How December became Rajasthan's festive season
Our grandmother never celebrated Christmas. But she knew the week well, because it was when the maharajas threw open their palaces for the house parties of the cold weather.
The old photographs in Rajasthan's palace museums of men in tweeds and women in pearls on palace lawns were very often taken in the last week of December. The festive season here has always been a little royal, a little English and entirely its own.
It came with the British: in the nineteenth century the Residents and Political Agents of the Rajputana states kept Christmas in Mount Abu, Ajmer and the cantonments, with churches, carols and club dinners.
- The princes joined in: many were educated in English schools, and December was the height of the cold weather: the season of shooting parties, polo, viceregal visits and palaces full of guests in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bikaner.
- Local churches keep it faithfully: Rajasthan's Christian communities are small but long established, with churches in the cities and old cantonments, and they keep Christmas with midnight mass, carols and cake.
- A holiday for the whole country: Christmas Day is a public holiday across India. Bakeries fill with plum cake, shopfronts with lights, and the week to New Year is the great winter break for Indian families, many of whom come to Rajasthan.
- Many festivals at once: December is Christmas for the churches and palace dining rooms, New Year for the desert camps and lake hotels, the winter wedding season for Rajasthani families and the season of craft fairs.
- Our job: to help you enjoy the most glamorous and most crowded fortnight of the year without spending it in a queue.
When the festive season runs, and what the weather does
The festive season follows the calendar, not the moon, which makes it the easiest of Rajasthan's festivals to plan. The weather is the part people underestimate.
The calendar: Christmas falls on 25 December and New Year's Eve on 31 December. School holidays in India and abroad overlap from around 20 December into the first days of January.
After New Year: the pace eases in the first week of January, then the Jaipur Literature Festival and the kite festival of Makar Sankranti on 14 January bring the next wave.
Facts to know
- Festive fortnight
- About 20 December to early January
- Busiest nights
- 24, 25 and 31 December
- Daytime
- Pleasant in the sun, often low twenties
- Nights
- Near freezing in Jaipur mornings and desert camps
- Next wave
- Literature festival and Makar Sankranti in January
- The light: clear blue skies and soft winter light that photographers love, with crisp mornings and golden late afternoons.
- The cold: colder than most visitors expect. Jaipur mornings can start close to freezing, desert camps near Jaisalmer drop near zero at night, and on Mount Abu frost is possible.
- The fog: morning fog can slow the roads and trains between Delhi, Agra and Jaipur on some days, so we keep those journeys flexible.
- Read more: our Rajasthan in December and Rajasthan in January pages explain the months in detail.
Local tip
Pack thermals even if you are only spending one night in the desert. The camps provide heaters and hot-water bottles, but the walk to dinner under the stars is cold.
Where to spend the festive weeks
Every Rajasthan destination has its festive mood. The question is whether you want grandeur, romance, the desert, the forest or something quieter.
Jaipur, for palaces and the city in festive light
Why go: the grandest place to spend Christmas, with palace hotels holding gala dinners and the bazaars full and bright.
- Also on: the polo season is under way on the grounds by Rambagh, and the first kites of the season appear over the walled city as Makar Sankranti approaches.
- When to sightsee: Amber Fort and Hawa Mahal are cold and beautiful at opening time, and far less crowded than late morning.
Udaipur, for romance on the lakes
Why go: the most romantic New Year's Eve in Rajasthan, with fireworks over Lake Pichola and the City Palace lit gold above the water.
- The catch: Christmas and New Year are Udaipur's busiest and most expensive weeks, and the lake-view rooms go first.
- Also on: the Shilpgram crafts fair outside the city in the second half of December.
Jaisalmer and the desert camps, for stars and fire
- Why go: a luxury tent near Jaisalmer or Manvar, a fire on the dunes, Manganiyar singers and a sky full of stars at midnight.
- Book early: desert camps are at their busiest over New Year and need booking months ahead. Our luxury desert camps page compares them.
Ranthambore, for tigers over the holidays
- Why go: the forest of Ranthambore is open and lovely in winter.
- The catch: the festive weeks are its busiest, and safari permits and lodges sell out months ahead. Book permits as soon as they open.
Mount Abu, Kutch and the south-west
- Mount Abu: the Mount Abu Winter Festival fills the hill station at the very end of December.
- Kutch: further west, the White Rann is in the season of Rann Utsav. New Year on the salt, under a full moon if the calendar is kind, is unforgettable.
The quieter castles and havelis
- Why go: a country-house Christmas, with family-run dinners, village walks and far fewer people than the cities.
- Our favourites: Deogarh Mahal, Rawla Narlai and Castle Mandawa.
The festive days, the way we would spend them
The best Rajasthani Christmas is not the busiest one. It mixes one or two grand evenings with quiet mornings and a great deal of sunshine.
Christmas Eve
- By day: a morning walk through the old city before the crowds, lunch on a sunny terrace and a rest.
- By night: a festive dinner at your palace hotel, or a carol service or midnight mass at one of the old churches. Our guides find out the times for you.
Christmas Day
- Morning: slow, then something outdoors in the sun: a picnic at a stepwell, a drive to a village, a camel ride across the dunes or a boat on Lake Pichola.
- Evening: a private dinner on a fort rampart or palace terrace, with lamps and a singer. Our private palace dinners are made for this.
The days between
- At the monuments: the busiest days of the year, so go at opening time.
- Midday: craft workshops, cooking classes, cycling at dawn and long lunches. Our page on heritage walks suggests early routes in every city.
New Year's Eve
- The galas: most palace hotels and desert camps hold dinners with music and fireworks, and they are very well done.
- The alternative: a private dinner on a dune, terrace or rooftop, with a fire, a few musicians and the city or the desert to yourselves at midnight.
New Year's Day
- Sunrise: over the walls of Amber, from a boat on Pichola, over the dunes or from a jeep in Ranthambore.
- Then: a long, lazy brunch. The roads are quiet in the morning, which makes it a fine day to move on to the next city.
The fairs and festivals of late December
December has its own Rajasthani festivals, quite apart from Christmas. They are the reason we never find the season dull.
Facts to know
- Shilpgram fair
- Udaipur, usually from around 21 December, ten days
- Mount Abu festival
- Traditionally 29 to 31 December
- Kumbhalgarh Festival
- Early December
- Rann Utsav
- Kutch, roughly November to February
- Urs at Ajmer
- Islamic calendar, moves about 11 days earlier each year
Shilpgram, Udaipur
What it is: a crafts village on the edge of Udaipur, set up in 1989 by the West Zone Cultural Centre for the rural and tribal arts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa and Maharashtra.
- The fair: every December hundreds of artisans sell and demonstrate their work, and folk musicians and dancers perform in its open theatre.
- When to go: crowded in the evenings, wonderful in the morning.
The Mount Abu Winter Festival
- What happens: folk dance, games, a boat race and floating lamps on Nakki Lake, ending with fireworks.
- More: our Winter Festival page explains the programme.
The Kumbhalgarh Festival
- What happens: the Kumbhalgarh Festival brings dance and music to the walls of the great Mewar fort, a fine prelude to a festive week in Udaipur.
Rann Utsav in Kutch
- Why go: the tent city at Dhordo is in full swing through the holidays and the White Rann is at its whitest.
- Book early: the holiday weeks fill first.
The Urs at Ajmer
- What it is: the Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, when the town fills with pilgrims from across South Asia.
- When: it follows the Islamic calendar, and in the mid-2020s it has fallen in December or around the turn of the year. Our page on the Urs at Ajmer Sharif explains it.
A Rajasthani table at Christmas
Our cousins abroad always ask whether they will get a Christmas dinner in Rajasthan. They do, if they want one. Most end up preferring the winter food of the desert.
The festive menus: palace hotels cook beautiful European Christmas menus over the holidays, and the bakeries of Jaipur and Udaipur sell plum cake by the slice.
Winter breads: bajre ki roti, millet flatbread, with garlic chutney and white butter, and makki ki roti, maize flatbread, with jaggery.
- Cold-weather sweets: gond ke laddu, made with edible gum, ghee and nuts only in winter, and til and jaggery sweets in the weeks before Sankranti.
- At night: hot milk with saffron and almonds, the drink every Rajasthani grandmother prescribes in December.
- In the desert camps: dinner cooked over open fires, with laal maas, smoky dals and ker sangri, the desert's beans and berries.
- Our favourite Christmas lunch: a royal Rajasthani thali on a palace lawn, with a cake to finish. Our food and royal kitchens page describes the meals we arrange.
- For a busy afternoon: a cooking class in a haveli, lovely in the crowded days between Christmas and New Year.
Etiquette and good sense in the festive weeks
The festive season is relaxed and welcoming. A few habits help you enjoy it gracefully, and keep the people who look after you happy too.
At church: respectful visitors are welcome. Dress modestly for a service, arrive early and don't photograph during worship.
Remember the majority: most Rajasthanis are not celebrating Christmas. Temples, mosques and village life go on as usual, so keep the party for the hotel.
- Wedding season: December is its height. If your hotel hosts a wedding, enjoy the spectacle, and if you are invited in, bring a small gift and dress up.
- Tipping: tip the staff who look after you over the holidays fairly. Our guide to money and tipping explains the customs.
- Fireworks: common on New Year's Eve. Keep nervous children indoors, and never set off fireworks near monuments or animals.
- After dark: let your chauffeur drive you home, especially on New Year's Eve.
- In the crowds: keep valuables close at monuments and markets, which are at their busiest this week.
How we plan the festive weeks
Christmas and New Year are the one time of year when the best rooms in Rajasthan are simply not available at short notice. Everything begins with booking early.
Book the rooms first: the best palace suites, lake-view rooms in Udaipur, finest desert tents and top Ranthambore lodges go nine to twelve months ahead for the festive weeks.
Read the small print: many hotels set minimum stays over Christmas and New Year, and some include their gala dinners in the rate. We tell you which before you commit.
Facts to know
- Book
- Nine to twelve months ahead
- Watch for
- Minimum stays and included gala dinners
- Avoid driving
- 31 December and the afternoon of 1 January
- Sightseeing
- Opening time at the big monuments
- Pack
- Warm layers and something smart for the galas
- Planning late? If you are reading this in autumn for the coming December, talk to us at once. We will tell you honestly what is still possible.
- Shape the days: famous sights at opening time, quiet afternoons, and long drives on the quieter days.
- Save time: we use short flights where they save a day on the road, and keep the Delhi and Agra stretches flexible in case of fog.
- Balance the evenings: one or two grand galas mixed with private, quieter dinners, so the week feels like a holiday rather than a run of parties.
- Sample routes: our Christmas and New Year journey and winter in Rajasthan journey.
- Costs: our page on what a luxury Rajasthan journey costs explains why the festive weeks cost more, and how to get the most from them.
Local tip
Ranthambore permits for the holiday weeks open months in advance and vanish within days. If tigers matter to you, tell us before anything else.
Before you go
A festive journey in Rajasthan runs smoothly when a few practical things are settled at home. This is the list we send our own relatives.
Arrive with a margin: international flights into Delhi are full over the holidays. Land a day before the journey proper, and keep the first night calm.
Fly within Rajasthan: Jaipur, Udaipur and Jodhpur have airports with domestic connections, and a short flight can save a full day on the road in the festive traffic.
Facts to know
- Fly into
- Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur or Jodhpur
- Allow
- Ten to fourteen nights for the season
- Visa
- Check the official e-Visa portal early
- Dress
- Layers by day, something smart for galas
- Paperwork: visa rules change, so check the official Indian e-Visa portal well before you travel. Our visa guide explains the process in general terms.
- Gala clothes: palace galas are dressy. Men are comfortable in a jacket or a bandhgala, women in anything from a gown to a sari, which our team can help you buy and drape.
- For outdoors: a warm jacket, a wool shawl, a hat, gloves for desert nights and comfortable shoes for fort ramparts. Our packing guide has the full list.
- Health: the dry winter air is hard on lips and skin, and colds travel fast in holiday crowds. Talk to your own doctor before you travel. Our health and safety page offers general advice.
- How long to allow: ten to fourteen nights lets you spend Christmas in one place and New Year in another, without a long drive in between.
- Children: pack familiar snacks and a warm layer for early safaris. Our page on travelling with children helps with the rest.
Local tip
Ask us to buy your bandhgala or sari in the first city of the journey. A Jaipur tailor can make a jacket in a few days, ready for New Year's Eve.
Where to stay for Christmas and New Year
Choose the hotel first, and the rest of the festive week follows. These are the stays our guests love most at this time of year.
Rambagh Palace and the Jaipur palaces
Rambagh Palace: the former home of Maharaja Man Singh II and Gayatri Devi, the classic Jaipur Christmas, with gardens, peacocks and the polo grounds next door.
- The Oberoi Rajvilas: calm and space outside the city.
- Alila Fort Bishangarh: a warrior fort on a granite hill about an hour and a half north of Jaipur, for a dramatic New Year.
The lake hotels of Udaipur
- The two everyone wants: the Taj Lake Palace and The Oberoi Udaivilas, the most sought-after rooms in Rajasthan for New Year's Eve, with the fireworks over Pichola.
- Book first: they go earliest of all.
Umaid Bhawan and the desert palaces
- In Jodhpur: Umaid Bhawan Palace, where the former royal family still lives alongside the hotel, and whose festive dinners are grand.
- Near Jaisalmer: Suryagarh and The Serai put the desert at your door.
Forest lodges in Ranthambore
- Our choices: Aman-i-Khas, SUJAN Sher Bagh and The Oberoi Vanyavilas, which make a Christmas in the jungle feel wild and deeply comfortable.
Country forts and castles
- For a family-hosted Christmas: choose a castle in the countryside. Our palace hotels and heritage havelis pages list our favourites.
What most festive visitors miss
In the busiest fortnight of the year, the quiet pleasures are still there. You just have to know where to look.
The first light: Hawa Mahal at sunrise on Christmas morning, with the street below still asleep and the facade glowing.
The kites: in the last days of December, Jaipur's rooftops already have children practising for Sankranti. Ask to join a family on a haveli roof.
- The weddings: December is the height of the wedding season, and a baraat, the groom's procession with a brass band, may pass your hotel. Step outside and watch.
- The countryside: a drive to a village, a stepwell or a lake beyond the city on the busiest days, when the monuments are crowded.
- The craft villages: block printers in Bagru work through the holidays, and a morning with them is calmer than any bazaar.
- The night sky: the winter skies over the desert are among the clearest of the year. Our page on stargazing explains what you can see.
Journeys built around the festive season
The festive fortnight is the perfect length for a first great Rajasthan journey, and a fine bookend for a longer one.
Christmas and New Year in a palace
- The shape: our Christmas and New Year journey is built around a palace Christmas, a desert or lake New Year and unhurried days between.
Rajasthan for Two
- For couples: Rajasthan for Two, eight nights of palaces, lakes and desert, timed so New Year's Eve falls in Udaipur or under the stars.
Family journeys
- For the school holidays: our family journeys and multi-generation journeys include tigers, camels, forts and pools for every age.
The Golden Triangle and the Taj
- Add the Taj: lovely in the soft winter mist. Our Golden Triangle and Udaipur journey brings Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Udaipur together over nine nights.
Who will love the festive weeks, and who should come another time
Christmas and New Year in Rajasthan are glorious for some travellers and frustrating for others. We would rather tell you which you are before you book.
You'll love it if: you want a festive holiday with sunshine, you are travelling in the school holidays, or you are celebrating something and want a palace to do it in.
Couples: love the lake and the desert at midnight.
- Families: love the camels, the tigers and the space.
- Party lovers: will find the galas generous and well run.
- Think twice if: you dislike crowds, want the monuments to yourself or prefer to plan late. Flexibility is limited this fortnight.
- The alternative: early December, mid-January or February, with weather just as fine and calmer palaces. Our best time to visit Rajasthan guide sets out the choices.