Rajasthan is a land filled with vibrance and I happened to be in Jaipur, the Pink City of Rajasthan for work. It was the middle of November and the weather was just perfect to explore Jaipur. To me Jaipur provides you a potful of culture, customs and traditions. Every building in Jaipur speaks volumes and you can easily feel that royal vibe from their architecture. Perhaps the most iconic places to visit in Jaipur is the Hawa Mahal located in the Badi Choupad area.
This was my second visit to Jaipur and this time I had ample time in hand to explore the city in and out. The Hawa Mahal that you generally see in the pictures is just the back side of the fort. In fact the real Mahal is everything that is inside. And to my surprise the entrance to Hawa Mahal was completely on the other side of that area situated on the main road. Well, I never really thought that the palace would be so exquisite when I first walked in through the entrance gate. The main gate gives way to a spacious courtyard where you will find various shops selling traditional garments, accessories, bags, umbrellas, pagdis etc. We did buy a small umbrella to use it as a prop for the various Instagram photos we had planned. The ticket counter is by the side of the Mahal's actual entrance and cost us only Rs 50. We were told that the Hawa Mahal was an extension of the royal City Palace of Jaipur and is a huge tourist attraction throughout the year. The actual entry gate of the palace opens into another beautiful courtyard and you can witness the amazing architecture of the palace. The palace is built with yellow, pink and red sandstone all around.
The Hawa Mahal was built in the year of 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. Made of pink and red sandstone this unique palace has five storeys and consists of 953 windows. As the pardah system was highly preRajasthanvalent those days women from the royal palace were not allowed to appear in public without covering their faces. These windows helped them to observe the daily activities that took place outside on the streets. The architecture of the Hawa Mahal is something to be taken note of. The Mahal has a height of almost 50 feet and the interiors have an amalgamation of Rajput and Mughal architecture. The 953 windows allow the breeze to pass through and help to keep the interiors cool. The Mahal doesn't have any staircase to lead one to the upper floors. Instead of stairs ramps were built to reach up to the top floors so that the queen's palanquin could be easily carried upstairs.
The palace needs to be explored on foot and we chose to visit the place at about 4pm. The golden hues of the setting sun shone on the spectacular sandstone walls and it felt so serene wherever we looked. The second storey was particularly beautiful. The long corridors and the balconies were perfect places to click some royal Instagrammable pictures. Puppet shows are something that you will find in almost every tourist place in Jaipur. What I loved about these shows was that they sang all the traditional Rajasthani folk songs as the puppets danced to them. The cool evening breeze amidst the setting sun and the folk songs relieved us of all the stress that we had accumulated during our long work day. I felt like sitting by the corner and just watch the sunset in silence.
I did spend some quite moments there. Thankfully it wasn't much crowded in the evening. I strongly recommend people to visit this place at about 3.30 or 4pm as the vibe of this place totally changes during this time. It took us about one hour to explore the palace, take some nice shots for the videos, click some good pictures and just enjoy the aesthetics of the palace. It was time to move out of the palace but not without visiting another iconic location which was the backside of the palace. It's a good 300m walk to come out on to the main road and then proceed towards the backside. This side was particularly crowded and we decided to cross the road so that we could get a wider view of the monument. However, to get a panoramic view of Hawa Mahal I strongly recommend you to walk in to The Tattoo Cafe. This cafe is on the rooftop and is one of the most picturesque open air cafes in town. We got ourselves a table close to the balcony from where we could capture breathtaking panoramic pictures of Hawa Mahal. Perhaps the most beautiful sight was that of the palace getting lit up after sunset. Enjoying our coffee and evening sandwich we kept gazing at the majestic monument in awe.
PS: You cannot just walk into the cafe to click pictures. You need to order at least a cup of tea to be able to get a seat.
📍Important Information regarding visiting Hawa Mahal
☑️ Timings: 9.30am to 5pm
☑️ Entry Fees: Rs 50 for Indians; Rs 200 for foreigners
☑️ Restrictions: No such restrictions Photography & Videography allowed inside
☑️ Guide: Not required if you have googled about the history of Hawa Mahal
☑️ Time required: 1 hour is enough to cover Hawa Mahal
☑️ Best time to visit: 3.30,4pm. As you can also witness the sunset
The picture of the Hawa Mahal that you see in general is actually the backside of the palace. The entry is from the opposite side.
Frequent searches leading to this page:-
' fill='%23359391'%3e %3cpath d='M46.1538462%2c43.5714286 L41.5%2c50 L36.8461538%2c43.5714286 L36.8670256%2c43.5714286 C36.3173077%2c42.7142857 36%2c41.6851429 36%2c40.5714286 C36%2c37.4854286 38.4535641%2c35 41.5%2c35 C44.5464359%2c35 47%2c37.4854286 47%2c40.5714286 C47%2c41.6851429 46.6826923%2c42.7142857 46.1329744%2c43.5714286 L46.1538462%2c43.5714286 Z M41.4294872%2c39 C40.6150641%2c39 39.9487179%2c39.675 39.9487179%2c40.5 C39.9487179%2c41.325 40.6150641%2c42 41.4294872%2c42 C42.2439103%2c42 42.9102564%2c41.325 42.9102564%2c40.5 C42.9102564%2c39.675 42.2439103%2c39 41.4294872%2c39 L41.4294872%2c39 Z' id='Location-white'%3e%3c/path%3e %3c/g%3e %3c/svg%3e)
