How we plan a day in Bundi
Why start early: the monuments are on a hillside and mostly in the open. Taragarh has almost no shade, the palace ramp is steep, and the stepwells are best in slanting light.
The first three or four hours: from sunrise, for climbing and looking.
The town dozes too: after lunch, while you rest, Bundi itself goes quiet.
- Early morning
- Climbing and looking
- Lunch
- Long and unhurried
- Midday
- A rest in a cool haveli room
- Late afternoon
- Water, lanes and cenotaphs
- Evening
- Rooftops
- When it matters most: from March to October, when the middle of the day is genuinely hot.
- Even in winter: shops close for lunch, midday light is flat, and the monuments are busiest in the late morning when day-trippers arrive.
- The reward: by working around them you see Bundi at its emptiest and most beautiful.
- Guides we always include: for the palace and Chitrashala, because the murals mean little without someone to read them.
- And for Taragarh: the paths fork through scrub and the monkeys need managing. Our guides never take commissions.
- The bigger picture: start with our Bundi guide.
One day in Bundi
- Arrive
- By about two
- Afternoon
- Stepwells and Nawal Sagar
- Dawn
- Taragarh
- Leave
- On the road by eleven
Afternoon, the stepwells and the lake
Arrive: from Jaipur, Ranthambore or Kota by about two, check into your haveli and have a light lunch.
At four: walk down through the blue lanes to Raniji ki Baori, the queen's stepwell of 1699, as the light starts to slant down its steps.
- At the baori: spend time on the pillared landings, and find the stone elephants and the avatars of Vishnu.
- Then: continue to the twin tanks of Nagar Sagar Kund in the bazaar.
- Sunset: walk to Nawal Sagar and watch the palace turn gold above the water.
- Dinner: on your haveli roof, with the palace lit above you.
Next morning, the fort and the painted palace
It is a full twenty-four hours, but you will have seen the heart of Bundi at the right hours.
Before dawn: climb to Taragarh with your guide as the sky lightens.
- At the top: the Bhim Burj and the view over the valley.
- Down the back way: through the back gate into the Chitrashala just as the palace opens.
- In the palace: an hour with the murals and another walking down through the Chhatra Mahal and the Hathi Pol.
- Late breakfast: at the haveli, and on the road by eleven.
- Heading west: the temples of Menal make a good stop on the way to Chittorgarh.
Two days in Bundi
- Day one
- Palace, Chitrashala, stepwells, Nawal Sagar
- Day two
- Taragarh, cenotaphs, painter, Jait Sagar
- 84-pillar cenotaph
- Built 1683
- Sukh Mahal
- Kipling stayed in 1887
Day one, the palace, the murals and the stepwells
Morning: walk up the palace ramp as the Garh Palace opens, through the Hathi Pol to the hall of public audience and the Chhatra Mahal. Ask whether the Badal Mahal is open.
The Chitrashala: give it a proper hour with a guide who can read the Ras Leela, Krishna lifting Govardhan, the ragamala scenes and the painted storms.
- Afternoon: lunch and a long rest.
- At four: walk down to Raniji ki Baori, then on to Nagar Sagar Kund and through Sadar Bazaar as the sweet shops start frying jalebi.
- Evening: walk around Nawal Sagar at dusk with the town, then dinner on the roof.
- Music: if you'd like it, we ask your hosts to invite a local singer for an hour.
Day two, Taragarh, the cenotaphs and Kipling's lake
Morning: climb Taragarh at first light, when the valley is still in mist and the macaques are sleepy, then come down for a late breakfast.
Late morning: drive to the cenotaph of eighty-four pillars, built in 1683, and on to Dabhai Kund, the great geometric stepped tank.
- Afternoon: rest, then visit a miniature painter in his studio and watch how brushes are made and colours ground.
- Late afternoon: drive to Kshar Bagh, the walled garden of royal cenotaphs, then to the Sukh Mahal on Jait Sagar, where Kipling stayed in 1887.
- Evening: sunset over the lake, egrets in the shallows and the hills turning blue, then a last thali in town.
- Homework: read our piece on Kipling in Bundi the night before.
Three days in Bundi and Hadoti
- Kota
- Forty minutes away
- Keshoraipatan
- About an hour away
- Kota Doria weavers
- At Kaithoon
- Ramgarh Vishdhari
- North of town, in the right season
Days one and two, Bundi itself
Follow the two-day plan: with one change, moving the painter's studio to day three's evening.
- Use the free hour: for a slow walk through the lanes with your guide, stopping at the Charbhuja Nath temple and any courtyard where you are invited in for tea.
- Why it works: without the pressure of a deadline, Bundi opens up.
Day three, Kota and the Chambal
Morning: drive forty minutes to Kota, the other Hada capital, for its Garh Palace and painted rooms in the Kota style, famous for scenes of the royal hunt.
Compare: set them against what you saw in the Chitrashala the day before.
- A rivalry in paint: Bundi the elder and Kota the richer kept it up for three hundred years, and you can see it in their walls.
- Afternoon: lunch in Kota, then the Kota Doria weavers at Kaithoon, with fine checked cotton coming off the looms. Our journal piece on Kota Doria weaving explains the craft.
- Evening: back to Bundi for sunset on Nawal Sagar and the painter's studio at dusk, or stay in a Kota palace hotel above the Chambal and see the river at sunset.
Or day three, Keshoraipatan and the countryside
The temple: drive about an hour to Keshoraipatan, where the temple of Keshav Rai, built by Rao Chhatrasal of Bundi, stands above the Chambal.
- On the way: stop in villages, and in the cool months walk the coriander and wheat fields with a farming family.
- Back for the light: return to Bundi in time for the late afternoon.
- In the right season: add a drive with a naturalist in Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve, north of town.
Four days, at the slowest pace
Days one to three
Bundi is a town of light, and seeing the same place at different hours is the greatest luxury it offers.
Follow the three-day plan: choosing Kota or the Chambal countryside for day three.
- An empty afternoon: build in at least one with nothing planned. It fills itself: a conversation on a stepwell, a wedding procession, tea in a stranger's courtyard.
- Change the hour: walk to Raniji ki Baori once in the morning and once in the late afternoon.
- Two dawns: climb Taragarh on two different mornings.
- Nawal Sagar twice: at sunset and after dark, when the palace is lit.
Day four, a slow morning and the temples of Menal
Morning: go back to whichever place moved you most. For many guests it is the Chitrashala with fresh eyes, or Taragarh on a different dawn, when the light and mist are never quite the same.
Breakfast: on the roof with nowhere to be.
- Afternoon: drive west and stop at Menal, medieval temples on the edge of a gorge with a waterfall that pours after the monsoon.
- Bijolia: old temples and a twelfth-century Chauhan inscription.
- Overnight: continue to Chittorgarh or a castle in Mewar, and so on to Udaipur.
- Or stay put: a cooking session in your haveli kitchen, learning gatte ki sabzi and the perfect roti, and a farewell dinner on the roof.
Or day four, a village and the forest edge
Morning: leave early with a naturalist for the hills at the edge of Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve, when the forest department allows drives.
Honest odds: you are unlikely to see a tiger here, and we never pretend otherwise.
- What you will see: dry forest, rocky ridges, birds of prey and perhaps nilgai or a jackal, with the landscape to yourself.
- Afternoon: lunch with a farming family on the way back, arranged through people we know and only where we are welcome. Walk the fields and drink buttermilk in the courtyard.
- Evening: a last sunset at Jait Sagar and a farewell dinner on the roof.
- Read more: our page on rural homestays with families explains how we arrange visits respectfully.
How the plan changes with the season
- Winter
- November to February, the easiest
- Summer
- April to June, one or two nights
- Monsoon
- July to September, a spare half-day
- Kajli Teej
- Usually August
- Bundi Utsav
- Kartik, around October or November
Winter, from November to February
Dawn climb: starts around sunrise rather than before it, because mornings are cold. You will want a fleece until about nine.
- Short rest: the middle of the day is warm and pleasant.
- Fit in more: a drive to Kota or Keshoraipatan, a long lunch outdoors, a stroll through the bazaar after dark.
- Evenings: the roof needs a shawl.
Summer, from April to June
Taragarh: at first light only, down by eight.
The palace and Chitrashala: as they open, finished by ten.
- Then nothing until five: when the stepwells and lakes come alive.
- No day trips: we keep Bundi to one or two nights.
- Essentials: plenty of water, electrolytes and cool rooms.
Monsoon, from July to September
Green and empty: the town is beautiful, and plans become flexible.
A spare half-day: in case heavy rain closes a road or makes the fort path too slippery.
- Waiting out a shower: the Chitrashala is the perfect place.
- After rain: the cenotaphs, lakes and waterfalls are at their best.
- Pack: good shoes and a light rain jacket matter more than anything else.
Festival days
We rebuild the day: around the procession, the fair and the evening programmes, with sightseeing in the quieter hours.
- Dates: they follow the lunar calendar, so we confirm them as soon as they are announced.
- Read more: about Teej and the Bundi Utsav.
Variations for families, couples and repeat visitors
- Children
- The coolest dawn for the fort
- Couples
- Evenings kept free for the roof
- Repeat visitors
- The monsoon
- Photographers
- Two dawns on Taragarh
- Limited mobility
- Kota or a ground-floor room
With children
What they love: monkeys on the fort, elephants carved in the stepwell, animals hidden in the murals, kites on the rooftops.
The fort as an expedition: keep it for the coolest dawn, with a guide who tells stories of sieges and secret tunnels.
- Stepwells: hold hands on the steps, which have few railings.
- A game for the Chitrashala: find five animals, or the blue god.
- A softer base: families with young children may prefer Kota with a pool, and day trips in.
- More: our guide to travelling with children and our family journeys.
For couples
Quietly romantic: stay in the haveli with the best palace view, climb Taragarh together at dawn, and keep the evenings for the roof.
- What we arrange: a private sunset at the Sukh Mahal, a lamp-lit dinner in a courtyard, or a musician on the terrace.
- Pair it: with Udaipur's lake palaces on our Rajasthan honeymoons or Rajasthan for Two journeys.
For repeat visitors to Rajasthan
Come in the monsoon: if you have done Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur.
- Go deeper: a full morning in the Chitrashala, Kota's painted rooms, and a day for Ramgarh Vishdhari and the countryside.
- Access: longer sessions with a miniature painter and introductions in town that a first visit wouldn't allow.
- Next: our journal piece on lesser-known corners of Rajasthan.
For photographers
The plan: two dawns on Taragarh, one late afternoon in Raniji ki Baori, and the blue lanes in the soft shade of mid-morning.
- Night shots: book the most palace-facing room you can for the lit hillside.
- People: our photography tips cover etiquette.
For travellers with limited mobility
Ramps, steps, narrow lanes: so we plan carefully.
The base: Kota, or a haveli with a ground-floor room close to where the car can stop.
- Taragarh: we drive round to an upper gate when the road is open, or replace the climb with the view from a haveli roof.
- The palace: we focus on the Chitrashala and the most accessible rooms.
- Water: stepwells and cenotaphs you can enjoy from the top or from a car.
- Still rewarding: at a gentler pace. Our guide to accessible travel explains more.
Eating through a Bundi day
The best meal of the day: breakfast after the fort.
On the roof: poha, parathas and sweet tea.
- Breakfast
- After the fort: poha, parathas or kachori
- Lunch
- The main meal, a home-style thali
- Late afternoon
- Tea, jalebi, or ghevar at Teej
- Dinner
- Lighter and later, on the roof
- In the bazaar: hot kachori with chutney, eaten standing in the lane the way everyone else does. On the second morning, do the other one.
- Lunch deserves time: ask your haveli kitchen for dal baati, gatte ki sabzi, seasonal greens, buttermilk and, in winter, maize rotis with white butter and jaggery.
- Vegetarian kitchens: most haveli kitchens are, and very good at it. Then rest, as everyone in town does.
- Something sweet: a jalebi from a bazaar stall or, in the Teej season, ghevar.
- Cook with the family: many haveli families are happy to let you into the kitchen. Our haveli cooking class page explains how we arrange it.
Where Bundi fits in a longer journey
The classic route: through Ranthambore, each leg a comfortable morning's drive with time for lunch on arrival.
Why it matters: it turns the long, dull highway between Jaipur and Udaipur into one of the most rewarding stretches of any Rajasthan trip.
- Classic route
- Jaipur, Ranthambore, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Udaipur
- Ranthambore to Bundi
- About three hours
- Bundi to Chittorgarh
- About three hours
- Shortest stay
- One night between Jaipur and Udaipur
- Our journeys: Bundi is a highlight of our offbeat Rajasthan journey with Chittorgarh and Dungarpur.
- Also on: our Palaces and Tigers journey and our two-week Rajasthan journey.
- A shorter trip: a single night between Jaipur and Udaipur is still far better than missing it.
- Distances: our road distances and drive times page shows how it fits together.
Getting to Bundi and getting around
By road from Jaipur: through farmland and small towns.
By rail: Kota Junction is on the main Delhi to Mumbai line, with fast trains from Delhi. Bundi also has its own small station.
- From Jaipur
- About four hours by road
- From Ranthambore
- About three hours
- From Chittorgarh
- About three hours
- Main station
- Kota Junction, about forty minutes
- Flights
- Into Jaipur or Udaipur, then drive
- By air: Kota has had no regular commercial flights for many years, so we usually fly guests into Jaipur or Udaipur and drive.
- In the old town: the lanes below the palace are too narrow for cars. Your driver drops you at the palace gate or the bazaar, and you explore on foot.
- Luggage: porters carry it to your haveli.
- Beyond the old town: for the cenotaphs, Jait Sagar, Kota and the temples you need your car and driver. Our guide to getting around Rajasthan explains how we plan long drives.
Where to stay for each itinerary
A haveli under the palace walls: our choice for every version, so you can walk out onto the Taragarh path at dawn and come home to the roof at dusk.
No grand palace hotel: Bundi has none, and we are honest about that in our guide to luxury hotels in Bundi.
- Best base
- A heritage haveli under the palace walls
- Palace hotel
- None in Bundi
- Pool and gardens
- Kota, forty minutes away
- Book early
- October to March
- Pool and gardens: base yourself in Kota and drive in, or split the nights between the two.
- Book early: for October to March, when the best rooms in Bundi's small havelis go first.
- What to expect: our page on heritage havelis of Bundi describes it.
What we tell friends before they go
Keep Bundi's hours: start early every day, rest at midday, and go out again after four.
Sleep there: don't try to see Bundi in an afternoon on the way somewhere else. Stay at least one night.
- Shoes and snacks: wear shoes with grip, and keep bottles and snacks out of sight around the palace and fort.
- Time it for a festival: Kajli Teej in August or the Bundi Utsav in Kartik, if you can. Our guide to the best time to visit Bundi goes month by month.
- Respect: ask before photographing people, and dress modestly in the lanes and temples.
- Leave space: the best moments in Bundi are usually the ones nobody scheduled. See our full list of things to do in Bundi.
