I have been longing to travel to Rajasthan since years and this finally happened last year when I got some free time in December which is incidentally the best time to travel there. I started the trip from Jaipur aka the Pink City and all that jazz. The place has like a zillion forts and a million emporiums keeping the tourist traffic busy all along. But the places I would recommend to you are Albert Hall Museum and Amer Fort. Rest is lackluster in front of these grand creations. And if you want a feel of the pink city walk through the local markets. That sums up Jaipur for me and can be seen in a day or two.
After that I traveled to Jodhpur sometimes also called as the Blue city due the blue paint on the local house when you see that from the city fort. I would recommend you to travel throughout Rajasthan via the ultra-comfortable volvos being run by the RSRTC. Travelling by road only would give you the feel of real rajsathan. Getting a train ticket is difficult anyways as IRCTC sucks big time. Jodhpur is also traditionally filled with Forts and other architecture which is very similar to those of Jaipur. I would recommend only the Mehrangarh Fort where Nolan had come once to shoot the Dart Knight Rises. Also, so take a guide in all the forts you see otherwise it would be only seeing dirt and bats. Don't let the city guides fool you to take you to some retrograde gardens filled by bird and monkey shit. Rather walk through the local markets to get a feel of the culture.
My nest destination lies near the western frontiers of the State and is the best place to see in Rajasthan and this is the place which prompted me to blog about Rajasthan. The calm, beautiful and soothing jaisalmer. We again traveled via bus to reach Jaisalmer from Jodhpur which is like five hours journey through the arid yet beautiful terrain of Rajasthan. Luckily we got some reference to one of the hotels in the city called Hotel Haveli which played a big Part in our stay there.
Jaisalmer is a small town closest from the beautiful sad dunes of the Thar and Gobi desert. The settlement is so small that we managed to see the entire city many times on our walking tours. And if you plan to stay at Hotel Haveli, it would be further convenient to you as all the tourist attractions are at a walking distance from this Hotel. Apart from that you would love the hospitality and food at this place. Among things to see in Jaisalmer, there is this beautiful and calm lake gadiser where you can boat your way to calmness. There are some temples and shopping options available alongside the lake which would keep your female companions busy and ergo you can relax and enjoy feeding the catfish and ducks in the lake. This is way better than the crowded and grand lakes of other cities in Rajasthan. It is also best suited for artists and painters.
Then just in front of this lake there is a little museum which has a great collections of ancient entities belonging to this regions and the icing on the cake is the Puppet Shows that they organize in the evenings. Highly recommended! This is solely the initiative of an old retired man who wants to keep this culture alive. Please meet this guy, you would really feed good!
Then like every city in Rajasthan, Jaisalmer also has a fort of its own. This being the only fort where the locals are allowed to live and do business. So, you can go for this one. be careful though of the costs of items in Jaisalmer as everything is overpriced. Do your shopping from Jodhpur and Jaipur instead. Then along with the fort you can visit the nearby Havelis and market on foot. No big deal!
Now comes the most important and beautiful experience of Jaisalmer. The Sam sand dunes which are located about 40 kms away from the city and you have the option of taking a cab which is ultra-boring and the other is that you rent a bike and drive yourself. I did that and the journey is the best one I have taken till date. The road is excellent and so is the landscape on either side of the road. There is some ancient village on the road which you can ignore and go straight to the sam sand dunes. There you should have a pre-booking for your night stay in the tents to avoid any one exploiting you. Then go straight to the sunset point and enjoy the sand dunes till you get soaked in. That is generally followed by some cultural evenings, dinner and then sleep over in the tents. Insist the operators that you want to sleep in the dunes and that would make your trip uber-cool!
So those, yearning to get a real feel of Rajasthan, must go to jaisalmer!
After that I traveled to Jodhpur sometimes also called as the Blue city due the blue paint on the local house when you see that from the city fort. I would recommend you to travel throughout Rajasthan via the ultra-comfortable volvos being run by the RSRTC. Travelling by road only would give you the feel of real rajsathan. Getting a train ticket is difficult anyways as IRCTC sucks big time. Jodhpur is also traditionally filled with Forts and other architecture which is very similar to those of Jaipur. I would recommend only the Mehrangarh Fort where Nolan had come once to shoot the Dart Knight Rises. Also, so take a guide in all the forts you see otherwise it would be only seeing dirt and bats. Don't let the city guides fool you to take you to some retrograde gardens filled by bird and monkey shit. Rather walk through the local markets to get a feel of the culture.
My nest destination lies near the western frontiers of the State and is the best place to see in Rajasthan and this is the place which prompted me to blog about Rajasthan. The calm, beautiful and soothing jaisalmer. We again traveled via bus to reach Jaisalmer from Jodhpur which is like five hours journey through the arid yet beautiful terrain of Rajasthan. Luckily we got some reference to one of the hotels in the city called Hotel Haveli which played a big Part in our stay there.
Jaisalmer is a small town closest from the beautiful sad dunes of the Thar and Gobi desert. The settlement is so small that we managed to see the entire city many times on our walking tours. And if you plan to stay at Hotel Haveli, it would be further convenient to you as all the tourist attractions are at a walking distance from this Hotel. Apart from that you would love the hospitality and food at this place. Among things to see in Jaisalmer, there is this beautiful and calm lake gadiser where you can boat your way to calmness. There are some temples and shopping options available alongside the lake which would keep your female companions busy and ergo you can relax and enjoy feeding the catfish and ducks in the lake. This is way better than the crowded and grand lakes of other cities in Rajasthan. It is also best suited for artists and painters.
Then just in front of this lake there is a little museum which has a great collections of ancient entities belonging to this regions and the icing on the cake is the Puppet Shows that they organize in the evenings. Highly recommended! This is solely the initiative of an old retired man who wants to keep this culture alive. Please meet this guy, you would really feed good!
Then like every city in Rajasthan, Jaisalmer also has a fort of its own. This being the only fort where the locals are allowed to live and do business. So, you can go for this one. be careful though of the costs of items in Jaisalmer as everything is overpriced. Do your shopping from Jodhpur and Jaipur instead. Then along with the fort you can visit the nearby Havelis and market on foot. No big deal!
Now comes the most important and beautiful experience of Jaisalmer. The Sam sand dunes which are located about 40 kms away from the city and you have the option of taking a cab which is ultra-boring and the other is that you rent a bike and drive yourself. I did that and the journey is the best one I have taken till date. The road is excellent and so is the landscape on either side of the road. There is some ancient village on the road which you can ignore and go straight to the sam sand dunes. There you should have a pre-booking for your night stay in the tents to avoid any one exploiting you. Then go straight to the sunset point and enjoy the sand dunes till you get soaked in. That is generally followed by some cultural evenings, dinner and then sleep over in the tents. Insist the operators that you want to sleep in the dunes and that would make your trip uber-cool!
So those, yearning to get a real feel of Rajasthan, must go to jaisalmer!
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