Royal Rajasthan, Your Way

Few places pack this much into one state. Jaipur's forts and bazaars, Jodhpur's blue old city under Mehrangarh, the lived-in golden fort at Jaisalmer and the lakes and palaces of Udaipur are each a day's drive apart, and each feels different from the last. Between them sit smaller places — Pushkar, Ranakpur, Chittorgarh, Bundi — that reward a slower trip.

Rajasthan tourism is also well set up for travellers of every kind. Road connections between the main cities are good, there are hotels at every budget from simple guesthouses to palaces, and it works as well for a family with grandparents as it does for a couple on their honeymoon.

Three to four days suits Jaipur on its own, or Jaipur with Pushkar. Five to six days is the sweet spot for a first trip: Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur with two nights in most places. Seven to eight days lets you add Jaisalmer and a night on the dunes without rushing.

Beyond ten days you can add Ranthambore for tigers, Bikaner, Bundi or Mount Abu. What we advise against is trying to see four cities in five days — Rajasthan's drives are five to six hours between most cities, and a trip that is mostly car windows is not a good trip.

Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur is the classic route and the one most first-time visitors should start with. Adding Jaisalmer turns it into the full western circuit, with a desert camp at Sam. Jaipur, Pushkar and Udaipur is a gentler alternative that swaps the blue city for Pushkar's ghats.

Jodhpur and Jaisalmer together make a compact desert trip of five or six days. And Jaipur on its own, with Amber, Nahargarh and the old city, is a good long weekend from Delhi. Most Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Udaipur packages can be run in either direction, so we set the order around where your flights or trains are easiest.

Start with the season. October to March is the main window, with December and January the busiest and most expensive, especially around Christmas and New Year. The Pushkar fair usually falls in November, and the Jaisalmer Desert Festival in February. From April to June the plains regularly pass 40°C and desert camps mostly close; the monsoon months are quieter, greener around Udaipur and cheaper.

Then decide where you arrive and leave. Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur all have airports; Jaisalmer's flights are more limited, so desert trips often end with a drive or an overnight train. A one-way route — in at Jaipur, out at Udaipur — saves a long day of driving back. Good Rajasthan itinerary planning also means sightseeing early: forts are far more pleasant at 9am than at 1pm.

When you enquire, tell us your dates, how many people are travelling and their ages, a rough budget per person, and whether you want heritage hotels or simply comfortable ones. That is enough for us to send back a real itinerary.

Rajasthan family tours work best with fewer cities and more nights. We keep drives to one sitting with a stop in the middle, choose hotels with a pool where we can — it matters more than you would expect in the afternoon heat — and avoid scheduling three forts in a day.

Children tend to enjoy Jantar Mantar, the elephant-gate climb at Amber, a boat on Lake Pichola and, above all, the dunes. For older parents we check for lifts, avoid hotels up steep lanes, and note which forts involve long walks or stairs.

Udaipur is the centre of most Rajasthan honeymoon packages, and a lake-view room is worth paying for there. Jaisalmer adds something quite different: a golden fort, empty dunes and a night at a desert camp. Heritage havelis in Jaipur and Jodhpur make a good middle ground between a hotel and a palace.

We plan honeymoons with later starts, fewer sights per day and one or two special evenings — a sunset boat, a private dinner at the camp — rather than filling every hour.

Rajasthan has some of the most atmospheric hotels in India: former palaces, forts and old merchant havelis, many still run by the families who built them. Rajasthan luxury tours are as much about these stays as about sightseeing, so we build in two nights in each and leave evenings free to enjoy them.

The best of these properties fill early for December and January. If a particular hotel matters to you, tell us at the start and we will plan the dates around its availability.

Delhi to Jaipur is about 280 km, five to six hours by road, which makes Jaipur the natural start for Rajasthan packages from Delhi. Our cabs pick up from your Delhi hotel, the airport or the railway station, and the same car and driver stay with you for the trip.

If you would rather not spend the first day on the road, there are fast morning trains to Jaipur and short flights to Udaipur and Jodhpur. Many travellers also add Agra on the way — Delhi, Agra and Jaipur together is easy to combine with the rest of Rajasthan.

Almost every Rajasthan trip we plan runs on a private cab with a driver, and for good reason: the cities are spread out, public transport between them is slow, and a car lets you stop at Ranakpur, Chittorgarh or a roadside chai stall on the way. A sedan suits two or three people, an SUV such as an Innova four to six, and a Tempo Traveller works for larger groups.

Private Rajasthan tours are priced with the driver's allowance, tolls, parking and state taxes included, so there is nothing to settle at the end. We also avoid long drives after dark — the highways are fine by day, but it is not worth the risk at night.