Hello to all Moderators and Local Guide friends! During our family trip to ‘Rajasthan’ state of India, we visited Jaipur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Udaipur cities. We first visited the world famous city of ‘Jaipur’, then ‘Bikaner’, then ‘Jaisalmer’ and ‘Jodhpur’ after that.
Today I am going to explore the famous ‘Blue City’ of Rajasthan – ‘Jodhpur’ It is known as ‘Blue city’ because the houses are painted blue in the old area of the city. It is also known as ‘Sun City’ among the people all over India, because it enjoys the bright and sunny weather all around the year. It is a popular tourist destination in ‘Rajasthan’, featuring many palaces, forts and temples, and is located in ‘Thar’ Desert.
The main tourist attractions in Jodhpur are:-
‘Mehrangarhfort’ in Jodhpur is located just 3 KM away from the main market. It is one of the largest forts in India and was built in 1438 by ‘Rao Jodha’, after whom the city is named as‘Jodhpur’.
There are three palaces inside the MehrangarhFort; these are, ‘Sheesh Mahal’ (the mirror hall), ‘MotiMahal’ (glass-painted windows), ‘PhoolMahal’ (Flower Palace). All Mahals are very beautiful to see, there aredisplays of textiles, paintings and the curved sword of the Mughal emperor Akbar. The other gallery is of the armoury and upstairs there is a fabulous gallery of miniature paintings; its name is ‘PhoolMahal’ (Flower Palace).
The entire view of the city from the terrace of the fort is amazing. As this fort is very huge, there is a facility of lift for Rs.50/- per head. It is open for all days between 9 AM to 5 PM.You will require at least 2 hours for seeing the entire fort.
‘JaswantThada’ is located just 1 KM away from the famous Mehrangarh fort. It is named after Maharaja ‘Jaswant Singh’. It is an elegant white marble structure above a beautiful lake; from here you can see a very good view of theMehrangarhfort and the whole city. You can easily spend almost an hour here.
‘Umaid Palace Museum’ is located around 8 KM away from the Mehrangarh fort. This palace is divided into 3 parts; one is Maharaja’s residential area, second is the Museum & third is the ‘Taj group hotel’.
Bollywood famous actress ‘Priyanka Chopra’ and an American singer ‘Nick Jonas’ had tied the knot in a wedding ceremony at the ‘Taj group hotel’ of this Umaid Bhawan Palace.
‘Umaid Palace Museum’ is fully dedicated to the history of Umaid Bhawan Palace; it showcases the pictures of the palace taken at different points of time and tells us the story of ‘Maharaja Umaid Singh’ and his family.
There is also a very unique antique clock collection & the vintage car collection, which is one of the main highlight of the museum.
You can easily spend almost an hour here. It is open for all days 9 AM - 4.30 PM.
‘Clock Tower’ is located at a distance of 3 km from Jodhpur Fort and is also known as ‘GhantaGhar’. It is one of the major landmarks and also one of the top places to visit in Jodhpur. Beside the tower, there is the ‘Sardar Market’ which is almost crowded every time by tourists for shopping. From this market, tourists can purchase Rajasthani textiles, miniature camels and elephants, marble inlay work and classic silver jewellery.
How to reach Jodhpur:-
- By Air:- Jodhpur has its own domestic airport, which is just 5 Km away from the city center.
- By Bus:- Jodhpur is well connected by RSRTC bus service and private tourist buses also.
- By Train:- Jodhpur is also connected by Railway to Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
You can cover all the tourist attractions of ‘Jodhpur’ in a single day.
You can read about the tourist attractions of Jaipur, Bikaner and Jaisalmer in my earlier posts namely,
‘Junagarh Fort’ of Bikaner - An architectural stunner
Jaisalmer - The Golden City Of India
I hope you like this post.
