Forts, Palaces, Traditional Rajasthani food, Beautiful turban, Pink streets, Beautifully dressed Camels, Camel carts, Wheat fields, Peacocks, Hills and Puppet shows ....... what not..... everything is so nice to see in Jaipur. Rajasthan is the most popular tourist destination in India.
There are plenty of places to visit and many things to do in Jaipur. I have listed all the important places one can visit and listed the options you have for shopping, Eating out and the Hot Air Ballooning. Hot Air Ballooning is available only in few places of India and Jaipur is one such place.
Trip Planning Options: 1. Weekend Plan from Bangalore or any part of India by flight and 2. Five Days Plan of Jaipur In and Around
Plan 1. Weekend Plan
Take the flight in evening from Bangalore or from any part of India and reach Jaipur by late evening. Check-in to a hotel and have dinner at Jaipur.
Day 1: Get up early and after breakfast start your tour with Birla Mandir, Albert Hall, Hawa Mahal, City Palace and Jantar Mantar with Lunch in between. Make use of Audio guides in all these places. Late evening, please visit Amer fort and see the Light and Sound show which is very good with surround sound and colorful synchronized lightings. On the way to Amer fort for Light and Sound show, don't forget to see the lighting in Jalmahal.
Day 2: Again get up early and start directly to Amer Fort first, Jaigarh fort and Nagargarh Fort. Jalmahal is on the way to Amer fort. Make use of Audio guides in all these places. Catch your flight in evening and return back to your home for a good sleep. If you get time and interested book for Hot Air Ballooning which happens early in morning near Amer Fort. Refer my blog post for more details. http://myjourneysinindia.blogspot.com/2015/04/hot-air-ballooning-at-jaipur-rajasthan.html
Plan 2. Five days plan of Jaipur - In and Around
If you get five days, you can cover all the places listed below in Jaipur and also the places around Jaipur as well. For places around Jaipur, refer this http://myjourneysinindia.blogspot.com/2015/05/around-jaipur.html
Stay options
We have stayed in Hotel Anuraag Villa which is economic and at a peaceful location. Read my reviews in tripadvisor here. There are plenty of options in Jaipur, refer the user reviews and choose. Rambaugh palace is the most luxurious among all.
Important Places in Jaipur that are covered in this Blog post
Visit this blogpost: http://myjourneysinindia.blogspot.com/2015/05/around-jaipur.html
Note: Please read my blog on "Delhi Agra Mathura Vrindavan and Nearby Places" as well to see the places In and Around Delhi.
1. Albert Hall Museum
The building is so beautiful and amazing from outside, Take the audio guide from entrance. Look at those domes on the top, aren't they beautiful? There are many complex and rare metal art pieces, Bronze Shield with scenes from the Ramayana from Akbar’s Razm-Nama etched on Silver plated brass plaques by Ganga Baksh: Jaipur 19th century. There is also Ashwamedh yagya shield. Many complex art pieces in Ivory are also present. There is also a persian carpet purchased by Maharaja Raja Sawai Singh during 1632 A.D. Visit Official site for lot more info: http://alberthalljaipur.gov.in/
Foundation stone laid during 6th February 1876 and completed and opened to public on 21st February 1887 by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II. The cost was close to 5 Lakh rupees that time. From the beginning this building is intended to display the products of local craftsman. Artifacts were collected from all over india and displayed here. This is built based on Indo-Saracenic architecture and stone ornamentation, became a source of reference for varied classical indian styles of design from Mughal to Rajput. Even the corridors were decorated with murals in a variety of styles including the Ramayan, reproducing paintings from illustrations in the Persian Razmnama prepared for Emperor Akbar. European, Egyptian, Chinese, Greek and Babylonian civilizations were portrayed in the other murals to enable the people of the region to compare and contrast them with their own and develop their knowledge of history and art.
Confronting the gates of the city by 1890 there stood the museum, the zoo and the Mayo hospital in a public park representing the dream of the former Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh and the new face of a Jaipur moving into modern age. During 1898 on the eve of Dr. Thomas Holbein Hendley a resident surgeon wrote to the Durbar that on average the annual attendance exceeded a quarter million people and in eleven years there were more than three million visitors.
There are plenty of places to visit and many things to do in Jaipur. I have listed all the important places one can visit and listed the options you have for shopping, Eating out and the Hot Air Ballooning. Hot Air Ballooning is available only in few places of India and Jaipur is one such place.
Trip Planning Options: 1. Weekend Plan from Bangalore or any part of India by flight and 2. Five Days Plan of Jaipur In and Around
Plan 1. Weekend Plan
Take the flight in evening from Bangalore or from any part of India and reach Jaipur by late evening. Check-in to a hotel and have dinner at Jaipur.
Day 1: Get up early and after breakfast start your tour with Birla Mandir, Albert Hall, Hawa Mahal, City Palace and Jantar Mantar with Lunch in between. Make use of Audio guides in all these places. Late evening, please visit Amer fort and see the Light and Sound show which is very good with surround sound and colorful synchronized lightings. On the way to Amer fort for Light and Sound show, don't forget to see the lighting in Jalmahal.
Day 2: Again get up early and start directly to Amer Fort first, Jaigarh fort and Nagargarh Fort. Jalmahal is on the way to Amer fort. Make use of Audio guides in all these places. Catch your flight in evening and return back to your home for a good sleep. If you get time and interested book for Hot Air Ballooning which happens early in morning near Amer Fort. Refer my blog post for more details. http://myjourneysinindia.blogspot.com/2015/04/hot-air-ballooning-at-jaipur-rajasthan.html
Plan 2. Five days plan of Jaipur - In and Around
If you get five days, you can cover all the places listed below in Jaipur and also the places around Jaipur as well. For places around Jaipur, refer this http://myjourneysinindia.blogspot.com/2015/05/around-jaipur.html
Stay options
We have stayed in Hotel Anuraag Villa which is economic and at a peaceful location. Read my reviews in tripadvisor here. There are plenty of options in Jaipur, refer the user reviews and choose. Rambaugh palace is the most luxurious among all.
Important Places in Jaipur that are covered in this Blog post
- Albert Hall Museum
- Birla Mandir
- Hawa Mahal
- City Palace or Palace Complex
- Jantar Mantar - Jaipur Observatory
- Amer Fort
- Jaigarh Fort
- Nahargarh Fort and Madhavendra Palace
- JalMahal
- Sisodia Rani Ka Bagh
- Galtaji or Monkey Temple
- Hot Air Ballooning near Amer Fort (Click this link to check the blogpost)
- Light and Sound show at Amer Fort
- Light and Sound show at City Palace
- Shopping at Jaipur
- Eating out in Jaipur
- Rajmandir cinema
- Puppet shows
Visit this blogpost: http://myjourneysinindia.blogspot.com/2015/05/around-jaipur.html
- Choki Dhani
- Ajmer Durgah,
- Pushkar - Brahma Temple, Pushkar Lake, Camel ride
- Abaneri or Kalakho or Chand Baori and Harshat Mata Temple
- Sambar Salt lake and Flamingoes
Note: Please read my blog on "Delhi Agra Mathura Vrindavan and Nearby Places" as well to see the places In and Around Delhi.
1. Albert Hall Museum
Confronting the gates of the city by 1890 there stood the museum, the zoo and the Mayo hospital in a public park representing the dream of the former Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh and the new face of a Jaipur moving into modern age. During 1898 on the eve of Dr. Thomas Holbein Hendley a resident surgeon wrote to the Durbar that on average the annual attendance exceeded a quarter million people and in eleven years there were more than three million visitors.
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| Magnificient Albert Hall Museum at Jaipur |
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| Look at the art work in the Glass Panel on top !! |
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| Paintings at Albert Hall Museum Jaipur |
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| Wov.... beautiful dome at Albert Hall Museum Jaipur |
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| Isn't it so beautiful ? |
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| Ashwamedh Yagya Shield at Albert Hall of Museum Jaipur |
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| Complex art work on Ivory - Ivory Sculpture at Albert Hall Museum Jaipur |
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| Wov, really a masterpiece on Ivory - Ivory Sculpture at Albert Hall Museum Jaipur |
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| Ramayan Chalice Albert Hall Museum Jaipur |
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| Yarkand Coffee Pot Albert Hall Museum Jaipur |
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| Jaipur Ewer Albert Hall Museum Jaipur
2. Birla Mandir and Lord Shiva Temple complex
This is also called Laxmi Narayan Temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Built using finest quality of white marble. Very old Shiva Temple is just on the left side of this Birla Mandir on the hill, but heard that this temple is open only during Shivaratri once a year.
3. Hawa Mahal
One of well known place in Jaipur is the Hawa Mahal. Only this picture comes to everyone's mind when you talk about Jaipur. Hawa Mahal is also called palace of winds. Hawa Mahal was built in 1799 A.D by Maharaja Pratap Singh and the chief architect Usta Lal Chand. This five storied building has two large courts. The names of the five stories are
This is another famous attractions next to Hawa Mahal in Jaipur. The Royal family still living here.
Look at the entrance arch and the beautiful colorful paintings on it and the huge bronze gate. On the brone gates there are sharp edges to avoid elephants banging the door during war. Once you enter inside you can see the display of buggies used those days by the Royal family.
This was built during 1729 and 1732 by Sawai Jai Singh II the ruler of Amer. The main architects were namely Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya and Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob. Again this is also a mix of both Rajput, Mughal and European style architectures. Mainly there are two buildings namely Chandra Mahal and Mubarak Mahal. Museum is there in Mubarak Mahal and you get to see the Royal family costumes, shawls, sarees, kashmiri pashminas. Most interesting part is that the Maharaja Sawai Madhosingh I weighed almost 250 kgs and he had around 108 wives. Chandra Mahal or Chandra Niwas is a seven floor building and each floor has got names 1. Sukh-Niwas, 2. Ranga-Mandir, 3. Pitam-Niwas, 4. Chabi-Niwas, 5. Shri-Niwas and 6. Mukut-Mandir or Mukut Mahal. Only the ground floor is open to public.
There is also a beautiful Peacock gate which represents autums and dedicated to Lord Vishnu and Lotus Gate represents summer and dedicated to Lord Shiva Parvathi.
"Diwan-I-Am" Sabha means public and this is called Sabha niwas or Hall of public audience.
"Diwan-I-Khas" is the audience hall for Maharajas. You could see two huge silver urns here in display. Each weighs 340 kgs and can take upto 4K litres of water. This is in Guinness Book of World Records it seems.This was made for Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II to carry water from Ganges on his trip to England. I dont know how it was carried. These are called Gangajelies. There was also a puppet show. Again audio guides are available many languages.
Official website: http://www.msmsmuseum.com/pages.php?id=3
5. Jantar Mantar
It was in the year 1718, the Maharaja Sawai Singh thought of constructing the observartory and he studied many books for it on astronomy. He sent Pandit Jagannath Samrat and Pandit Kewal Ramji to several foreign countries like Greece, Britain, Arabia and Portugal to study the science of Astronomy. These scholars after their return helped the Maharaj to realize his ambition of building an observatory. This Jaipur observatory was build during 1728. This is the biggest in india. One of the instrument Rama Yantra gives altitude and azimuth of the Sun and of the heavenly bodies.
6. Amer Fort
Audio guide at Amer Fort is available on English, Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi, Spanish, French and Italian languages. Indian Language at Rs.100/= amd foreign language at Rs.150/=.
Amer Fort is another important place to visit in Jaipur. This is 11 Kms from the main Jaipur city. There is a Maota lake in front of the Amer fort which adds beauty. This is built using red stone and marble.
There are four levels each with courtyard, named "Diwan-E-Khas", "Diwan-i-Am", Sheesh Mahal or Mirror palace and the Sukh Niwas. Chand Pol or Moon gate was the main gate of entry for all commoners. Cars can go up and Suraj Pol (sun gate). When we went there was no Elephant ride to the top, seems to be stopped due to some reasons.
This Amer fort and Jaigarh Fort are located on Aravalli Hills and connected with tunnel. This tunnel was used to conceal movement or to allow of escape during the war. This tunnel is subterraneous till a point near the Rang Mahal. Thereafter it runs roofless on the surface upto Jaigarh. The Arch in Ganesh Pol is so beautifully painted. Above Ganesh gate, there are latticed windows through which royal ladies watch the functions held in Diwan-i-Am.
One amazing thing is that, during summer this palace was kept cool by covering its arched openings with screens woven with the roots of the aromatic grass called Khas (Vettiver in Tamil). These screens were moistened periodically with water. Air passing through the screens was thus cooled and carried also the fragrance of the grass into the palace chambers. Wov.... What an idea... !!!
Not just that, in Sukh Niwas or Diwan-E-Khas the back wall of the main chamber has the beautiful marble cascade formed by perforated marble screen which is connected with stripped channel. The cascade was connected with the running water from the tank built in roof. The breeze passing through the perforations served as a cooling device in summer. Rooms are having sandal wood doors with ivory inlay works. Singh Pol or Lion gate is for the royal family and a premier gate.
Jaigarh fort is on the Aravalli hills. There is a cannon foundry at this fort.
This is one of the most famous and world's largest cannon on wheels.
Jaivana is the world famous cannon and was cast in 1720 during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II.
At the foundry at Jaigarh it is 20 feet long barrel weighs 50 Tons and with a diameter of 11 inches. Its range is 22 Miles and 100 KGs of gun powder was used for one fire. This can be turned on all sides for firing. It seems four elephants were used to turn this.
Apart from this cannon you also get to see the Amer Fort from here which is really amazing. This fort is located exactly behind the amer fort at bit higher level. View is fantastic and you must not miss this.
During the Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II and Maharaja Sawai Madho Sign II this marvelous residential palace was built. The main palace of the King "Madhavendra Bhawan" is within the Nagargarh Fort. This is an example of Indian and European architecture. The sunset view from here is very famous and beautiful. There is also an open restaurant in case if you get hungry.
9. Jal Mahal
Located in middle of the Man Sagar Lake and built in 18th century. Evening lighting is good. This is on the way to Amer fort and other forts. You may get to see very few variety of birds as well here in the lake.
10. Sisodia Rani Ka Bagh
This palace garden was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh in 1710 AD for his queen Sisodia Rani a princess of Udaipur. She was married with the condition that she will be the chief queen - Patrani of the Maharaja. It was here that her son Sawai Madho Singh was born. Galtaji temple is close to this garden.
This is an ancient temple around 10Km from Jaipur. This is built within the mountain pass within the Aravalli hils. Current temple was built in 18th century by Diwan Rao Kriparam. The entire temple complex is built around the natural spring and waterfalls. Due to the large number of monkeys who live here, this is been named as monkey temple. The paintings are very nice.
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| Galtaji Or Monkey Temple in Jaipur |
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| Not well maintained and losing the colors and beauty - Galtaji Monkey Temple Jaipur |
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| Beautiful Paintings in Galtaji Monkey Temple Jaipur |
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| Beautiful Paintings in Galtaji Monkey Temple Jaipur |
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| Beautiful Paintings in Galtaji Monkey Temple Jaipur |
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| View of the Galtaji Monkey Temple Jaipur |
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View of the Galtaji Monkey Temple Jaipur on Aravalli Hills
12. Hot Air Ballooning at Jaipur
if you have not tried yet, please do so. It is an amazing life time experience. Read my blog post which has all the details. http://myjourneysinindia.blogspot.com/2015/04/hot-air-ballooning-at-jaipur-rajasthan.html
13. Light and Sound Show at Amer Fort
You may want to spend an hour in this Light and Sound show which is really nice with surround sound and synchronized lighting on the Amer Fort. When you visit the Amer fort check for the timings and you can take the ticket just before the show.
14. Light and Sound Show at City Palace
If you stay for 5 days, then it is worth spending one night on this apart from the Amer fort Light and Sound show.
15. Shopping at Jaipur
16. Eating out in Jaipur
We tried the following, please check with review sites as well.
Rajasthan Special Foods to try
  Blue Pottery, Dhoodh Phini, Panneer Ghewar, Tea Pot
17. Raj Mandir Cinema
You may want to just check once for its unique architecture and 1200 seat capacity cinema hall.
Built in 1976, once you are in, you will get to see the beautiful chandeliers.
 18. Puppet Shows
Mostly the hotels you stay might have this shows in evenings. Otherwise you can also check this
out at City Palace or Palace complex. You need to pay for the show. It is very interesting to listen
to the songs and the watch puppets dancing to the tune.
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| Statue Circle Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh Jaipur |
You might be interested to check the related blog post below
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| Hot Air Ballooning at Jaipur |
Hope you enjoyed reading this very long post with lots of photos of the places. Please share with your friends and don't forget to add your valuable suggestions and comments below. Thank you.
