4 days in the Pink city of India.

Tripoto
Photo of 4 days in the Pink city of India. by Sayantan Banerjee

So, why am I publishing this story?

Well the reason is because I want to share my experience of how you can see the pink city in just four days. But this trip does not include travel time.

Before I begin I would like to share few things which will be helpful to you.

1.Book a travel ticket to Jaipur. There are 3 ways to travel to Jaipur - the low-budget, the medium-budget and the high-budget.

To start with the low budget- Trains are available from Delhi to Jaipur and it takes around 4 hours to reach and costs around Rs.100 to 500 (Depending on the choice of class and train).

The medium budget- One can take a bus to Jaipur which take the same time as the train but costs around Rs.300 to 800.

If you are comfortable with the high budget then take a flight to Jaipur and it can cost you around Rs.4000 to Rs.10,000 depending on the booking time and date.

2.Book a hotel which offers an early check-in facility. This way you don't need to wait till 12 pm to check-in to the hotel. If you are travelling solo then I would recommend to book a hostel type accommodation as it is cost friendly. Also ensure it is nearby to most of the location such as Jal mahal, Amer fort etc. You can use "Google maps" for checking the distance between your hotel to the destination before you book the hotel. There are lots of applications available both on "Google play store" and "Apple app store" such as booking.com, hostel world, go ibibo etc. So once you have checked-in to the hotel it is time for the next part.

3.Get a rental cab online or you can ask your hotel manager to arrange a cab for you on rent (do negotiate the rent for the cab if you are getting it booked from the hotel). This way you will save a lot of time commuting from one place to another. But if you want to explore the city apart from the famous sites then it's better to take local transportation. Since it's a 4 days long trip, I recommend you to book a rental cab. Online cab booking apps are available such as OLA, Uber, etc.

If you are not from India then I would recommend you to use google maps at all time so you can be on track.

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Note:- We have started this trip from New Delhi and all fares are calculated for travelling from New Delhi and may differ from place to place.

So, once all of the above is done it is time to start the trip.

So, before we start the journey to our first location let me tell you the entry ticket price for every tourist place in Jaipur. So there are few places for which you need to buy a separate ticket but most of the places in Jaipur are covered in the composite ticket which you can buy at the counter of City palace. The composite ticket price for Indian citizens is Rs.300 and for foreigner it is around Rs.550 to 600 (Price of tickets changes with time

Note:- The composite ticket is valid for 2 days including the date of purchase. Also most of the tourist places in Jaipur closes there gates at 5pm and entry ticket for Jaigarh fort is not included in composite ticket.

Day 1

We will start our journey by visiting the Maharaj's home which is the City palace and after exploring it we are going to head to the the next location which is "Jantar Mantar".

Jantar Mantar is located close to the City palace and it is 1 mins walking distance from the City palace. "Jantar mantar" or the "instruments for measuring the harmony of the heavens". This place have a astronomical observatory established by the king Sawai Jai Singh II in the 18th century which was used back in the days to see the astronomical position.

After seeing the instruments for measuring the harmony of the heavens let us move the next location which is "Hawa mahal".

Hawa mahal is in walking distance from City palace as its around 500 metres away from City palace. Quick history- Hawa mahal which is also known as the palace of breeze was built after the Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh saw the Khetri mahal in Jhunjhunu. But it extends to the women’s chambers aka zenana. As during those days, the Purdah system was strictly followed and Royal Rajpur women weren’t allowed to show their face to strangers or even appear in public. The palace comprises 953 windows which enabled the Royal Rajpur women to get a glimpse of the day-to-day activities and festivities happening on the street below without appearing in public.

So after seeing the mesmerizing work of art let us head to the next location but before heading to the next location let us have lunch. For lunch there are restaurants nearby the Hawa mahal where you can find good food at reasonable price. So once we are done with lunch we can head to the next location.

For the next location we need to hop in the cab as the next location is Albert Hall museum which is around 5 mins of drive from Hawa mahal. The Albert hall museum opened in 1887 was named after King Edward VII (Albert Edward) and has a rich collection of artifact including jewelry, paintings, ivory, carpets, stone, crystal works and metal sculptures. After we take a walk in the past in the museum let us head back to the hotel and call it a day. As for the next day we need to wake up early.

Day 2

After a long day yesterday its time to catch the sunrise from the Fort. On day 2 we are going to the the Nahargarh fort which is also known as the "adobe of tigers". Since we need to catch the sunrise from the fort I recommend to start early as it will take time to reach Nahargarh as it is situated at the top of a mountain. After we watch the beautiful sunrise from the sunrise point at Nahargarh fort let us grab some breakfast from the local stall right outside the gates of the fort. After having breakfast it is time to go inside the fort and spent the rest of the day exploring the fort as it is quiet huge. While exploring the fort let us break for lunch in between as it will take time to explore the entire fort. There are few restaurant inside the fort premises which offer a variety of cuisines (recommend to get the Rajasthani thali). Post lunch let us continue to explore the rest of the fort before sunset and watch the sunset from the sunset point inside the fort. After a wonderful day in the fort let us head back and take rest.

Day 3

For day 3 let us explore the wonderful Amer fort also known as Amber palace in the town of Amer,Rajasthan which is 11 kilometres from Jaipur. Quick history- Amer fort was built by Raja man singh in the year of 1592 and it was the capital of the state before jaipur. After wandering through the Amer fort let me take you to our next location through a secret passage yes you read that correct. So, before I tell you more about the tunnel let me tell you the next location name. We are heading to the next fort which is Jaigarh fort.

Jaigarh fort is located on the promontory called the Cheel ka Teela (Hill of Eagles) of the Aravalli range. Jaigarh for overlook the entire Amer fort so for all those photographers looking for a eagles view of Amer fort, this is a fort which you should visit. There is tunnel which connect Amer fort and Jaigarh fort. The tunnel is around 1.5 kilometres long and offers a breath taking experience. Quick history- Jaigarh fort was also the cannon foundry during the mughal era and the largest cannon on wheels also known as the "Jaivana". The cannon was fired once and the distance covered was around 35 kilometres. After visiting Jaigarh fort I would recommend to have lunch and come down to the city again as after lunch we are going to see the mahal situated on water or the "water palace" also known as the Jal Mahal.

Jal mahal is in between Jaipur city and Amer and is easily accessible. It has a wonderful view as it is surrounded with water and in the background you can see Nahargarh fort also and that makes it more attractive for tourists. Once we see the beauty of Jal mahal after that we can head back to the hotel unless you want to see the light and sound show in Amer fort. The light and sound show is conducted in two different languages English and Hindi. The show timing for English viewer its in between 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm and for Hindi viewers its in between 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

Note:- The timing for the show changes time to time. Recommend to check for the show timing at the time when you visit.

After a long tiring day it is time to head back to the hotel.

Day 4

On day 4 since we are about to leave Jaipur let us have a good look at the gardens of Jaipur and also do some souvenir shopping. So to start with let us board the cab and visit the Sisodia Garden which is 8 mins away from the Jaipur city center. The multilevel garden offers a splendid view of fountains, watercourses etc. Similar to this garden is Vidhyadhar Garden which is 6 mins of walking distance from the Sisodia Garden. After visiting the gardens it is time to take some leather goods and souvenirs with us and in order to do that lets visit the famous market places in Jaipur which is the "Bapu bazaar" and "Choki dhani".

Bapu bazaar is 10 mins drive from Sisodia Garden and it offer the tourist a wide variety of leather products starting from camel skin Jutis for both men and women to leather bags and wallets, bapu bazaar have it all. After buying shoes we will head to one of most famous market place in Jaipur known as "Choki dhani" the home for Rajasthani handcrafts, paintings, art, sculpture and crafts. Choki dhani offer a variety of souvenir products for the tourist. So, if you are looking forward to collect a souvenir from Jaipur then you need to visit Choki dhani in Jaipur.

Note:- Bargain before purchasing anything from any market in Jaipur.

And with this we have covered all of the locations in Jaipur.

Hope you enjoyed the trip. Please share your comments.