Jaipur is a city that has seen multiple eras pass through- Rajput, British and post independence India. It is now the capital of Indian state of Rajasthan. So, I took a 3 day tour of the city with two of my friends and here I present the tourist attractions. But first of all, the itineary.
Day 0- We started off from Delhi by taking a 11 pm Rajasthan roadways Volvo bus that drops one at Jaipur around 4:30 in the morning. The bus does takes a halt at Sangtera village (RSRTC lounge ) but there is nothing worth of interest at that point to be honest.
**Day 1-**We woke up at 9 am in the morning and left by 11. Instead of taking a taxi, we took the city bus that dropped us to Chandpole which is a sort of city center. We visited Nahargarh Fort in the morning and Bapu Bazar in the evening. Breakfast was at the hotel and dinner was done at Kanha restaurant (Vidhyadhar nagar). Lunch was practically skipped on that day due to Nahargarh’s trek time as we started late.
Day 2- That was the real day. So, taxi was booked for the day as we started the exploration. In chronological order, the places visited were Birla Temple, Dombri Ganesh Temple, Albert Hall Museum, Haha Mahal, Jan Mahal and at last Amer fort.
Day 3- As most exploration was done by now and the scheduled bus was at 3 pm, we decided to visit Jaigarh fort. Mind it, the fort is on the hill, with a 20 minute mountainous road. For people prone to motion sickness, that might be an issue but yeah that eases as we enter the fort.
Now, coming to the places in detail.
- Bapu Bazaar
Jaipur is known as Pink City due to pink bricks being used in the construction of Old City. The city has many markets, one of the them being Bapu Bazaar. It can be considered as girl’s heaven due to a lot of variety in girl’s clothes. Co-incidentally, due to Christmas, the market looked marvelous.
P.S - It’s really crowded.
- Nahargarh Fort (Maps )
This fort, despite being popular, is rarely visited because of the route needed. You either need a bike (too narrow and steep for car) or an hour trek. But the view at the top of the fort is pure beauty. One can see whole Jaipur from the top and it’s worth the long trek.
Inside the fort is nice but compared to Rajasthan’s other forts, it is quite a fad. The only good thing is the view and lots of good photographs one can get.
- Amer Fort (Maps )
Before Jaipur city came into existence, the kingdom was ruled from the fort of Amer. Jodhaa Bai was a princess from the Amer kingdom. It is situated near the Amer village. It can be accessed by public transport or taxi. Taxi takes a roundabout to reach the fort and public transport drops near a hillock. In either way, it takes 15-20 min from foot of hillock to fort.
It is one of the major attractions of the city and if you visit Jaipur, do see it. The picture below shows the entry point of fort.
The next pic is of Diwaan-e-Aam (meeting point for public).
There are much more attractions like Diwaan-e-Khas (meeting point for noblemen), Shila Devi temple, king’s quarters, queen quarters among others. They are left best to be explored. Photographs don’t do justice to this place.
Also, there is a light show in Amer fort at night. If time permits, do take a look.
- Jaigarh Fort (maps )
Located near to Amer fort, Jaigarh is a defense fortress. There is a passage that connects Jaigarh and Amer fort which, as of now (March 2020) is closed due to maintenance. The fort has the world’s biggest wheeled cannon and a museum. The fort also has a Bhairav temple in its premises.
Below is the photo of cannon with me as reference.
- Birla Temple (maps )
The temple is dedicated to God Narayan (protector of universe ) and his consort Goddess Lakshmi. Photography is prohibited inside the temple, so, below is the photo of temple’s exterior. Near to Birla Temple, is Dongri Ganesh temple (maps ) that is dedicated to remover of obstacles, Lord Ganesh.
- Albert Hall Museum (maps )
The museum is named in the honor of Prince Albert, husband of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, when they visited Jaipur in 1876. The museum has some really good treasures sourced from Kandahar( then Gandhar), Iran (then Persia) among others and not to mention , Egyptian mummy.
- Eating out
Jaipur has both cafes and traditional dine in restaurant. However, one must try Mawa Kachori at Rawat Misthan Bandhar near Sindhi camp (Jaipur’s bus stand). One kachori is enough for two people and satisfies the sweet tooth.
I personally liked Kanha restaurant at Vidhyadhar Nagar which is quite typical restaurant one would find in North India.