Jaipur
Laid out in 1727 and washed in pink, Jaipur keeps its observatory, its Palace of Winds and the hill fort at Amber within easy reach of one another.
- Arrival
- Jaipur International · JAI
- To the city
- About 10 km to the centre by road
- Private jets
- Into JAI, on a 3,407 m runway
- Best time
- November to March
The city
The Pink City and its forts.
Sawai Jai Singh II moved his court down from Amber in 1727 and built a new capital on a grid, with the City Palace at its centre. The walled city has been on the UNESCO list since 2019; its astronomical observatory, Jantar Mantar, since 2010; and the fort at Amber, on its ridge to the north, since 2013.
Come between November and March, when afternoons run from 22 to 31 °C and almost no rain falls. By May the heat passes 40 °C, and the monsoon brings over 200 mm a month in July and August. The best hotels sit outside the walls, in old gardens and new palaces on the edge of the hills.
Arriving
Sanganer, south of the walls.
Jaipur International lies at Sanganer, about ten kilometres from the centre. It is the busiest airport in Rajasthan, with more than six million passengers a year, and has one runway of 3,407 metres.
- Delhi 40 min
- Mumbai 1 h 35
- Colombo 3 h 15
- Phuket 4 h 25
- London 9 h 05 long-range jet
When to go
November to March.
A dry inland climate with a short, heavy monsoon. November to March is warm and clear, with highs of 22 to 31 °C. April to June is fierce, May passing 40 °C, and July and August bring most of the year's rain.
- 22° J 5
- 25° F 10
- 31° M 5
- 36° A 5
- 40° M 18
- 39° J 51
- 34° J 213
- 32° A 226
- 33° S 79
- 34° O 13
- 29° N 8
- 24° D 3
What to see and do
Days in and around Jaipur.
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Landmark
Amber Fort
Red sandstone and marble on the ridge above the old capital, one of the hill forts of Rajasthan listed by UNESCO.
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Landmark
Hawa Mahal
The Palace of Winds, finished in 1799, a honeycomb of 953 latticed windows over the street.
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Landmark
Jantar Mantar
Sawai Jai Singh's open-air observatory, completed in 1734, with the largest stone sundial in the world.
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Culture
City Palace, Jaipur
Built by Sawai Jai Singh II after 1727, the palace is still home to the royal family, and a Royal Tour opens its inhabited rooms beyond the museum.
Official site -
Culture
Albert Hall Museum
Rajasthan's oldest museum opened in 1887 in an Indo-Saracenic hall by Samuel Swinton Jacob, showing jewellery, carpets, coins and an Egyptian mummy.
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Culture
Nahargarh Fort
Sawai Jai Singh built this ridge retreat in 1734; frescoed suites of the Madhavendra Bhawan lead to a roof terrace looking over the whole city.
Official site -
Wildlife
Jhalana Leopard Reserve
Open to safaris since 2017, these 23 square kilometres of Aravalli scrub about 10 km from the centre hold almost 40 leopards.
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Racing & sport
Rajasthan Polo Club
Matches of the Jaipur Polo Season are played on the club's ground, its turf relaid in 2023, where the revived Jaipur Polo Team competes.
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Culture
Jaipur Literature Festival
Each January the festival gathers writers and readers for five days of talks at Hotel Clarks Amer; 2026 saw its 19th edition.
Official site
On the calendar
A date to plan around.
Dates as published by the organisers. Runways, hotels and slots fill early around these weeks: the sooner we know, the more choice you have.
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14–18 Jan 2027
Art
Jaipur Literature Festival
20th edition of the annual literature festival in Jaipur, with talks by writers, Nobel laureates and public figures.
Jaipur
In 2 months
Where to stay
Palaces old and new, inside the walls and out.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Raffles Jaipur Fifty rooms and suites in pink stone and jaali screens, each with a private pool or deep tub, and a rooftop pool lit by torches at night.
- The Leela Palace Jaipur A hundred and ninety-four rooms and suites on a nine-acre estate, crowned by a Maharaja Suite with two terraces, its own pool and a dining room for eight.
- Six Senses Fort Barwara A fortified 14th-century palace with two temples inside its walls, one of them now the spa, and dinner served in the old watchtower.
- The Oberoi Rajvilas Rooms and tents in the manner of royal hunting camps, around an 18th-century temple rising from a lotus pond.
- Rajmahal Palace RAAS Jaipur Thirteen rooms in a palace of the Jaipur royal family, with hand-made wallpapers, an Art Deco pool and the family Thunderbird parked out front.
- The Johri Five suites in a haveli in the jewellers' bazaar, each named after a gemstone and dressed in its colour, with a vegetarian kitchen downstairs.
- Taj Devi Ratn Resort & Spa A modern design built on the nine sacred gemstones, with every suite turned to the Aravalli hills and villas around private plunge pools.
- Anantara Jewel Bagh Jaipur Carved arches, tiled floors and headboards painted with cranes in flight, and a cocktail bar after the mirror palaces of Rajasthan.
Where to dine
The best tables in town.
No MICHELIN Guide covers India. Two are Fodor’s Choice restaurants, with Fodor’s price bands, and the third is a pick of Outlook Traveller.
- Suvarna Mahal Fodor’s Choice Royal Indian $$$$ Rambagh Palace
- Peshawri Fodor’s Choice North-West Frontier $$$$ ITC Rajputana, Palace Road
- Mohan Mahal Outlook Traveller Rajasthani The Leela Palace
Elsewhere in India
More reasons to come.
- Delhi Mughal tombs, the old city, and the avenues of Lutyens.
- Agra The Taj Mahal at dawn.
- Udaipur Palaces reflected in Lake Pichola.
- Mumbai The Gateway of India, the Taj hotel, and the Art Deco seafront.
- Goa The baroque churches of Old Goa, and a coast of beach shacks and villas.
- Kochi An old spice port, and the backwaters of Kerala by houseboat.
Flying to Jaipur?
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A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.