Why Rajasthan lives on its roofs
The hour is everything. Sit down twenty minutes before sunset and you watch the light change on the stone, then the first lamps in the lanes, then the floodlights on the great building in front of you. Bats come out. Temple bells ring for the evening aarti. Somewhere a wedding band starts up.
Built inward: the haveli, the old townhouse, turns a blank wall to the street and opens onto courtyards, with rooms around them and a flat roof above.
- Best hour
- Twenty minutes before sunset
- Lights come on
- About twenty minutes after sunset
- Best months
- October to March
- Finest views
- Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bundi, Jaipur
- Note
- Pushkar is vegetarian and alcohol-free
- The coolest place after dark: in a desert climate, the roof. Before electric fans, families carried their string beds up the stairs in the hot months and slept under the stars.
- A working space: women dried grain, papads and red chillies on it in the winter sun.
- Kites: children flew them from the roofs, and still do, above all on Makar Sankranti in January, when all of Jaipur climbs onto its roofs from dawn to dusk.
- Where the city gathers: a rooftop dinner is the most Rajasthani of evenings, eaten where the city has always gathered at the end of the day.
- The view is the difference: the old cities were built around forts, palaces and lakes, so almost every roof faces something extraordinary.
- What you might face: the City Palace of Udaipur rising out of the water, the bastions of Jaisalmer glowing gold, Mehrangarh above Jodhpur, the palace of Bundi spilling down its hill.
Choosing a rooftop worth the climb
View versus kitchen: the food often matters less than the view, but a clean kitchen matters a great deal.
- Terraces we know: we steer guests to roofs whose kitchens we have seen.
- A roof no one else can book: for special evenings, a haveli roof, a palace terrace or a hotel's private pavilion, set for two or for a family, with a cook and perhaps a musician.
- Trust your instinct: if a restaurant's stairs pass through a kitchen you would not eat in, go elsewhere.
Where we book a rooftop, city by city
Udaipur, the City Palace across the water
India's great rooftop city: half the old town seems to have a terrace, on both shores.
The best of them: around Hanuman Ghat on the western side, looking straight across Lake Pichola at the long facade of the City Palace.
- At dusk: the palace lights come on floor by floor and the reflection lies across the water.
- Ambrai Ghat: on that western shore, its steps face the whole length of the palace, and the terraces nearby are among the most romantic tables in the country.
- A grander evening: Taj Lake Palace serves dinner to non-resident guests who book ahead, and arriving by its boat at dusk is part of the pleasure.
- Names we trust: our journal piece on the best rooftop restaurants in Udaipur.
Jaisalmer, the fort in its floodlights
The view: from a roof in the old town below Jaisalmer Fort, the bastions turn from yellow to honey to rose, vanish for a moment, then catch the floodlights.
- How to do it: choose somewhere simple and clean, eat early in winter, when the desert night turns cold fast, and bring a shawl.
- A quieter evening: tea at dusk on a family's roof on the western edge of the fort itself, with families we know and pay properly.
Jodhpur, Mehrangarh above the blue roofs
Where: the old houses and guesthouses around the Clock Tower and Sardar Market.
- The whole city in one frame: the clock tower below, Mehrangarh on its cliff behind and the dome of Umaid Bhawan on the far horizon.
- The hour: sit with chai as the fort turns gold, then red, and the lights come on.
- Our calm choice: RAAS Jodhpur, at the foot of the fort in the old city, with terraces that look up at the walls.
Bundi, the palace on its hill
The best table: a haveli roof in Bundi, with the Garh Palace and the walls of Taragarh lit up above and the town's lights below.
- What to do: order a slow thali, watch the bats come out over Nawal Sagar and listen to the temple bells.
- Music: we often ask our haveli hosts to arrange a local musician for an hour.
- Why it is special: it is the moment Bundi looks most like one of its own murals.
Jaipur, the pink city from above
Facing Hawa Mahal: the rooftop cafes across the road from Hawa Mahal give you the facade at eye level, and in the last hour of light the walls turn pink, rose, then ochre.
Chai, not dinner: we take tea there rather than a meal.
- For the evening proper: private dinners on palace roofs and haveli terraces in the walled city.
- Sunset from above: drive up to Nahargarh Fort on the ridge for sunset over the city, then come down to eat.
- More seats: our journal on the best rooftop restaurants in Jaipur.
Pushkar, above the ghats
The view: from cafe and guesthouse terraces in Pushkar, the ghats become a single picture of steps, domes and pigeons over the holy lake.
- When: the late afternoon, with masala chai and something simple, staying for the bells of the evening aarti.
- The rules: a sacred town, wholly vegetarian and free of alcohol, and its rooftops follow suit.
- Early nights: shops close early and the town sleeps soon after dark.
Agra, the dome across Taj Ganj
Where: the upper floors and roofs around Taj Ganj, the town that grew up beside the tomb.
- The view: the dome of the Taj Mahal across the rooftops, pale against the evening sky, best on a clear winter evening.
- Our approach: the food is mostly simple, so we use these roofs for tea and the view, and keep dinner for the hotel.
A roof of your own
The roof: families and hotels we know open one for a single party: a haveli terrace in the walled city, a palace pavilion above a courtyard, or a hotel's highest terrace closed off for the evening.
The setting: rugs, bolsters and low tables, or a proper table and linen if you prefer, lit with oil lamps and lanterns.
- Where
- Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bundi and Udaipur
- Setting
- Rugs and bolsters, or table and linen
- Light
- Oil lamps and lanterns
- Music
- Folk musicians for an hour
- Book ahead
- A few days, a few weeks in busy times
- The food: a family cook prepares dinner, often from recipes never written down, served course by course or as a thali.
- The music: a pair of folk musicians, perhaps Manganiyar singers with a kamaicha and dholak, or a single sarangi player, plays for an hour in the corner, never too loud.
- Musicians we know: we pay them properly and tell them about you so they can choose their songs. Our page on the Manganiyar singers explains their songs.
- Evenings guests remember: a birthday on a haveli roof in Bundi, a proposal facing the City Palace, a family reunion over laal maas and bajra rotis.
- A surprise: tell us quietly and we will do the rest.
- Inside, not on top: our page on private dinners in palaces covers courtyards, durbar halls and Jag Mandir by boat.
An evening on a Udaipur roof, hour by hour
Five o'clock, a walk through the lanes
Meet: your guide meets you near the Jagdish temple.
- Walk: down through the old city past Gangaur Ghat, the painters' shops and the sweet sellers frying the evening's snacks, then over the footbridge to the western shore.
- No car: it cannot follow you here, and you would not want it to.
Half past five, the stairs and the table
The climb: four or five flights of narrow stairs to the roof, where your table is set at the parapet.
- Below you: the lake still bright, boats crossing to Jag Mandir, women washing clothes on the ghats and boys diving in.
- Order: a fresh lime soda or something cold, and simply look.
Sunset, the palace turns gold
The light: the sun goes down behind you, over the western hills, and the City Palace facade turns from cream to amber to rose.
- The sound: temple bells begin on the ghats for the evening aarti.
- Fifteen minutes: that is about how long it lasts. Don't spend it looking at your phone.
Twenty minutes later, the lights come on
- The blue hour: the palace lights come on in rows and the reflection lies across the water almost without a ripple, while the Lake Palace glows on its island.
- Now order dinner: a thali, or dal baati and gatte, or laal maas if you eat meat, with hot rotis brought up a few at a time.
Nine o'clock, the walk home
Quiet lanes: the shops half shuttered and the night air cool.
- Back by half past nine: your guide walks you to the car and on to your hotel.
- Or by boat: if you would rather not climb down, we arrange a boat to collect you from a ghat below and take you back across the lake.
Rooftops by day: tea, kites and breakfast
Morning tea: the old way to begin the day in the walled cities, and the hour when you see most of ordinary life.
Jaisalmer and Jodhpur at dawn: the roofs around you fill with people hanging washing, feeding pigeons, sweeping and calling to neighbours, while the fort above catches the sun.
- Best daytime hours
- Early morning and before sunset
- Avoid
- Midday, especially from April
- Kite day
- Makar Sankranti, 14 January
- Breakfast roof
- A Bundi haveli
- Breakfast in Bundi: on a haveli roof, with the palace on the hill and parakeets in the trees, a pleasure we arrange as often as dinner.
- Makar Sankranti, 14 January: from first light every Jaipur family is up there with kites and spools of glass-coated string, music playing, pakoras frying and neighbours shouting as they cut each other's kites.
- Our kite day: a haveli roof in the walled city with a kite-flying teacher and a picnic of til laddoos, sesame sweets, and hot snacks.
- At dusk: paper lanterns are released and float over the city. Our page on kite flying tells you how to join in.
- A word about the heat: from April a roof at midday is a frying pan, and even in winter the sun is strong.
- Do as families do: between early morning and the hour before sunset, retreat to the shade of a courtyard.
What to order with the view
Mewar and Marwar classics
Dal baati churma: Mewar's great feast, hard wheat rolls baked in embers, cracked open and soaked in ghee, with spiced lentils and the sweet crumble of churma.
- Gatte ki sabzi: gram-flour dumplings in a yoghurt curry.
- Ker sangri: desert berries and beans cooked with spices, on almost every good menu.
- For meat eaters in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer: laal maas, the fiery red mutton curry of Marwar, and safed maas, its mild, creamy cousin.
Simple things with the sunset
At sunset: a plate of pakoras or mirchi bada, the Jodhpur chilli fritter, with masala chai, then a thali for dinner.
Drinks and dry days
Where to drink: hotels and licensed restaurants serve beer, wine and spirits, but not everywhere.
Dry days: no alcohol on official dry days, which fall on some festivals and election days.
- Pushkar: entirely alcohol-free.
- Beer in a teapot: many simple rooftop cafes have no licence, and some will offer beer this way anyway. We suggest you decline. Our guide to alcohol and dry days explains the rules.
- The traditional rooftop drink: a fresh lime soda, sweet or salted, and it is very good.
The best season and the best hour
October and November: warm evenings and clear skies. At Diwali, in October or November, every roof and parapet in the old cities is lined with clay lamps and fireworks go on for hours.
December and January: clear but cold after dark, especially in the desert and Shekhawati. We book early tables, ask for heaters or a fire, and bring shawls. The sunset light is superb.
- October-November
- Perfect, with Diwali lamps
- December-January
- Clear but cold, book early tables
- February-March
- The sweet spot, with Holi
- April
- Hot days, glorious late evenings
- May-June
- Dinner at nine, not seven
- July-September
- Covered roofs, indoor table in reserve
- February and March: soft evenings, flowering trees and Holi, best watched from a roof rather than the street.
- April: hot days but glorious evenings, best for a late dinner after the heat has gone out of the stone.
- May and June: rooftops come alive only late at night, when the breeze picks up, so we plan dinners for nine rather than seven.
- The monsoon, July to September: some evenings bring dramatic skies and the smell of rain on hot stone, others a downpour. We choose covered rooftops and keep an indoor table in reserve.
- Mosquitoes: worst after the rains, so wear long sleeves and ask for a coil or repellent. Our best time to visit Rajasthan guide goes month by month.
- The hour, every season: arrive twenty to thirty minutes before sunset, take the table at the edge, order a drink and wait for the lights.
Who will love it, and who should think twice
Couples and honeymooners
- The most romantic table: there is none finer in India than one facing the lit City Palace across Pichola.
- Built in: our Udaipur romance journey and Rajasthan for Two both include at least one private rooftop evening.
Families
- What children love: rooftops, kites in the afternoon and bats at dusk.
- Safety: many old roofs have low parapets and steep stairs, so we choose terraces with proper railings and an easy climb, and eat early.
Photographers
- The blue hour: after sunset, with the buildings lit and the sky still glowing, is when rooftop photographs are made.
- Kit: bring a small tripod or a beanbag, and ask the restaurant first. Our photography tips have more.
Guests with limited mobility
- The stairs: most old city rooftops are reached by narrow, steep stairs with no lift.
- Our alternative: hotel terraces with lifts or ground-level lakeside tables, which can be just as beautiful. Our accessible travel guide explains how we plan around stairs.
Rooftop etiquette and good sense
Neighbouring roofs: don't photograph them without thinking. Women often use them as private space, especially in the morning and evening.
After ten: keep your voice down. The lane below is full of families trying to sleep.
- Clean kitchens over famous views: if the stairs pass through a kitchen you would not eat in, trust that instinct.
- Food and water: eat cooked food served hot, and drink bottled or filtered water. Our health and safety guide has more.
- Mind the parapets: many are low, and the stairs are steep and narrow, especially after dark.
- In winter: bring a shawl or jacket. Desert nights in December and January can be close to freezing.
- On a family's roof: accept the tea, admire the view out loud and thank your hosts with dhanyavaad, or in Marwar greet them with khamma ghani on arrival.
How we plan a rooftop evening
Booked with your journey: especially in the high season from October to March, and above all around Christmas, New Year and Diwali.
The right table: at the edge, facing the view, timed for twenty minutes before sunset.
- Dietary needs: we tell the restaurant in advance, so you don't have to explain at the table.
- Getting there: your driver drops you as close as the lanes allow, a guide walks you in if it is dark, and the car waits afterwards.
- Private rooftops: need a few days, and a few weeks in the busy season, to arrange the cook, lamps, musicians and permissions.
- Roofs we have seen: we visit them, and pay families and musicians fairly and directly.
- Prices: we don't publish them. After one conversation we send a quote and a day-by-day plan. Start on our plan my journey page.
- Pair it with: a boat on Lake Pichola at sunset, the best sunsets in Rajasthan from a fort or ridge, or a walk through the bazaars after dark before you climb the stairs.