# Jaipur Jaipur, India's Pink City, dazzles with terracotta hues, grand forts, intricate palaces, and bustling markets where textiles and gems glitter. Jaipur earned its enduring nickname from the terracotta-pink wash applied to the old city's buildings in 1876 to welcome the Prince of Wales. The colour has since become inseparable from the city's identity, its warm ochre and salmon shades casting a distinctive glow across bazaars, havelis and civic buildings alike. Beyond the pigment, Jaipur is a city of measured geometry: its founder, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, commissioned the plans himself, laying wide streets in a grid pattern rare for its era. ## Fortresses and Palaces Amber Fort rises on a crag overlooking the town, its rugged stone ramparts giving way to interiors of polished marble and delicate mirrorwork. Visitors pass through successive courtyards and staircases leading to the Sheesh Mahal, a hall where thousands of tiny glass fragments turn candlelight into a diffuse shimmer across every surface. The City Palace occupies the city's heart, its gates and colonnades blending Rajput and Mughal craftsmanship. Part of the palace remains a royal residence; other wings hold museums of manuscripts, weaponry and ceremonial costumes. ## Observatories and Architecture The Jantar Mantar, completed in 1734, stands as one of five astronomical parks built by the maharaja. Its massive stone instruments—the Samrat Yantra sundial, the Jai Prakash bowl, and a constellation of carved devices—were used to chart celestial movements with surprising precision. At street level, the Hawa Mahal presents its five-storey facade of arched windows and screened balconies, designed so that royal women could observe processions below without entering public view. ## Markets and Craft The bazaars around Johari Chowk and Sireh Deori Bazaar deal in textiles, lacquered bangles and semi-precious stones. Nearby workshops still practice block-printing and bandhani tie-dye, techniques passed through generations. At the city's edges, Nahargarh Fort commands views across the Aravalli hills and the sprawl below, its walls quieter than those of Amber but no less commanding. Jaipur's evening lanes fill with the scent of roadside kitchens preparing pyaaz kachori and dal baati churma, the local fare alongside the steady trade in copperware, leather and miniature paintings that has sustained the city's artisans for centuries. ## Tours that visit Jaipur No tours visit this place just yet. ## Before you book you should know ### Is this trip right for you? Our groups are capped at eight travellers, which is about a third of what the industry calls a small group. Eight people share one vehicle, one table at dinner and one guide's attention, and the day can change on the road without anybody being left behind. If you are looking for a coach, a fixed script and a microphone, this is not that. Most days involve real walking, often on ground that was laid two thousand years before walking shoes: marble worn smooth, cobbles, uneven steps and long site paths with little shade. Bring shoes you can spend a morning in. Some days move between regions and are largely a drive, with stops along the way. Summers are hot — well over 35°C inland — and winters are colder than most people expect, so layers, a hat and sunscreen earn their place in the bag whatever the month. How demanding a particular trip is, is written on the trip itself: the physical rating in the header, and the day-by-day itinerary above. ### Rooms, and travelling on your own Trip prices are per person, sharing a twin room. Each traveller picks their own room while booking, so a party can mix the three: - **Twin share** — two single beds, shared with someone you are travelling with or with a traveller of the same gender. - **Travelling as a couple** — one double room. - **Individual room** — a room of your own, for a single supplement on top of the trip price. Availability is limited, and the supplement for a given date is shown next to the option when you book. Solo travellers are welcome on every departure, and most of our groups have one or two aboard. ### Accommodation The hotels named in an itinerary are a guideline rather than a guarantee. Where one is full, or has dropped below the standard we booked it for, we substitute a property of a similar standard in the same area — we would rather change the hotel than the trip. Check-in is usually mid-afternoon. If you arrive early we will ask for the room, but no hotel can promise one before its own check-in time; luggage can normally be left at reception in the meantime. If you want the room from the night before, ask us and we will add the extra night to your booking. ### Passports, visas and insurance Entry requirements depend on your nationality and change without much notice, so the only reliable source is the official one: the government of the country you are travelling to, and your own foreign ministry's travel advice. Check both before you book a flight. Many countries ask for a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, and for blank pages. It is worth looking at yours now rather than at the airport. We ask every traveller to carry travel insurance covering medical treatment and repatriation, and we would strongly encourage cover for cancellation and for your luggage as well. ### Your departure is guaranteed — the day can change Once a departure is on the calendar it runs. We do not cancel a trip for want of a minimum number of bookings, so a booked date is one you can plan flights and leave around. What can move is the shape of a day. Museums and archaeological sites change their hours, roads close, weather turns, a local holiday lands in the middle of the week. Where that happens your guide reorders the day, or swaps a stop for one of the same weight, and tells you why. Changes to a booked itinerary are covered by our Booking Terms & Conditions. --- Full page: https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/jaipur/