs of a squirrel tail. The works on display were gorgeous and we could not resist purchasing a small painting.

Gangaur Ghat – Stepped around a cow lying at the entrance to the ghat where one can stand alongside the lake and admire the view.

Bagore–ki-Haveli – alongside the ghat is this haveli from 1751. It has 138 rooms and while much of the haveli has fallen into a state of disrepair, a portion of the building has been restored and now comprise a museum. It exhibits some original furnishings and there are some displays about aspects of Indian culture. I particularly enjoyed the rooms on weddings which takes the viewer through the various stages and rituals that comprise a traditional Indian wedding.

Where we stayed in Udaipur.

The Jagat Niwas Palace Hotel is an old haveli – a traditional townhouse usually with Mughal architecture, some of the best of which are to be found in Rajasthan. This one, built in the early 17^th century,  has been turned into a very beautiful hotel with stunning décor. It overlooks the lake and we spent many hours relaxing on cushioned platforms – like window seats – that are positioned in carved arches above the water. Watching the sun set in a blaze of orange over the lake was an unforgettable experience. I cannot imagine a more peaceful ambience. From here one has a view over towards the famous lake palace, once the summer palace of the Udaipur royal family and now a Taj hotel. There is a rooftop restaurant which is very popular with guests from other hotels too. The food is not memorable but the ambience is.

Getting back to Delhi for your flight back home

You will most likely need to return to Delhi to fly back home. As our flight to London only left at 3.30 am we could have flown from Udaipur in the evening and caught our flight a few hours later. We opted rather – in case of delays or cancellation of our flight from Udaipur – to fly to Delhi the night before and then spent a whirlwind last day in Delhi which was wonderful (you can read about it here). We considered the option of an overnight train from Udaipur to Delhi (which takes about 12 hours) but were pleased in the end with a quicker, one-hour flight. You may choose to be more adventurous and take the overnight train option.

Much of the success of this trip was down to the input of Popular India Vacations – I was invited to experience their services and having done so, I can recommend them and will certainly use them on future trips. We would not have seen half of what we did without a driver and the peace of mind and sense of safety that we had was priceless. The benefit of an agency of this sort is that you can provide them with the budget you are working with and they will arrange a trip accordingly with hotels in your price range. Or you can book your own accommodation if you prefer. The drivers do not only get you safely from A to B but add so much by way of their knowledge, insights, enthusiasm, and general sense of interest in your enjoying India.

Popular India Vacations +91 98290 11557.  www.popularindia.in

Contact Mr Karni Singh (karni.singh@popularindia.in) who will help make your India travel plans a reality. While the company works across the whole of India, it specialises in The Golden Triangle, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kerala and Indian wildlife.