Detailed Jaisalmer itinerary with budget hacks

Western Rajasthan trip is always incomplete without Jaisalmer-Jodhpur. The trip cost mentioned is the total cost per head for visiting the both cities. Just to make it compact and comprehensible, I have made two separate blogs for the two cities. Find my Jodhpur blog here:

https://www.tripoto.com/trip/jodhpur-detailed-guide-5edc8a9ed08ff

Starting from the start, we reached the railway station of golden city of Jaisalmer by train at around 11am (yes, we had deliberately chosen this train to be punctual with hotel check in timing).

We had bookings in Zostel, which is in the heart of the city with beautiful terrace view. Quickly freshening up in the hostel, we headed to the Jaisalmer fort. We chose to have lunch in the only living fort in India (or perhaps the world too). It has a quater of population of the Jaisalmer still residing in it. The gigantic yellow sandstone fort was full of restaurants, shops, hotels and people's residences, really giving me an insight of what it feels to be living inside a fort in Maharaja times.

1pm- Even being famished by our journey tiredness, we decided to go to one of the highest restaurants there, named The Surya Restaurant. Ohh the up(fort) trek was worth the view!

Needless to say, after we ordered our food and indulged in the photo shoot game.

7am- Wake up early, you might get to see some peacocks around the camp. We did.

After a quick shower, we had our breakfast and headed back to the city. The beautiful road through the desert with many windmills again convinced us to stop and take some snaps.

FYI- There is a lavishly famous hotel called Suryagard in the way, for if you want to stop for lunch to see the property.

Mandir Palace- It is the palace where the Kings used to live. Beautifully architectured limestone designs and museum is all you can see.

Nathmal ki haweli- This has a story to it, that two architect brothers built the left and right halves of the haveli individually without coping each other's design. You cannot actually tell the left and right halves are apart unless you study it's details closely. It was like "spot the difference" puzzle we used to solve in childhood books.

The haveli is a private property of their decendants still living in there, so they don't allow you to the 1st floor.

Patwon ki haweli- This is a must-visit place for architecture-loving people. It is open for tourists, with it's rooftop giving a 360° view of the entire city, including the distant windmills. You will also love the beautifully carved windows throughout the haweli.

Salim Singh ki haweli- Built by the then Prime minister of Jaisalmer, Salim Singh, it is a peacock shaped roof with numerous windows.

Gadisar lake- Ideally I would recommend you to visit in the morning or sunset time for boating in this lake. Apparently a song "Tere ishq mei pagal" from Humko tumse pyar hai was shot here according to our guide-cum-autowala bhaiya.

Vyas Chhatri- It is the cenotaph of Ved Vyas, the author of Hindu epic, The Mahabharat. We omitted visit to this one. You can choose to visit Bada Bagh instead of this though, which is way bigger cluster of cenotaphs of Royal family constructed to the outskirts of the city.

Tips- You can totally do without the guide. The city is quite small and every auto driver knows the story. You can even discover the places by foot, but we hired an auto as we didn't want to hassle in the almost-similar-looking narrow lanes with our navigators.

Best time to visit: Here is a trick to save a lot of money. Though the best time to visit is strictly only winter months from Nov to Jan, there is particularly rush from mid-Dec to mid-Jan in Sam desert camps with price hike upto 4times. So if you don't want to burn a hole in your pocket, hate dozen of tourists photobombing your desert landscapes and find peace, avoid travelling in the Christmas, New Year holidays.

Savouring the local cuisine, (I always eat local when in a different city, I feel the culture of a place is strongest tied to it's food), we decided to do some shopping and stroll around the area.

3pm- We had pre-booked camp for the night, so we headed for the beautiful Thar desert for 4pm check in.

It was off season, so it cost us 3500/tent, which could accommodate 2people easily including all package of desert jeep safari, camel rides, folk dance, nightlife and Rajasthani buffet dinner and morning breakie. Yes, it was a cheap deal!

Another advantage was the super cleanliness of the camps, which otherwise in December is very dirty ( of what I have heard from friends who visited at that time).

http://www.samsanddunesdesertsafarijaisalmer.com/

On reaching, we checked in our beautiful block printed tents and they guided us with details of activities.

We had a jeep safari in the desert, followed by camel ride to the sunset point. By that time, it was sunset, we watched the crimson sun digging into the distant desert sands.

6pm- Cold waves had already started blowing when the jeeps brought us back to our camps, where we were welcomed with traditional tika dastoori amidst drums. After a quick snack and freshening up from the desert sands, we sat down below the star-filled winter sky beside a bonfire to see the Rajasthani folk program with fellow tourists. They sang folklore, danced to ghumar and even threw some jokes with our names to make it interactive.

9pm- There was the Rajasthani buffet dinner, with items like dal bati, churma, ker sangri, gatte ki sabjee, etc. A perfect end to the day!

FYI- There is a lavishly famous hotel called Suryagard in the way, for if you want to stop for lunch to see the property.

Mandir Palace- It is the palace where the Kings used to live. Beautifully architectured limestone designs and museum is all you can see.

Nathmal ki haweli- This has a story to it, that two architect brothers built the left and right halves of the haveli individually without coping each other's design. You cannot actually tell the left and right halves are apart unless you study it's details closely. It was like "spot the difference" puzzle we used to solve in childhood books.

The haveli is a private property of their decendants still living in there, so they don't allow you to the 1st floor.

Patwon ki haweli- This is a must-visit place for architecture-loving people. It is open for tourists, with it's rooftop giving a 360° view of the entire city, including the distant windmills. You will also love the beautifully carved windows throughout the haweli.

Salim Singh ki haweli- Built by the then Prime minister of Jaisalmer, Salim Singh, it is a peacock shaped roof with numerous windows.

Gadisar lake- Ideally I would recommend you to visit in the morning or sunset time for boating in this lake. Apparently a song "Tere ishq mei pagal" from Humko tumse pyar hai was shot here according to our guide-cum-autowala bhaiya.

Vyas Chhatri- It is the cenotaph of Ved Vyas, the author of Hindu epic, The Mahabharat. We omitted visit to this one. You can choose to visit Bada Bagh instead of this though, which is way bigger cluster of cenotaphs of Royal family constructed to the outskirts of the city.

Tips- You can totally do without the guide. The city is quite small and every auto driver knows the story. You can even discover the places by foot, but we hired an auto as we didn't want to hassle in the almost-similar-looking narrow lanes with our navigators.

Best time to visit: Here is a trick to save a lot of money. Though the best time to visit is strictly only winter months from Nov to Jan, there is particularly rush from mid-Dec to mid-Jan in Sam desert camps with price hike upto 4times. So if you don't want to burn a hole in your pocket, hate dozen of tourists photobombing your desert landscapes and find peace, avoid travelling in the Christmas, New Year holidays.