Rajasthan Highlights
forts, palaces and the desert

Arrive in the Pink City and settle into the calm of your heritage hotel. As the afternoon softens, wander the honey-stone courtyards of the City Palace and the astronomer’s dreamscape of Jantar Mantar, then lose yourself in a lamplit bazaar before your first Rajasthani dinner.

Rise early for Amber Fort, its ramparts glowing amber at sunrise — climb to mirror-worked halls and views across Maota Lake. Later, the lace-like Hawa Mahal, the floating Jal Mahal and the artisan quarters, closing with a spirited village-style feast at Chokhi Dhani.

Leave Jaipur for holy Pushkar, where ghats ring its sacred lake and India’s rare Brahma temple stands. Drive on across the Aravallis to the Blue City, arriving as Mehrangarh looms floodlit above the old town, and dine amid the buzz of the clocktower market.

Give the morning to mighty Mehrangarh, one of India’s grandest forts, its palaces and cannon-scarred gates telling five centuries of Rathore history. Below, the milky marble of Jaswant Thada, the Umaid Bhawan galleries, and the cobalt-washed lanes made for slow wandering.

Drive south through the Aravalli hills, pausing at the extraordinary Ranakpur Jain temple — 1,444 carved marble pillars, no two alike — before descending to the lakes of Udaipur as the day turns gold.

Wander the labyrinthine City Palace above the lake — mirrored halls, peacock mosaics and the Crystal Gallery — then the fountained Saheliyon ki Bari and the carved Jagdish Temple, closing with a courtyard evening of Mewari dance at Bagore ki Haveli.

A morning to simply be — coffee by the water, an unhurried lake view. Perhaps the vintage-car museum, a couples’ spa, or the artisan lanes for miniature paintings, before a last lingering lakeside dinner as Udaipur lights its reflections.

A relaxed final breakfast overlooking the water, then a private transfer to Udaipur’s Maharana Pratap airport for your onward journey — carrying a little of Rajasthan’s gold with you.