We often struggle when it comes to visiting all the tourist spots of Rajasthan in a short time but a well researched plan and a solid itinerary is all you need to enjoy palaces, forts, lakes, desert and a national park of Rajasthan, all in a week.
Rajasthan is probably on the wish list of every travel enthusiast these days and it definitely deserves to be on the wish list too. But, being the largest Indian state, it is difficult to cover all the places in a short time, especially for working professionals. However, an extensive planning and a little bit of time management can easily solve this hurdle. We managed to visit as many as 7 cities in a span of a week, starting with Udaipur and ending with Jaipur.
The itinerary that worked remarkably for us and helped us visiting so many places in limited time was:
Udaipur - 2 days
Jodhpur - 1 night
Jaisalmer - 1.5 days
Ranthambore - 1.5 days
Jaipur - 2 days
One can make few changes on the spot for city tour preferences but it is wise to stick to the main itinerary for travelling inter cities.
We started by flying into Udaipur from Bangalore. Udaipur is well connected with other parts of the country, however, flights are less frequent to Udaipur in comparison to Jaipur, so in that case one can directly fly into Jaipur and then start their travel too.
We took an uber to reach to our hotel from airport which was about 30kms. Our hotel was in the heart of the city so that we could cut down on commute time to visit the major tourist attractions like City Palace, Bagore ki Haveli and Lake Pichola.
We reached our hotel around afternoon and without wasting much time headed out to explore the city by walking.
From one of the lovely lake side cafes, we ate some snacks, sipped masala chai and then hurried towards the City Palace so that we didn't have to rush our City Palace tour due to the soon to be closing hours.
The grandeur and history of City Palace is surely going to leave you spellbound and is definitely a must visit.
It is extremely well kept and presents the rich history of the past in its true sense.
It was almost evening when we completed the entire tour of City Palace and headed towards the ghats of Lake Pichola. You can even chance upon some impromptu Rajasthani music sessions played by the musicians on these ghats. The cultural event at Bagore ki Haveli is an absolute delight.
For dinner we already had our reservations at Upre. The food, ambience and the lake view at Upre lives upto its reputation.
The 'laal maans' (for non-vegetarians) is a must!
The next day began with alarm clocks ringing sharp at 6 am as we had a big day ahead of us and needed to start as early as possible.
The distance between Udaipur and Chittorgarh is about 112 kms approximately and takes about 2-2.5 hours depending on the traffic.
There is a train route to Chittorgarh from Udaipur too, however we decided to enjoy the road trip to Chittorgarh.
Chittorgarh is widely famous for its Chittorgarh or Chittor Fort, the largest fort in India and Asia.
The ruins of Rana Kumbha Palace, Vijay Stambha, Kirti Stambha, Gaumukh Water Reservoir, Padmini's Palace, Meera temple and several gates or Pols in this fort complex is worth all your attention.
The history of this place surely left an everlasting effect on us. Chittorgarh Fort is an UNECSCO World Heritage Site.
We then headed back to Udaipur and reached the Monsoon Palace aka the the Sajjangarh Fort.
The Sajjangarh Fort is located at a hilltop and one can view the entire city of Udaipur from this fort.
This fort is also quite famous for its beautiful sunsets.
We had left our car at the lower entrance of the Fort, from where we boarded the public commute to the actual entrance of the Fort. We took an auto ride from the lower entrance of the Fort while returning to the city. We were very tired but still decided to walk around as a city is best explored only by walking. There are many cafes in Udaipur with lake view. We had our dinner in one of these rooftop with a lake view cafe and post dinner we walked backed to our hotel.
Day 3 again began very early for us as we had two forts to cover at two different locations, Kumbhalgarh Fort at Kumbhalgarh and Mehrangarh Fort at Jodhpur. The distance between Udaipur to Jodhpur is around 250 kms and via Kumbhalgarh it becomes around 273 kms.
Kumbhalgarh Fort, is a fortress located around 84 kms north of Udaipur and is historically important for many reasons, birthplace of Mewar pride Rana Pratap Singh and almost invincible against enemy attacks being one of these reasons.
The perimetal wall resembles the Great Wall of China.
Kumbhalgarh Fort is again an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The winding roads, the vast Aravalli range, peacocks, water tanks add much to the road trip to Kumbhalgarh.
We then embarked on our journey to Jodhpur, only stopping for lunch. The good condition of the national highway to Jodhpur makes the road trip extra enjoyable.
Jodhpur popularly known as the Blue City is quite a favourite amongst tourists for its Mehrangarh Fort, Umaid Bhawan and sand dunes of Thar Desert.
Mehrangarh Fort was built by Rao Jodha and is an architectural gem.
The fort museum is extremely well maintained is worth a visit.
We were very tired after the road trip and the fort visits and decided to have our dinner at our hotel itself. We tried our first Rajasthani thali and enjoyed it until an extremely hot mirchi vada left us all in tears!
Day 4 began by waking up in the middle of the night and walking to the Jodhpur Junction Station, as we had an early morning train to Jaisalmer.
Our hotel was very close to the Railway Station, thus saving us again the unnecessary commute time.
We had some time in hand and decided to grab few cups of morning tea before boarding the train.
It took us about 5-5.30 hours to reach Jaisalmer.
Jaisalmer, popularly known as the Golden City, is located in the western part of Rajasthan and in the middle of the Thar Desert.
Sand dunes are quite popular in Jaisalmer and the desert safari is quite a favourite amongst many tourists.
Often these desert safaris are followed by some cultural function under the star studded sky and camp fire to keep us warm.
One can even indulge in the extended desert safari, away from the cacophony of the crowd and live in the camps to enjoy the desert life more thoroughly.
Wind mills are quite common on the way to the desert.
The sand dune bashing is quite an experience we will definitely not forget in the years to come!
Day 5 was extra special, especially, being a 'Satyajit Ray' fan. Long before web series and movies gave us travel goals, a certain 'Ray' had already pioneered in giving (Bengali if not others) kids/adults their travel goals. 'Sonar Kella' is a not only just a book and later movie made by him but an emotion to many tourists including me.
Sonar Kella or the Golden Fort is undoubtedly the city's main attraction and is one of the few living forts of India as well as the world. It is built of yellow sandstone, giving the distinct golden color to the fort.
It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Walking through this living fort is an experience you wouldn't want to trade with anything! We did some souvenir shopping and then headed back to the hotel inorder to leave for our next destination. We took an overnight train to Jaipur and after waiting for couple of hours at the Jaipur station, took another train to Sawai Madhopur.
Our Day 6 began from the waiting room of Jaipur station. It took us around 2.5 hours to reach Sawai Madhopur. Sawai Madhopur has something special about it, may be because it is the home of some large cats. The Ranthambore Fort here is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Ranthambore National Park is one of the largest national parks in the whole of Rajasthan and is a favourite among many wildlife lovers.
You can book safaris online or ask your hotel to assist you for these wildlife safaris.
Tiger spotting is quite common in this National Park.
Most of the hotels here are camp styled and you can enjoy the camp fire before going to bed. We slept early as we had an early morning safari ride to enjoy and some wildlife to explore.
The first half of day 7 was all about wildlife safari and the second half was about reaching the last destination of our one week trip, Jaipur, by train.
While reaching Jaipur, we didn't miss the opportunity to enjoy some delicious kachoris from Rawat, a famous confectionery in Jaipur.
We had booked our Airbnb in the heart of the city, walking distance from all the popular tourist spots like Hawa Mahal, City Palace, Jantar Mantar, again to cut down commute time and explore the city by walking.
We had the three major forts, Amber, Jaigarh and Nahargarh for the penultimate day of our trip. These forts are located outside the city, Nahargarh being on a hill top. We booked an uber on rental for few hours
and headed first to explore Nahargarh Fort.
Although Nahargarh Fort is quite popular for its sunsets, we decided to explore this fort first because we had already planned to experience the Sound and Light show at Amber fort in the evening, post sunset.
Usually, it is convenient to visit the Jaigarh Fort on your way back from Nahargarh Fort but we had another plan to execute for which we decided to directly head towards Amber Fort instead.
Amber Fort, constructed of red sandstone is again an architectural gem and an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
There is a tunnel connecting Amber Fort to Jaigarh Fort, used by the then ruling royals, especially the female royal members to escape enemy attacks and capture.
We walked through this tunnel and hiked upto Jaigarh Fort, an experience I thoroughly enjoyed and would definitely recommend all to enjoy too.
Jaigarh Fort is located on a hill top, overlooking the Amber Fort and the Maota Lake.
There is a big cannon centrally located in this fort.
After exploring the Jaigarh Fort, we headed back to Amber Fort just on time to enjoy the Sound and Light show, in the same route that we took while hiking up. This hiking up and down is nothing but an uphill amd downhill walk which is not at all exerting. The Sound and Light show is a must for all history enthusiasts. It has two shows, one in English and the other in Hindi.
This was the last day and we decided to explore the City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal and indulge in some souvenir shopping in Johhri Bazar and Bapu Bazar of Jaipur.
With pocket full of memories and affluent experiences we ended our one week long trip, having been able to visit several historically important forts, grand palaces, beautiful lakes, sand dunes in the desert and a national park, all in a week!
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