This is the western reach of India’s most touristed state, and it’s worth the trek. Azure Jodhpur will give you the blues in a completely new way, but it’s nothing a camel trek to fairytale Jaisalmer won’t cure.
Category: Rajasthan
Udaipur Rajasthan India Travel
Watermarked by whimsy and splendour, the Venice of the East holds stage as one of India’s truly seductive cities. Udaipur is an international destination unto itself, with splendid Lake Pichola lapping against shimmering white buildings, and the Aravalli hills closing in to savour the view.
More relaxed than its eastern counterpart, Southern Rajasthan is no less packed with temples, crumbling forts and spectacularly hued cities and villages. The big tickets on a southern itinerary here are Udaipur and Chittorgarh.
Shekhawati Rajasthan India Travel
Shekhawati is a semiarid dreamscape of dazzling fields, fluttering fabrics and open-air picture galleries. A short skip from Jaipur, the region is crisscrossed by narrow near-country roads that lead to half-forgotten villages and wholly hidden havelis. Each stop on the hop-along highways offers secret treasures (some slowly sinking in the sand) lacquered in rich and varied hues.
Lying in a wooded valley, a tangle of greenery against red clay, Sariska Reserve & National Park (Indian/foreigner Rs 25/200, jeep Rs 125, video Rs 200; 7am-4pm Oct-Mar, 6am-4.30pm Apr-Sep) has been at the centre of controversy since 2005 when the WWF produced a damning report that suggested that the tigers had been poached – a sad indictment of Project Tiger (who’ve been in charge here since 1979) and the sanctuary.
Infamous, spectacular Ranthambore National Park (Indian/foreigner Rs 25/200; Oct-Jun) is 1334 sq km of wild jungle scrub hemmed in by rocky ridges. At its centre is the 10th-century Ranthambore Fort, and scattered nearby are ancient temples and mosques, crocodile-filled lakes, chhatris (cenotaphs) and hides. The park was a maharajas’ hunting ground till 1970 – a curious 15 years after it had become a sanctuary.
Rajasthan India Travel
From the cackle of its colour-charged cities to the luminous splendour of its sun-kissed desert, Rajasthan is romantic India wrapped in gaudy royal robes. Here the fearsome Rajput warrior clans ruled with gilt-edged swords, plundered wealth and blood-thick chivalrous codes.
Pushkar Rajasthan India Travel
Brahma dropped a lotus flower on the earth – so say the epics – and Pushkar floated to the surface. This pond-sized Hindu pilgrimage town is a magical desert-edged place, with one of the world’s few Brahma temples. Rows of sacred ghats front a mystically magnetic lake, where hundreds of milky-coloured temples and weather-touched domes sit beneath a shifting, pale grey sky.
Mt Abu Rajasthan India Travel
Mt Abu rises high above southern Rajasthan, cool on the heels of the baking desert plains. It’s a welcome hill station retreat, nestled along pedolo-filled Nakki Lake, which attracts hordes of weekenders from neighbouring Gujarat. The tremendous wooded valleys that line the winding drive to the summit lend some longed-for Alpine beauty to a Rajasthan excursion, and house wildlife including bears, wild boars, langoors (wild donkeys), Indian civets, hyenas and sambars. There are also plenty of botanical delights on offer, most notably a number of rare orchids, and excellent trekking opportunities for all levels of fitness.
Kota Rajasthan India Travel
Once a city of huge strategic importance, Kota has found its stride in modern Rajasthan as a major industrial and chemical centre, and so remains refreshingly free from tourist hustle. Still, it has a spectacular palace with an excellent museum and lovely murals. The revitalising Chambal River, filled with small crocodiles and plied by boats of all sizes, is the state’s only permanent river, and sustains a wealth of mostly unexplored terrain. Kota is also famous for kota doria, exquisite saris woven with golden thread in the nearby village of Kaithoon.