Rajasthan (Jaipur & Udaipur), India

Palace hotels, desert forts, and colour everywhere. Cool season October to March.

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Best time to visit

Month	High	Low	Rain	Season
Jan	21°	8°	10 mm	prime
Feb	25°	11°	8 mm	prime
Mar	31°	16°	9 mm	prime
Apr	37°	22°	5 mm
May	40°	26°	14 mm
Jun	38°	28°	61 mm
Jul	33°	26°	177 mm
Aug	31°	24°	170 mm
Sep	32°	24°	70 mm
Oct	32°	20°	13 mm	prime
Nov	28°	15°	7 mm	prime
Dec	23°	10°	4 mm	prime

30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.

Serves travellers at Backpacker→Ultra-luxury level. Typically around $80 a day on the ground.

Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.

A car with a driver is the normal way to cover the state and easier than driving yourself. Within the cities, autorickshaws and app taxis.
getting around · editorial
Jaipur and Udaipur both have airports, fed mostly from Delhi and Mumbai. The train from Delhi to Jaipur is quick and comfortable; Jaipur to Udaipur is a long drive or an internal flight.
getting there · editorial
Shoes come off at temples and inside parts of the palaces, and shoulders and knees stay covered. Roads are slower than the distances suggest.
know before · editorial
Cash for markets, rickshaws and small towns; cards in hotels and larger restaurants. Keep small notes for tips, which are expected and small.
money · editorial
The weeks before the monsoon are punishing, over 45 °C in the desert. The monsoon itself is short but heavy and turns the dust to mud.
when not to go · editorial
In Jaipur, the Pink City for the monuments and the noise, or the southern suburbs for calm. In Udaipur, the lanes around Lal Ghat for the lake and the rooftops, or the hills across the water for space and a drive to dinner.
where to stay · editorial

Hawa Mahal
953 windows, so the women of the court could watch the street without being seen.
Amber Fort
Sandstone and marble on a ridge, with Maota lake below.
Jantar Mantar
Nineteen stone astronomical instruments, from 1734, still accurate.
Udaipur City Palace
Four hundred years of additions over Lake Pichola, in a single block.
Jagdish Temple
Thirty-two steps up to a temple from 1651 that has never stopped working.
Mehrangarh, Jodhpur
One hundred and twenty metres above the blue city, with walls that were never taken.

Eat laal maas, the red mutton of Mathania chilli
Dal baati churma
Wheat balls baked in the embers and dipped in ghee. Desert food.
Laal maas
Mutton in mathania chilli. It is red because of the chilli, and it burns.
Lassi in a clay cup
Thick enough for the spoon to stand up. The cup is disposable and turns back into dust.

See Lake Pichola at sunset from a rooftop
Sunset at the Monsoon Palace
From up there, with the lake, the city and the Aravalli lined up.
A block of colour that exists nowhere else
Pink in Jaipur, blue in Jodhpur, white in Udaipur. Each city painted its own.

Walk up to Nahargarh
An hour up the old path instead of the road, with the whole of Jaipur below.