Jaipur, Rajasthan in 3 days

Access into the stepwell is restricted for good reason. It's quite steep and the stairs are very narrow. The place sees many bus loads of foreign tourists. They come in following their "guides", swarm, then leave.

Amber Palace is one of the historical landmarks in the city. Book a cab in advance to take you up there and come back. Uber can take you up there, but getting back down if up to your luck. If you take an aggregator cab, ask if he's available for coming back down and negotiate a price. Otherwise you will be at the mercy of the "Jeep Safari" and Autos who usually do good business.

You will be hounded by guides, as is the case usually. Usually they are in a hurry to ply their trade and take you to their preferred shops. Avoid them and just walk around or take the audio guide.

Getting around Jaipur is easy thanks to aggregator cabs, electric rickshaws, smoke belching rickshaws and government busses. Getting to Hawa Mahal from near Jal Mahal in the morning cost be 80. Apparently I got lucky with the time of day, otherwise it's always surge pricing pretty much everywhere for some reason.

Nahargarh is a fort located on the hill top looking down on Jaipur city. Vehicles are not allowed inside. Entry fee is 50 for Indians, free for students with ID. Many students visit the place, some taking the mandatory selfies and others occupying secluded areas until a tourist comes too close.

The fort complex is sprawling and you can spend quite a lot of time here if exploring is your thing. Getting here from Hawa Mahal cost me 412 in an Uber. Gave the driver another 400 for waiting about 90 mins and then dropping me back to my Hotel near Jal Mahal.

View from Nahargarh Fort with a step well in the foreground and Jantar Mantar (collection of large astronomy instruments built out of masonry) and City Palace in the background.

Although Google Maps shows a "jogging track" or walkway around the lake, the entrance is closed. I'm not sure if this is temporary or permanent. You are restricted to walking on the promenade dodging hawkers and other tourists.

If you need good coffee, head to "C Scheme" for Blue Tokai Coffee and Curious Life Coffee Roasters.

I couldn't work out why anyone would want to see how rich kings dressed for their polo and billiards game and pay 200 for the pleasure of doing so. I would have avoided City Palace had I known. Could have had another half decent coffee instead.

Right across the street from City Palace is Jantar Mantar, a park with a collection of astronomical instruments for observing sun, constellations and tracking their position in the sky. The explanatory plaque next to each instrument is rather technical, but intriguing nonetheless. Entry is 50 for Indians.

The Samrat Yantra, sometimes called “Supreme Instrument” is an equinoctial sundial of enormous proportion. Although one of the simpler instruments, and not too different from sundials which had been developed hundreds of years earlier, the Samrat Yantra is important because it measures time to a precision that had never before been achieved. The Samrat Yantra at Jaipur, for example, is capable of measuring time to an accuracy of two seconds.

Jaigarh Fort is privately owned, but open to tourists. Vehicles are allowed inside for a fee of 100 in addition to an entry ticket of 70. It's a rather large fort with a maze of rooms and courtyards. The guards double up as "guides" to save you from losing your mind in the maze (you won't).

This end of the fort overlooking Amber Palace has a garden that is (obviously) restricted. Walking along the ramparts is allowed though and the view on a clear day is pretty good.

Taxi Note: If you have an early morning flight and think you can find an Uber at 5:30am, think again. You can find them, but Jaipur is no Mumbai, so you may be out of luck.