A circle around the old kingdoms
Rajasthan has only been one state since 1949. Before that it was more than twenty princely states and many smaller estates, and the old names still matter more to people here than the new districts. Each has its own turban, its own dialect, its own dishes and its own grudges. Three weeks lets you notice all of it.
Shekhawati: the north-east, land of the Shekhawat Rajputs and the rich Marwari merchants who painted their havelis.
Marwar: the Rathore country of Jodhpur and Bikaner.
- Nights
- Twenty
- Pace
- Two or three nights almost everywhere
- Best months
- November to February
- Good for
- Travellers with time for every old kingdom
- Starts
- Delhi
- Ends
- Jaipur
- Maad: the old name for Jaisalmer's desert.
- Mewar: the Sisodias' hill kingdom around Udaipur, with Godwar on its western edge.
- Dhundhar: Jaipur's country, and our own.
- The shape of the circle: land in Delhi, drive north-west into the painted towns, west to Bikaner on the edge of the Thar, deep into the desert at Jaisalmer, back east to Jodhpur, then south into the granite hills of Godwar.
- The second half: over the Aravallis to Udaipur's lakes, north through the quiet heart of Mewar by way of Nathdwara and the hill palace of Deogarh, to the holy lake of Pushkar, and three slow nights in Jaipur, the city we call home.
- It never doubles back: and it saves the great cities for when you have found your rhythm.
- Every landscape gets its time: the flat sandy farmland of Shekhawati, the open Thar, the volcanic ridge of Jodhpur, Godwar's granite domes with their leopards and Rabari herders, the green Aravalli valleys, and the low hills around Pushkar and Jaipur.
- A family of brothers: by the end, you will know why Rajasthanis talk about their state as if it were a family of very different brothers.
- Slow by design: two or three nights in most places, one free afternoon in almost every stop, and the two single nights treated as gentle stepping stones rather than dashes.
- The result: you come home rested, not wrung out, with the sense of having lived in Rajasthan rather than toured it.
Three weeks, day by day
- Delhi to Mandawa
- Five to six hours
- Mandawa to Bikaner
- Three and a half to four hours
- Bikaner to Jaisalmer
- Five to six hours
- Jaisalmer to Jodhpur
- About five hours
- Jodhpur to Narlai
- About two and a half hours
- Pushkar to Jaipur
- About three hours
Day 1: Arrive in Delhi
Met at the terminal: we meet you as you come out at Delhi airport and take you to your hotel.
- Tonight is for sleep: most long-haul flights land late.
- If you land early: spend the last hours of light at Humayun's Tomb, when the red sandstone turns rose and gold.
- With an extra night: our Delhi guide suggests how to spend a full day in the capital.
Days 2 and 3: Mandawa and the painted towns
The drive: leave after breakfast for Mandawa, about five to six hours through Haryana and Jhunjhunu.
Arrive for a late lunch: at Castle Mandawa, the fort Thakur Nawal Singh raised in 1755, and rest.
- At four, the lanes: walk out with a guide among painted havelis, where merchant families who made their fortunes in Calcutta and Bombay covered their walls with gods, heroes, trains, motorcars and even aeroplanes, mostly between about 1830 and 1930.
- Evening: end at a stepwell as the sun goes down, then dinner in the castle courtyard with folk musicians.
- Day three at sunrise: tea on the castle ramparts.
- Nawalgarh: founded by the same Thakur Nawal Singh, for the Podar and Morarka havelis, restored and open as museums.
- Afternoon in Fatehpur: where a French painter restored the Le Prince haveli and its frescoes.
- Read the walls: our journal guide to Shekhawati frescoes explains how to read a painted wall.
Days 4 and 5: Bikaner, the red city
The drive: about three and a half to four hours west to Bikaner, the city Rao Bika founded in 1488 after riding north from Jodhpur.
Late afternoon: walk through the old walled city to the Rampuria havelis, carved in red Dulmera sandstone by Jain merchant families.
- On the way: stop for fresh bhujia, the crisp spiced snack that Bikaner gave to all of India.
- Day five, as it opens: Junagarh Fort, built between 1589 and 1594, with some of the richest palace interiors in Rajasthan.
- Usta work: its painted and gilded rooms use raised gold leaf on painted plaster.
- After lunch and a rest: the national camel research centre in the late afternoon, when the herds come back from grazing.
- Optional, at Deshnoke: the Karni Mata temple, about 30 kilometres south, where thousands of rats are revered as the goddess's children. It isn't for everyone, and we never insist.
Days 6 to 8: Jaisalmer and the deep desert
Day six is a long road: about five to six hours south-west across the Thar, where the villages thin out and the camels outnumber the cars.
Arrive in the late afternoon: in Jaisalmer, and watch the fort turn gold from Vyas Chhatri.
Day seven at sunrise: row on Gadisar Lake.
- Then the fort: walk up into Jaisalmer Fort, founded in 1156 and still home to thousands of people, and visit the Jain temples during morning worship.
- Afternoon: after lunch and a rest, walk the haveli lanes, Patwon ki Haveli above all.
- Evening: Manganiyar musicians in a courtyard over ker sangri and bajra roti.
- Day eight, in the cool: drive out to the abandoned village of Kuldhara and the ruined hamlet of Khaba.
- The Desert National Park: with luck and a good naturalist you may see the great Indian bustard, one of the rarest birds in the world.
- A night at Khuri: quieter than Sam, with a camel walk at sunset, dinner by the fire and a sky full of stars.
Days 9 and 10: Jodhpur, the blue city
Dawn over the dunes: then about five hours east to Jodhpur. Arrive in the afternoon and rest.
Evening: sit at Jaswant Thada as the light turns the fort above it gold.
- Day ten, at opening: Mehrangarh, founded by Rao Jodha in 1459, with galleries among the finest in India.
- Down through the blue lanes: to Toorji ka Jhalra, the stepwell, for lunch nearby.
- Late afternoon: the Umaid Bhawan museum.
- Dusk at the clock tower: mirchi bada and saffron lassi.
Days 11 and 12: Narlai and the Godwar hills
The drive: about two and a half hours south to Narlai, a farming village in Godwar beneath a great granite hill with a white elephant on its summit.
On the way: stop at a Bishnoi village if you like.
- Afternoon: after lunch and a rest, walk the village with a local guide and visit its carved temples.
- Dinner in a stepwell: lit by hundreds of oil lamps, with folk musicians on the stone landings.
- Day twelve before sunrise: climb the granite hill, more than seven hundred steps, and drink tea beside the white elephant as the light comes over Godwar.
- After breakfast: ride out on Marwari horses through the fields, or take a jeep into the country where leopards live among the rocks.
- Afternoon at Kumbhalgarh: drive across the hills to Rana Kumbha's fortress and walk a stretch of its 36-kilometre wall in the late light.
Days 13 to 15: Ranakpur, then Udaipur
Day thirteen: drive less than an hour to Ranakpur and arrive as the temple opens to visitors.
1,444 marble pillars: by tradition no two alike, raised in the fifteenth century under Rana Kumbha.
- On to Udaipur: about two and a half hours through the hills to Udaipur, in time for a private boat on Lake Pichola in the last hour of light.
- Day fourteen: walk into the City Palace as it opens, then the Jagdish Temple and the painters' lanes below.
- Evening: the Dharohar folk dances at Bagore ki Haveli.
- Day fifteen is yours: a cooking class, a miniature painter's studio, a lazy day by the pool, or a long day out to Chittorgarh, about two hours east, the old capital of Mewar and its most storied fort.
- Sunset: end at the Monsoon Palace.
Day 16: Nathdwara and the palace at Deogarh
An hour north to Nathdwara: where the image of Shrinathji, the child Krishna, arrived from Govardhan near Mathura in 1672.
Darshan: the temple opens for a series of short darshans through the day.
- The painters' lanes: full of the makers of pichwai, the great cloth hangings made for the shrine.
- About two hours north to Deogarh: arriving for lunch.
- Deogarh Mahal: the palace of the Chundawat Rawats on its hill above the town dates from the seventeenth century, and the family still runs it.
- Afternoon: look at the paintings of the Deogarh school, among the finest Rajput miniatures of the early 1800s, and walk the market town below.
- At dusk: sit on the palace terraces as the lakes go silver.
Day 17: To the holy lake at Pushkar
The drive: about three hours north to Pushkar, one of the holiest towns in India, built around a lake with 52 ghats.
- House rules: Pushkar is vegetarian and alcohol-free, and you take your shoes off on the ghats.
- Afternoon: after lunch and a rest, walk the bazaar and visit the Brahma temple, one of the very few in India dedicated to the creator god.
- Evening aarti: sit on the ghats at dusk, when the lake glows with small flames and the air is full of bells and conch shells.
Days 18 to 20: Jaipur, the last and longest stay
Before dawn on day eighteen: climb Ratnagiri hill to the Savitri temple and watch the sun rise over the lake and the desert.
After breakfast: about three hours to Jaipur, and an afternoon at your palace hotel.
- Day nineteen, the walled city: Hawa Mahal at sunrise, the bazaars as they open, then the Jantar Mantar.
- Afternoon: a private tour of the City Palace.
- Day twenty, Amer: Amber Fort as the gates open, then Panna Meena ka Kund.
- A craft morning: with a block-printing family at Bagru.
- Last sunset: from Nahargarh, over the city we call home.
Day 21: Home
By air: Jaipur has connections through Delhi, Mumbai and the Gulf.
- By road or rail: we drive you back to Delhi airport, about four to five hours, or put you on a fast train.
- Late flight: if your flight is late at night, we keep your room for the day.
Where you'll stay, region by region
- Palaces
- Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Deogarh, Jaipur
- Country houses
- Mandawa, Narlai
- Desert camp
- One night at Khuri
- Changes of bed
- Ten
Delhi
The Imperial: a 1930s landmark on Janpath.
- The Oberoi: looks across the golf course towards Humayun's Tomb.
- The Leela Palace: all marble and calm in the diplomatic quarter.
Shekhawati and Bikaner
Castle Mandawa: the 1755 fort of the town, with painted rooms, towers and a pool. Ask for a tower room.
Alternatives: our guide to haveli hotels of Shekhawati lists them.
- Laxmi Niwas Palace: the grand red sandstone choice in Bikaner, part of the Lalgarh complex.
- Narendra Bhawan: once the home of the last maharaja, stylish and theatrical.
- Bhanwar Niwas: a Rampuria family haveli in the old city.
Jaisalmer and the desert
Suryagarh: a modern fort in the old yellow stone on the Sam road, for two nights in town.
- The Serai: SUJAN's tented camp on private desert off the Jodhpur road.
- The Khuri night: we choose a camp we have inspected that season, because quality varies so much.
- What we look for: our guide to luxury desert camps explains it.
Jodhpur and Godwar
In Jodhpur: Umaid Bhawan Palace, or RAAS Jodhpur beneath the fort.
- Rawla Narlai: a seventeenth-century hunting lodge of the Jodhpur royal family, restored as a hotel in 1996 by the family who also run Ajit Bhawan.
- Leopards on the doorstep: SUJAN JAWAI is a luxury tented camp among the granite hills of Jawai, not far away.
Udaipur and Mewar
- In Udaipur: Taj Lake Palace, The Oberoi Udaivilas, The Leela Palace or Raffles Udaipur.
- At Deogarh: Deogarh Mahal. Ask for one of the older painted suites with a window seat, and be ready for stairs.
Pushkar and Jaipur
- Pushkar has no palace hotel: but the quieter resorts on the edge of the countryside suit one calm night. Our guide to luxury stays in Pushkar names them.
- Finish in style in Jaipur: Rambagh Palace, The Oberoi Rajvilas or Samode Haveli inside the walled city.
Why three weeks feels like a holiday, not a tour
Sight days: begin early at a great monument and end with a long lunch and a rest.
Road days: kept to about six hours at most, and always broken with a good lunch and something worth seeing.
Slow days: at least one in every three, with nothing booked except dinner.
- Sight days
- Early start, long lunch, rest
- Road days
- About six hours at most
- Slow days
- At least one in every three
- Booked on slow days
- Only dinner
- Where the best hours hide: on the slow days you find yourself on a rooftop in Jaisalmer watching kites, or talking to a painter in Udaipur for an hour you hadn't planned.
- We vary the stays: after two palaces, a country house. After a desert camp, a city hotel with a laundry and a spa. After the crowds of Udaipur, the quiet of Deogarh.
- Changing the texture keeps you curious: the small family-run places are often where guests have the best conversations of the trip, with the owner over dinner or with the staff about their villages.
- Laundry and health: our planner arranges laundry at the right stops, finds a doctor or a pharmacy if you need one, and books a massage when the road has been long.
- People who read you: your driver slows down when you're tired, and your guides skip a temple if you have seen enough temples.
- Read more: our guide to health and safety in Rajasthan, and our page on wellness and slow travel, which shows how far we can take the slow idea.
When to go
November to February is ideal: days are warm and dry, and the light is soft for reading Shekhawati's frescoes.
Cold desert nights: close to freezing in December and January, so pack a proper jacket.
Book early for the holidays: Christmas and New Year are the busiest weeks of the year and need booking many months ahead.
- Ideal
- November to February
- Possible
- October and March, warmer
- Avoid
- April to June
- Desert nights
- Close to freezing in December and January
- Busiest weeks
- Christmas and New Year
- Pushkar Camel Fair: in the month of Kartik, in October or November, the Pushkar Camel Fair fills the dunes outside Pushkar with herders, traders and pilgrims, and we can turn your night there into two.
- January: Bikaner holds its Camel Festival, and on 14 January Jaipur flies kites for Makar Sankranti.
- February: Jaisalmer holds its Desert Festival, with camel races and music on the dunes.
- October and March: possible but warmer, especially in the desert, so we shorten Bikaner and Jaisalmer and give the time to Udaipur and Jaipur.
- April to June: the desert is very hot, often above 45°C in Bikaner and Jaisalmer, and we would not plan this circle.
- The monsoon, July to September: the desert camps are closed, but Mewar is green and beautiful, and our Monsoon in Mewar journey is built for it.
- Every month: our guide to the best time to visit Rajasthan covers them all.
Make it yours
With tigers
- Swap Deogarh and Pushkar: for two nights at Ranthambore, about three and a half hours from Jaipur, and four safaris.
- Or a fuller south-east loop: add Bundi and Ranthambore between Udaipur and Jaipur, by way of Chittorgarh.
With the Taj Mahal
Two extra nights at the start: for Delhi and Agra, and the Taj at sunrise.
- Remember Fridays: the Taj is closed to visitors.
- How it fits: see our Rajasthan with the Taj Mahal journey.
With Gujarat or Varanasi
- Into Gujarat: continue from Udaipur for the salt desert and craft villages of Kutch, as in our Rajasthan and Kutch journey.
- By the Ganga: or finish with Rajasthan and Varanasi.
For families
A wonderful length for children: camels, horses, forts and boats.
- What we change: more pool time, hotels with space, and a family-friendly camp in place of Khuri.
- Grandparents too: our multi-generation journeys page explains how we plan for grandparents and grandchildren together.
With only two weeks
- What to drop: Shekhawati and Bikaner, or the Deogarh and Pushkar stretch, and you have a fine fourteen-night journey.
- Where to start: our two weeks in Rajasthan page and our twelve-day Rajasthan.
How we look after you for three weeks
One chauffeur for the whole circle: we meet you at Delhi airport, and the same driver stays with you in a comfortable, air-conditioned car.
A companion by week three: your driver knows which chai stall you liked and when you need a quiet hour. All our drivers are from Rajasthan and know these roads well.
- Arrival
- Met at Delhi airport
- Driver
- One private chauffeur throughout
- Guides
- Local specialist in each region
- Planner
- On WhatsApp throughout
- Prices
- Quoted after one conversation
- A local guide in each region: a Shekhawati specialist who can read the frescoes, a Bikaner guide who knows the palace rooms, and a Jaisalmer guide who grew up inside the fort.
- Specialists too: a naturalist for the desert park, and historians for Jodhpur, Mewar and Jaipur.
- No commission shopping: we introduce you to makers, not showrooms.
- Your planner on WhatsApp: from the first call to the last day. Plans change, weather changes, people get tired, and a single message can move a day.
- Everything booked: every flight, train and permit, including the desert park.
- No prices here: three weeks can be shaped in a hundred ways, so we quote after one conversation. Start with Plan my journey.
Who will love it, and who should choose something shorter
Travellers with three weeks: who want to see every region of Rajasthan, not just its famous cities.
Lovers of painting, architecture and crafts: who will find Shekhawati, Bikaner, Deogarh and Nathdwara as rewarding as the great forts.
- Retired couples and long-stay travellers: who want a deep, unhurried journey with rest built in.
- Second-time visitors: who saw the classic cities years ago and want to see what they missed.
- Not for anyone who dislikes being on the move: even with slow days, you change beds ten times.
- Ten days or less: choose a focused route such as Rajasthan in ten days or Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.
- More famous names and a tiger safari: look at The Royal Rajputana, our fifteen-night grand tour.
