Planning a trip to India? Then Jaipur must be on your list to visit! Jaipur, also called as the Pink City is
the capital of one of the most beautiful states of India- Rajasthan. Also, as per its geographical
location it forms a triangle with Delhi & Agra & this is called the Golden Triangle. So you can visit the
Taj Mahal as well along with Jaipur.
It’s one of the most photographed cities of India with beautiful forts, palaces, great food,
architectural structures and much more! Also, on this trip we came across some amazing cafes which
were not there 10 years ago when I had first visited Jaipur.
BEST TIME TO VISIT
The best time to visit Rajasthan is between October to March with cooler weather and best months
being Nov to Feb! That’s also the peak time of the year with many tourists visiting this beautiful
state.
We were to visit all the lovely cities in Rajasthan including Jodhpur, Jaisalmer & Udaipur however we
had to cut short the trip as we had to return back to the States urgently. We hope to visit the rest of
the places in our next visit hopefully.
WHERE TO STAY
It was the first time for Shobhit in Rajasthan and he was extremely excited. Since we both fancy
hotels and Indian hospitality has been always amazing, we decided to stay at the Oberoi Rajvilas
while we were in Jaipur. Read our hotel review blog to know more about this beautiful luxury
property in Jaipur.
Since this hotel is located outside the city, you might want to check others which are close to the old
city. If you are looking for luxury hotel then Taj Rambagh Palace would be a good option or for a
decent 4 star Narain Niwas would be a good option too & with 2 of the famous restaurants being
right there outside the hotel. Other popular hotels are the Fairmont Jaipur, Jai Mahal Palace, Devi
Ratn Palace hotel.
GETTING AROUND THE CITY
The best way to arrive in Jaipur is via flight or by train. One can also travel by road from Delhi and
Agra and can do a Golden Triangle road trip. Once in Jaipur, you may not require a car all the time
with you. Many spots are within the old town itself and the rest are not more than 30 mins from the
city. It is quite easy to get an Uber/Ola to go around locally or one can even hire local Auto
Rickshaws. However, usually you need to bargain a lot with them unless you already know what the
fare would be like. We took Ola/Uber for all our local travels and would not have spent more than
Rs. 2500/- (35$). However, if you still want a full day local taxi then it would cost around Rs. 1500-
1600 for 8 hours.(22$)
Also, especially important that you keep some cash handy for local food, travel and sometimes even
buying an entry ticket or for paying and tipping guides.
EVERYTHING YOU MUST SEE
We started our day with the Jaipur City Palace. It is in the old town. This palace was our personal
favorite as we saw some beautiful architecture and more importantly it was so less crowded to
what we had thought it would be. We bought the Royal Splendor tickets which are the most
expensive ones but gives you access to the private rooms of the palace along with a guide. Usually
this ticket costs Rs. 3000/- however due to COVID they reduced the price to Rs. 2000/-. With this
ticket you have a guide included. They also take payments by Paytm & Google Pay & credit cards if
you don’t have cash. If you do not wish to buy the Royal ticket, you can buy the museum ticket
which would cost around Rs. 300/- There is a huge difference in the price but we totally found it
worth for what we got to see.
The guide explains about the history & architecture and takes you to each of these special rooms.
The Royal Family also still lives in the same building where these rooms are! The first room we
visited had amazing art work and of real Kundan and everything painted around was real gold. Then
we also visited the Sheesh Mahal and the most beautiful of all the Blue room known as the Sukh
Niwas. It was so beautiful and breezy with just us being in the whole space. Also, an interesting fact
these guides are great photographers too, so don’t worry for your photos!
Apart from these beautifully designed rooms, we also 4 beautifully painted doors which represented
the 4 seasons: Lotus Gate (Summer), Peacock Gate (Autumn), Leheriya Gate (Spring), Rose Gate
(Winter).
After visiting the beautiful City Palace, we continued with the same guide and visited Jantar Mantar
which is located right opposite the palace. For everyone who loves Maths & Astronomy, this place
would be very enchanting. Built by the King Sawai Jaisingh, this place displays 19 Astronomical
instruments while featuring world’s largest stone sundial.
The Hawa Mahal which is the most popular Instagram spot is just 5-6 mins walk from here. We read
a lot of blogs about visiting the cafes opposite- The Wind or the Tattoo so we headed there.
Honestly, it’s a shady place to climb up to and when we saw the food rating it was very average. We
went up to check it out but didn’t quite find it any interesting so we decided to head out and try
some great food at the Tapri Central! This is how we ended at late afternoon with some Ginger chai
& Tandoori Maggi! Due to COVID there was a curfew in Rajasthan so we had to be indoors 8 pm
onward. If you want to catch the sunset, you can visit the Jal Mahal or Nahargarh fort to catch the
city view. There is also a popular restaurant there if you want to have food. However, bear in mind,
it is not easy to find a return cab from that spot.
The next day we visited the most popular Amber Fort (Amer Fort). It is one of the most visited forts
of Rajasthan offering majestic views. This fort is located about 15 kms outside the city however
during visit hours it is fairly easy to get 2-way uber rides. But if you plan to visit Nahargarh & Jaigarh
forts too then you must hire a full day taxi. There are elephant/ private jeep options to get up to the
fort or electric cars which charge Rs. 80 roundtrip or Rs. 50 one way. We hiked up to the fort and
bought the tickets from the main entrance. Also, recommend to get a certified guide at the main
entry ticket itself. You will come across many on the way trying to offer you cheaper prices. The
official price for the guide was Rs. 200/-. We quite did not have a very pleasant experience here
since the guide was very average and also this place was very crowded with most of them not
wearing their masks. So we didn’t spend a lot of time in this area. We saw the most beautiful spot of
the palace the Ganesh Pol which had a very nice architecture and the other amazing spot was the
Sheesh Mahal which used to be lit by candles in the olden days so the mirrors would catch reflection
and thus lightening up the whole space. These were the main things we saw and then straight
headed for lunch. There is also a Sound & Light show in the evening but we did not attend it!
Also, very close by is located the Meena Panna Ka Kund which is the Step well that you may have
seen in many pictures on Instagram.
And then not to miss out, the most Instagrammable spot of Jaipur and equally beautiful- The Patrika
Gate! This is located very close to the airport so you may want to visit while arriving or departing.
This place is an entrance to a park and thus is open all the time. There is no entry ticket required to
visit this beautiful spot!
WHERE TO EAT & SHOP
Due to Curfew in the evening, we could not try as many places as we wanted to however, the food in
our hotel was no less than a treat. We highly recommend you to try some local dishes like Kadhi
Kachori, Dal Batti Churma, Gatte ki sabzi and many more such Rajasthani delicacies.
Rawat & Laxmi Misthan Bhandar are the most recommended for Kadhi Kachori & Rajasthani Thali.
Bar Palladio is great for its ambience and we stopped by only for drinks as it has Italian menu and we
wanted to have Desi food, so the next door restaurant is the Shikar Baug where we had food in a
wagon which was quite interesting and then headed to Bar Palladio. There is also Café Palladio that
you might want to check!
Our absolute favourite was the Tapri Central Café. It doesn’t serve Rajasthani food but has amazing
street side fusion food with lots of Chai options for all the Chai lovers like us. This place is definitely
not to be missed! And make sure you have a reservation there as its full most of the time.
There are lots of places to shop in Jaipur right from local bazaar to popular stores. Our hotel shared a
list of places we could go to buy different things. However, we only checked out Hot Pink Jaipur
since it was very close to Bar Palladio and Cottons Jaipur which has block print outfits. Opposite this
store was a very nice cake café which we tried called Dzurt!
This is how we explored Jaipur- The Pink City & then decided to head to Alila Bishangarh for a fort
living experience. Check out our hotel review blog on Alila Bishangarh to know more!
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