Three desert capitals and the land between them
Away from the cities, the nights in the Thar are some of the darkest in India, and from November to February they are clear and cold. We have watched guests who live in great cities lie back on a dune and go completely silent. That is the moment this journey is built around.
The Thar is not empty: it is the most densely populated desert in the world, a country of farming villages, herders, holy trees and folk saints.
Jodhpur: founded in 1459 by Rao Jodha of the Rathores, on a rocky ridge at the eastern edge of the sand.
- Nights
- Seven
- Pace
- Slow, every drive timed for evening light
- Best months
- October to March
- Good for
- Couples, photographers, lovers of silence
- Starts
- Jodhpur airport
- Ends
- Bikaner, by train or road
- Bikaner: founded in 1488 by his son Rao Bika, who rode north into the wilderness to carve out a kingdom of his own.
- Jaisalmer: older than both, raised by Rawal Jaisal of the Bhati Rajputs in 1156 on a three-peaked hill deep in the west.
- Fortunes from trade: caravans carried silk, spices, opium and salt between India, Sindh and Central Asia, and the desert kings taxed them at every gate.
- Stone like lace: the merchants who grew rich built the carved havelis of Jaisalmer and Bikaner.
- Why they feel unchanged: when the sea routes and the railways took the trade away in the nineteenth century, the cities grew quiet.
- The desert is the real subject: we stop for a night at Manvar, a camp among the dunes off the Jodhpur to Jaisalmer road.
- Drives as part of the day: past Bishnoi villages, shrines to folk heroes, herds of camels and the khejri trees the desert people treat as sacred.
- The regions: our page on the Maad region tells the story of the far west, and our Marwar region page covers the kingdom of Jodhpur.
Day by day across the sand
- Jodhpur to Manvar
- About 110 km, two hours
- Manvar to Jaisalmer
- About three hours
- Jaisalmer to Bikaner
- Five to six hours, the longest
- Bikaner to Jaipur
- Five to six hours
- Bikaner to Shekhawati
- About three and a half hours
Days 1 and 2: Jodhpur
Fly into Jodhpur Airport: only a few kilometres from the centre, where our team meets you.
Late afternoon: walk the Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park below the fort, a restored patch of native desert plants on volcanic rock.
- Mehrangarh at dusk: the walls turn from honey to deep red and the lights of the blue city come on below.
- Next morning, at opening: give Mehrangarh the whole morning.
- Through seven gates: past the handprints of the queens who committed sati, into the Phool Mahal and Sheesh Mahal.
- The museum: palanquins, howdahs and miniature paintings.
- Walk down: to Jaswant Thada, the white marble cenotaph above a small lake.
- After a rest: the blue lanes of Brahmpuri with a local guide, ending at the clock tower market for mirchi bada and a makhaniya lassi as the lights come on.
Day 3: Manvar
Leave mid-morning: Manvar is about 110 kilometres west, roughly two hours by road, arriving for lunch.
Rest through the heat: then out by jeep or on a gentle camel walk for sunset on the dunes.
- Kind to the camels: they are working animals and their handlers are local families, so we keep rides short.
- The fire: folk musicians from the nearby villages sing the old songs of the desert.
- Dinner: the food of the Thar, bajra roti, ker sangri and dal cooked slowly over coals.
- Then turn off the lanterns: and look up.
- Next morning: an early village walk before breakfast. Our Manvar Desert Camp page explains which camps we choose for whom.
Days 4 and 5: Jaisalmer
About three hours further west: past Pokaran and the scrub country, arriving in the late afternoon just as the fort turns gold.
First evening: at Vyas Chhatri, the Brahmin cenotaphs on a ridge north of town.
- Sunrise: a rowing boat on Gadisar Lake and tea on the ghats.
- Up into Jaisalmer Fort: one of the few forts in the world where thousands of people still live, with the Jain temples during morning worship.
- The haveli lanes: Patwon ki Haveli, Salim Singh ki Haveli and Nathmal ki Haveli, each carved by hand from the same yellow stone as the fort.
- Evening with the Manganiyars: hereditary singers whose families once sang for the Rajput households of the desert, still playing the bowed kamaicha.
- Or a second night in the dunes: we move you to a camp for it.
- Read more: the Manganiyar singers and Jaisalmer's things to do.
Days 6 to 8: Bikaner
After an early breakfast: about five to six hours north-east, the longest drive and the most desert of all.
Before you go: the cenotaphs of Bada Bagh in early light, or the abandoned village of Kuldhara the evening before.
- Arrival: in the late afternoon.
- The full day, at opening: Junagarh Fort, built between 1589 and 1594.
- Its interiors: some of the richest in Rajasthan, painted and gilded, lacquered and mirrored.
- Late afternoon light: the Rampuria havelis and the Bhandasar Jain temple, with stops for fresh bhujia, the spiced gram-flour snack that made the city's name.
- Last morning: Deshnoke for the Karni Mata temple, where thousands of rats are revered as the children of the goddess, or the camel herds at the national camel research centre.
- Onward: the train to Delhi, five to six hours by road to Jaipur, or on to the painted towns of Shekhawati.
The desert, read closely
Mostly not dunes: the Thar is largely scrub, gravel plains and farmland that waits for the rain.
Where the great ridges are: in patches, at Sam and Khuri near Jaisalmer and around the camps at Manvar.
The khejri tree: its pods become sangri.
- Dunes
- Sam, Khuri, Manvar
- Sacred tree
- Khejri
- Khejarli sacrifice
- 1730
- Rare bird
- Great Indian bustard
- Winter visitors
- Demoiselle cranes at Khichan
- The ker bush: its berries are dried for the winter.
- The phog shrub: its roots hold the sand in place.
- The Bishnoi: a community of farmers devoted to protecting trees and animals, who revere the khejri above all.
- Khejarli, 1730: near Jodhpur, Amrita Devi and more than three hundred Bishnoi villagers gave their lives rather than let the Maharaja's men cut their khejri trees.
- Safe deer: in Bishnoi villages, blackbuck and chinkara graze close to the houses. Our journal on Bishnoi conservation tells the full story.
- Water explains everything: villages store the rare rain in covered tanks, and the old cities built lakes like Gadisar to hold it.
- Camels: they can go days without drinking, carried the trade and still carry farm loads. Bikaner's camel research centre is the place to understand them, and our journal on camels of Rajasthan has more.
- Ramdevra: near Pokaran, the shrine of Baba Ramdev, a fourteenth-century folk saint revered by Hindus and Muslims alike as Ramdev Pir.
- The pilgrim walk: in the monsoon month of Bhadrapada, pilgrims walk there from across Rajasthan and Gujarat, carrying flags and singing.
- Hero stones: a carved warrior on horseback stands at the edge of almost every village.
- Desert National Park: grasslands beyond Jaisalmer, one of the last homes of the great Indian bustard, a bird so rare that every sighting is news.
- Khichan in winter: the village near Phalodi feeds thousands of demoiselle cranes from Central Asia, and the camps at Manvar can arrange an early drive to see them.
Songs by the fire and a sky full of stars
Music is the voice of the desert: the Manganiyar and the Langa are hereditary musicians whose families have sung for generations at the births and weddings of their patrons.
What they sing: the great love stories of the Thar, and local heroes and saints.
- Musicians
- Manganiyar and Langa
- Instruments
- Kamaicha, sarangi, khartal
- Dancers
- Kalbelia
- Clearest skies
- November to February
- Darkest nights
- Either side of the new moon
- The instruments: the bowed kamaicha, the sarangi and the khartal, a pair of wooden clappers played at astonishing speed.
- Courtyard, not stage: hearing them by a fire is one of the great experiences of Rajasthan. Our journal on Manganiyar music introduces some of the songs.
- Kalbelia dancers: women in swirling black skirts sewn with mirrors, whose dance draws on the movements of the snakes their community once handled. Our page on Kalbelia dance explains its history.
- Then the sky takes over: from November to February the air is dry and clear, and on a moonless night the Milky Way stretches from one horizon to the other.
- A telescope evening: with someone who knows the sky. Our page on stargazing in the Thar has the details.
Where you'll stay
- Jodhpur
- Umaid Bhawan Palace, RAAS or Ajit Bhawan
- Manvar
- Manvar Desert Camp
- Jaisalmer
- Suryagarh, or The Serai under canvas
- Bikaner
- Laxmi Niwas Palace, Narendra Bhawan or Bhanwar Niwas
Jodhpur
Umaid Bhawan Palace: built between 1929 and 1943, with the former royal family still living in one wing and some of the finest Art Deco interiors in Asia.
- RAAS Jodhpur: right under the walls of Mehrangarh, with the floodlit fort in your window at night.
- Ajit Bhawan: a family-run palace with the warmth of an old Jodhpur household.
Manvar
Manvar Desert Camp: a small family of stays a short drive apart.
The original camp: safari tents among the dunes.
- The quieter camp: more spacious air-conditioned tents and its own pool.
- And a small resort: at Shergarh.
- How we choose: usually the quieter camp for couples, and the main camp for families who enjoy company.
Jaisalmer
Suryagarh: about thirteen kilometres out on the Sam road, a modern fort built in the old Jaisalmer manner around courtyards and a pool.
- The Serai: SUJAN's camp on about a hundred acres of private desert scrub, our choice for a second night under canvas, with large tented suites and dinners by firelight.
- Compare them: our guide to luxury hotels in Jaisalmer.
Bikaner
Laxmi Niwas Palace: part of the red sandstone Lalgarh complex, the grandest stay in the city.
- Narendra Bhawan: once the home of the last maharaja of Bikaner, now a stylish boutique hotel with a rooftop pool.
- Bhanwar Niwas: a merchant haveli in the old city, with painted rooms and a courtyard.
- More: our Bikaner hotel guide.
How we choose a camp
They vary enormously: from quiet tented suites to noisy compounds with loudspeakers and dozens of camel rides.
- Our rule: only camps we have stayed in, with proper beds and bathrooms, heating in winter, good food and the right distance from the crowds at Sam.
- What we look for: our guide to luxury desert camps.
What the desert eats
Ker sangri: the dish of the Thar, dried desert beans and berries cooked with spices and oil until tangy and rich. Our journal explains ker sangri.
Bajra roti: a thick flatbread of pearl millet, eaten with garlic chutney and ghee.
- The Thar
- Ker sangri, bajra roti, kadhi
- Jodhpur
- Pyaaz kachori, mirchi bada, makhaniya lassi
- Bikaner
- Bhujia, rasgulla, papad
- Jaisalmer
- A desert thali with gatte and panchkuta
- In winter, kadhi: a curry of yoghurt and gram flour, with the bajra roti.
- Jodhpur: pyaaz kachori, mirchi bada, a large chilli stuffed with spiced potato and fried in batter, and the thick makhaniya lassi. Our Jodhpur food guide has the places we trust.
- Bikaner, the snack capital: its bhujia, crisp threads of spiced gram flour, is sold in every lane and carried home by every visitor.
- Bikaner's other fame: its rasgulla and papad.
- Jaisalmer: ask for a desert thali with gatte, panchkuta and bajra, and try the local sweets.
- Go further: our Jaisalmer food guide and Bikaner food guide.
When to go
October to March: the season, and the camps open only in these cool months.
October and March: warm, sunny days and pleasant nights, though afternoons can still be hot.
November to February: perfect days and cold nights, sometimes close to freezing in the dunes. The tents have heaters or warm bedding, and you will want a proper jacket by the fire.
- Season
- October to March, when camps open
- Coldest nights
- November to February
- Busiest
- Christmas and New Year
- Too hot
- April to June, often above 45°C
- Monsoon
- Very little rain this far west
- Also: the months of the cranes at Khichan and the clearest skies.
- October festivals: the Rajasthan International Folk Festival brings musicians to Mehrangarh close to the full moon, and the Marwar Festival celebrates the autumn full moon of Sharad Purnima.
- January: Bikaner holds its camel festival.
- January or February: around the full moon of Magh, the Jaisalmer Desert Festival fills the town with music, camel races and turban-tying contests.
- Lunar dates: the best rooms sell out early, so tell us as soon as you know.
- April to June: extremely hot, with dusty winds in the afternoons, and the camps close.
- Christmas and New Year: the busiest weeks of all for the camps, booked months ahead.
- More: our guide to the best time to visit Rajasthan.
Make it yours
Shorter or simpler
- Five nights: drop Bikaner and return from Jaisalmer by air in the winter season or by train.
- The classic loop: our desert triangle journey covers the three cities without the camp night.
Longer
More desert: a second night at Manvar for a full desert day, or a night in the dunes at Khuri.
- A village fort: such as Khimsar between Jodhpur and Bikaner, or the temples of Osian.
- With more time: the grasslands of Tal Chhapar and their blackbuck after Bikaner, then the painted havelis of Shekhawati on the way to Jaipur.
For couples
- The quiet version: the quieter camp at Manvar, the second Jaisalmer night at The Serai, and a private dinner on a dune.
- For a honeymoon: Rajasthan for Two adds Udaipur's lakes.
For photographers
February: for the softest light, plus a night in the dunes and a morning at Khichan.
- Rooftops: ask us for a guide who knows the best ones in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.
- A whole journey around the light: our photographer's Rajasthan.
For families
What children love: the camels, the dunes and the rats of Deshnoke.
- How we adapt: the main camp at Manvar, where meals are sociable, and drives broken with stops.
- More: our page on travelling with children.
How we look after you
A private chauffeur and car: for the whole journey, with water, snacks and blankets on board, and every drive timed for the evening light.
Local guides: in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner who grew up inside the old walls, and no commission shopping.
Camps we know: ones we have stayed in ourselves, with camel rides kept short and animals that are well cared for.
- Driver
- Private chauffeur, water and blankets on board
- Guides
- Grew up inside the old walls
- Camps
- Only ones we have stayed in
- Arrival
- Met at Jodhpur airport
- Prices
- Quoted after one conversation
- Meetings and onward travel: airport meetings in Jodhpur, and a train, flight or onward drive from Bikaner booked to suit your plans.
- Flights: Jodhpur has direct flights to Delhi and Mumbai. Bikaner's airport has limited flights, and Jaisalmer's runs seasonal winter flights, so we confirm schedules when we plan.
- Arranged quietly: private concerts with Manganiyar musicians, a dinner on the dunes or a stargazing evening.
- Your planner on WhatsApp: from the first question to the last morning, ready to change a day.
- No published prices: the season, the camps and the rooms change the cost. After one conversation we send a written plan and a clear quote.
- What drives the cost: our page on what a luxury Rajasthan journey costs.
Who will love it, and who should choose another journey
Wilder than the Golden Triangle: for anyone who likes music, stars and long views, and will trade a few comforts for a night in the dunes.
It suits: couples, photographers, friends travelling together and second-time visitors who have already seen Jaipur and Udaipur.
- Children who like camels: love it too.
- Less right if you dislike long drives: the desert is big, and two of the legs take five hours or more.
- Not for summer: and there are no lakes, tigers or green hills.
- The whole of Rajasthan: choose the Royal Rajputana.
- Wildlife first: take Palaces and Tigers.
- Water and marble: Mewar Lakes and Temples is the opposite of this journey in the best way.
