Budget Details :
Stay - Zostel - INR 500 Per night (Spent 1500 for 3 days)
Desert Safari - INR 1200 including Dinner and transport
Food - INR 1500 for 3 days
Local transport - You will need transport only for Gadisar Lake and Bada Bagh Chatri - INR 300 (make sure you go in a shared local transport)
Jaisalmer Palace Ticket - INR 100
Snacks & Beverages : INR 400 is more than enough
In a remote corner of Rajasthan, there lies a desert town called Jaisalmer. The golden vibe of this city rising from the 'Thar Desert' looks exactly like a scene from the Arabian Nights. If you ever want to witness the royalty of Maharaja's from Indian history, Jaisalmer is a must visit for you!
Another reason you must visit Jaisalmer is because it is the only city which has a living fort in India. Yes, you read it right, the localites in Jaisalmer dressed in voluminous red and orange turbans live inside the Jaisalmer Fort.
I reached Jaisalmer in the early morning hours, I had to enter into the Fort in an auto because I had booked Zostel for my 3 day stay at Jaisalmer inside the Living Fort.
I was very thrilled looking at the marvelous beauty of this stunning fort and kept gazing at it throughout, with my camera 'ON' trying to capture as much as I could. The auto goes inside the fort but only till the chowk which is the main area with a temple and the Palace of the ancient kings. Beyond that one has to walk inside the pretty lanes and there started my journey of exploring this epic place.
The Zostel property in Jaisalmer is splendid with some amazing views of the city. I booked myself a bed in a female dorm which costed me 500 INR per night. They offer you private lockers to keep your stuff safe and locked. There is a beautiful cafe inside with a delicous menu and lovely team to serve. The washrooms were pretty clean and the whole ambiance gave me a very positive and a happy vibe. During my stay at Zostel I also met 2 female travelers from Iceland (yes, you can imagine people traveling from one corner of the universe coming to India to exeprience our rich culture)
On Day 1, I started my Journey by exploring the Maharaja's Palace within the fort. The ticket price is between 50-100 INR (camera price 100 INR is excluded) It takes good 2-4 hours for you to explore the whole palace which includes Maharaja's Darbar, their tools and weapons of use, Maharani's room, The Courtyard, the temple and lot more. If you are thinking this is like one of those boring museum visits, let me tell you it is not boring at all. Infact, will keep you curious on how did people of that era manage lives without technology that we have today. The architechture of the palace is something you will love and adore to the fullest (yes, it is that beautiful) Add On : There are a lot of spots inside the Palace where you can actually shoot some killer photos and videos
In the Second half of Day 1 I travelled to some beauitful cafes of Jaisalmer. Some of them that I totally loved and would recommend you to visit are Cafe The Kaku, The Dessert Boy Cafe and Halo Jaisalmer. The average spend in a cafe in Jaisalmer is 300-400 bucks per meal per person.
On the next day which is Day 2, I took a visit to the very beautiful Gadisar Lake. This place has unbelievable photogenic spots as you can see in my images posted above. I enjoyed walking through the stunning balconies, got some fab clicks and chilled for sometime alongside the lake.
The Second half of Day 2 was very exciting for me as I was thrilled to visit "The Thar Desert" for the first time in my life. So, I booked the desert ride from Zostel itself and the whole trip to the Desert and back costed me 1200 INR. This included the Camel Safari and the dinner as well. We started our travel from Jaisalmer Fort and took a break to visit a abondoned Village and an Oasis before reaching the Camel Safari.
After the Oasis visit was done, we soon reached the Camel Safari spot and boarded our camels and headed towards the 'Sand Dunes' of Thar Desert. It is a good 2 hour ride on the Camel which is both Painful and fun filled (because your legs stretch to the core sitting in that one position on the camel for 2 long hours, on the other hand you are crossing some gorgeous views on the path)
The view was "Woooooooow" and everyone including me got excited and we all started running on the Sand Dunes randomly screaming because we were finally at the "Thar Desert". The sunset here is 'damnnn' so dramtic. You will just keep gazing at the Sun. Soon the Sun disappeared and we all started having the delicous Rajasthani food in the middle of this ravishing place. We clicked pictures, sang songs, played games, had beverages, danced and finally got back by 11ish in the night. In case you are someone who would loved to spend a night in the desert there are lots of packages available for that too.
I Spent the first half of Day 3 by randomly exploring the streets inside of the Fort. I shopped a few Kurta's and some Rajasthani accesories from the local vendors inside. Had some yummy snacks on the streets (chaat basically). The Samosa's were yummmm.
On Day 3, I also visited Bada Bagh Chatri and The Canon Point. Both these places were worth it. Bada Bagh is basically the cenotaphs constructed by the Maharajas of the Jaisalmer State in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and The Canon Point is a view point for tourist yet again showing you some marvelous views of the whole city.
And it was then time for me to leave this over-whelming place which became my favoruite.
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