Rightly named as Golden city, Jaisalmer is made up of yellow stones and situated in Thar desert in Rajasthan, India. Jaisalmer is famous for its culture, desert safaris, medieval architecture, and folk music. I planned a two days trip with my friends over a weekend to explore this stunning city.
The best time to travel to Jaisalmer is from November to January. During this period, the weather is not too hot in the day and pretty cold at night. We started our trip in the end of December, taking overnight Volvo bus from Ahmedabad to Jaisalmer. It takes approximately 10 hours to reach the city and from drop center we had to take an auto rickshaw to Thar desert.
Generally people stay in the city and go to desert for safari, which is a convenient and cheaper option. However, we wanted to stay a night at the camps right in the desert.
When we reached our camps, it was too hot in the Noon time. Although facilities were good in the tent and food served was delicious. After resting for some time, we headed for desert safari by evening 5:00 pm.
Once we reached desert safari point, there many localities offering camel safari and Jeep safari services. It is easy to negotiate and get a ride. It is advisable to reach the safari point only once the whether is cool and before Sunset. We were right on time and we choose to do both rides, Jeep safari up to certain point and then camel safari.
Jeep safari was a thrill in itself, it took us on high speed ride on the sand dunes. We could barely catch our breath, as every moment on the Jeep was fantastic. At no circumstances I would suggest you to miss Jeep safari. It is a must have experience. After covering around 4 kms, our driver dropped us at a point from where we could do camel safari. The sunset view was beautiful. We climbed to the tallest sand dune we could, sat there and watched sun setting peaceful.
We came back to our camp by night. There was a folk dance and music arranged, at Savi camps. The weather turned surprisingly cold at night. Sky was clear and stars were twinkling bright. I enjoyed the folk music with sipping hot soup and delicious pakodas.
Day 2 began with a walk around the camps and some games like archery and gun shooting. We left for city tour by 11 am. On the way to city, there is a place called Kuldhara village. It is a ruins of village which was vacant thousands of years back. As per the story, the villagers left the village to protect a girl.
The city of Jaisalmer attracts tourists from worldwide. Fort of Jaisalmer looks stunning from outside and has beautiful architecture inside the palace. There is also a market inside the Fort from where we bought souvenirs.
Our next destination was Patwaon ki Haveli. It was a 15 minutes walk from the Fort. Made with beautiful stone carvings, Patwaon ki Haveli makes up for a must visit place for people who love to see ancient architecture. There many good restaurants surround this place, to sit, have some tea and relax. We catched a late evening bus to return home.
It is advisable to plan your trip for 3 days if you also find interest in visiting India and Pakistan border. However, 2 days trip was short and sweet, offered us taste of adventure and one of the royal cultures of India.
Thanks,
Pooja