Nick and I enjoyed a final breakfast at our New Delhi hotel, packed our belongings, then headed to the airport for our domestic flight to Jaipur. We enjoyed our time in Delhi, but were ready for a change of pace. Our arrival in Jaipur went much smoother than in New Delhi. Our hotel was really the hotel it said it was, and we were able to check in at the price we booked! The hotel a 15 minute walk away from the train and metro stations, which made our travel within Jaipur pretty convenient. The hotel was beautiful; it had a courtyard, big windows, and lots of green decor. It was a great home base for us. Besides our arrival day, which was really only an evening, we had three full days in the ‘Pink City.’  We loved everything about Jaipur, with the one exception that I had horrible stomach problems the entire time. Not that unexpected for a trip to India, though!

We started the day off by going to Panna Meena Ka Kund which is an old step well. Visitors can no longer walk down the steps, but the view from the top is still pretty cool. There was a couple taking wedding photos there. 

Next we walked a few minutes to Shri Jagat Shiromanji ji Temple. This was one of our favorite temples. It was cheap to enter, which was nice. There were also only a few people there at the same time as us so it was easy to walk around, look at the engravings, and take photos without a crowd. The outside of the temple features two large elephants at the top of the entrance staircase. It also has smaller elephants around the temple in addition to other carvings. 

After a short visit at this temple we walked to Amber Palace/Fort. We’ve seen it spelled Amer and Amber so not sure which is correct. The palace was huge with many floors, hallways, and rooms to explore. It was very busy; many tour busses stop here. The courtyard had a coupe elephants for riding (we did not partake), and there were a few gardens.

There was a tunnel that lead to a path up to Jaigarh Fort. We walked this in the heat of the late morning and explored the fort. From the top we had views of the many walls across the valley and views from the fort we were at in two directions. There were many pigeons and monkeys. We ate our lunch up there, which was surprisingly delicious for a restaurant catering to tourists with no competition nearby. The worlds biggest canon on wheels was there, too. There was a large armory we walked through, a small temple, and many small areas to explore.

We then took a short tuk tuk through the forest to get to Nahargarh Fort. This fort is famous for sunset but it was a long way away from where we were staying so we figured it would be best to just do it while we were in the area. The fort itself was fine, but our favorite was all the art. The walls had many paintings of flowers and there were many rooms with beautiful window frames. The windows had wooden shutters and nice paintings all around them. There was even a baby monkey climbing around on one of the windows. This fort also had a small step well like the one we saw earlier in the day.

After exploring all of the forts we started the slow walk down back to town. The road was steep with narrow switch backs. Some locals were riding their motorcycles up and down giving people a ride for a small fee. We opted for the walk which was easy enough. Nick and I walked through a small, cute neighborhood to reach Gaitore Ki Chhatriyan. The walk took about 40 minutes but was so worth it. The neighborhood was a wonderful experience. There were so many children who jumped up and down, waved, and sang hello. When we replied back some of them got bursts of excitement and would run in circles or call out goodbye over and over until we could no longer hear them. Kids from balconies, shop entrances, and the street. We also passed by many free roaming city cows, something that became a regular occurrence for us in India.

Gaitore Ki Chhatriyan are cenotaphs, this place was the royal crematorium for kings. There were many cenotaphs scattered throughout the property, with a well maintained lawn. It wasn’t empty but it also wasn’t busy, which was nice. We made it there in time before closing and enjoyed walking through each open air structure. We thought it was a great addition to our first day.

Much to Nick’s delight, we woke up for sunrise at a park near the airport. The Jawahar Circle Garden was a 20 minute drive away from our hotel and we arrived just after sunrise. There were two main highlights to see there. The first was Patrika Gate for some stunning photos. The archways have pastel paintings that are bright and colorful.

To our surprise the park itself was jam packed with locals doing all sorts of morning activities. We thought India was more of a late night kind of country, but this park was busy at sunrise. We walked along the outside of the park and watched kids doing their roller skating lessons, older women doing their dance exercise class, and people young and old doing their speed walking along the outside path. Our final stop was the Toran Dwar. It was lit beautifully with the morning light, the photo shows what it looked like.

We saved one of the things I was most looking forward to for last. We went to the Jaipur City Palace and did the Royal Tour. The Royal Tour is expensive, but we felt like it was worth every penny. The price meant that there were very few people and we always had each room to ourselves. The tour came with a private guide who took us around the outside and inside of the palace and gave us great information. He was also an absolute pro at taking our photos, which was nice because Nick and I often don’t end up with photos of us together when we travel. The courtyard was nice with several beautiful doorways, and a meeting place in the center with orange archways.

There were three main rooms we visited. The first was a room filled with red and green stones, gold, chandeliers, and red carpets and seating. It was glittery and cozy. Everywhere you looked light was reflecting off of something, almost like being inside an expensive disco ball. The ‘stair well’ we took to get there was not really stairs at all but more of a textured ramp, as royal women have extremely heavy dresses so stairs would be dangerous for them. We also got to watch an old carpet restoration in progress; the carpet was over 400 years old. The Royal Family are art fanatics and support many artists in the palace. They have carpet makers, miniature painters, pashmina weavers, etc.

The next room was the blue room, devoted to Lord Krishna. It was stunning with blue and white patterns painted on every surface including the ceiling. We walked the inside and outside. This was probably my favorite room as it was the most simple and bright. The next room was the honeymoon room, which was covered in reflective pieces. They demonstrated how when candles are lit the ceiling has dancing reflections. After the rooms we also got to see a pashmina demonstration, a miniature painting demonstration, and have some mango juice on the rooftop. The miniature painting was amazing to see up close. They use minuscule paint strokes to get the effect (one brush hair).

After the palace we walked a few minutes to Jantar Mantar. This is a large observatory with several astronomical instruments. The sundial is said to be able to tell the time to within a few seconds. Unfortunately we were there when I was getting uncomfortably hungry so we did not stay as long as we could’ve.

We did not enter the Hawa Mahal, instead we went to the Tattoo Cafe for lunch and a view. The view of Hawa Mahal from across the street was incredible. The cafe wasn’t too expensive, either, for being the spot everyone goes to for the view. Nick tried a lassi and I enjoyed some Chinese food. Seemed silly to eat Chinese in India, but apparently Indians love it and its quite delicious how they prepare it. It was also nice to not have something spicy for once.

After a 30 minute walk we made it to Maharanion Ki Chhatriyan, cenotaph monuments like the ones we saw at the start of our Jaipur trip, but this one was for the queens. It was smaller than the one for the kings, and the landscaping was less maintained. It was also quieter with only one other person visiting while we were there. The security guard seemed excited to have us there and showed us around the entrance and gave lots of information.

Our final stop was Jal Mahal, a short 20 minute walk from the cenotaphs. It is a palace in the middle of a lake. Many people were there taking photos. Unfortunately it was too windy to get a nice reflection in the water. I bet coming at night time when it’s calm and lit up would be beautiful. We thought it was nice but would not have been worth it if we hadn’t been nearby.