Part 2/4: Roadtrip From The City Beautiful to The Blue City - Exploring Jaipur

Day 2

We started our day with typical Rajasthani breakfast and gorged on mirchi bada, pyaaz kachori, bhujia parantha and maakhaniya lassi.

Rajasthani Breakfast

Next we headed to the old city and used our student ID cards at the Jantar Mantar ticket counter to buy a combined entrance ticket for the numerous tourist attractions in Jaipur.

(Tip: All students must carry their school/college ID cards when travelling to Rajasthan, in order to avail extensive discounts on most of the entrance tickets)

Jantar Mantar, Jaipur

The main tourist attractions include Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, City Palace, Jaigarh Fort, Amer Fort and Nahargarh Fort. The City Palace, Jantar Mantar and the Hawa Mahal are in close proximity to each other and can be conveniently covered on foot. We first visited the City Palace and admired the grandeur of this Palace. We also crashed a royal wedding that was organised inside the City Palace premises.

Having a gala time at the wedding

Puppet Show at the City Palace

City Palace

Our next stop was the Jantar Mantar which houses various mind boggling ancient structures which were used to make accurate calculations regarding the date, time, solar/lunar eclipses etc.

Jantar Mantar

The Hawa Mahal has a number of windows at each level which have been built in such a way to ensure efficient ventilation through the corridors of this monument.

Hawa Mahal

The next set of tourist attractions i.e. Amer Fort, Jaigarh Fort and Nahargarh Fort, lie on the outskirts of the city roughly at a distance of 12-15km from the city centre. All the forts have a mystical charm and if time allows one must visit all of them.

Panoramic Aerial View from the Amer Fort

The mighty Amer Fort

Try and plan your day in such a manner that you cover all the tourist attractions by early evening and then head towards the Nahargarh Fort before sunset.

The stunning spectacle that awaited us at the Nahargarh Fort is hard to describe in words. Makar Sankranti is celebrated with great fervour in this part of India and we were fortunate enough to witness the celebrations from the terrace restaurant at Nahargarh Fort.

Fireworks :)

The pink and auburn hues of the horizon were beautifully complimented with the towering and sparkling fireworks. Soon the sky was engulfed with umpteen number of Chinese lanterns. It was one of those priceless moments which left the three of us gazing at the sky in awe.

The aerial view from the Nahargarh Fort

There is an amazing and equally informative light and sound show at the Amer Fort in the evening but due to paucity of time we had to skip it. We decided to spend the evening at Chokhi Dhani .

Chokhi Dhani, Jaipur

Chokhi Dhani, meaning ‘special village,’ is a mock Rajasthani village 20km south of Jaipur, and is totally worth visiting. There are open-air restaurants, where one can enjoy a tasty Rajasthani thali, and there’s a bevy of traditional entertainment – dancers, acrobats, snack stalls – as well as adventure park–like activities. Chokhi Dhani is truly a concept capturing the vibrant spirit of Rajasthan. We tried Bajra ki roti with Jaggery and Lasson (garlic) ki chutney and simply fell in love with the Rajasthani food.

This old lady had magic in her hands

The charges for traditional Rajasthani dining is Rs. 600/- for adult and Rs. 350/- for child.

Traditional Rajasthani Dinner at Chokhi Dhani

For a day which had started with us indulging into delicacies like Mirchi badas and Kachoris, there couldn't have been a more perfect way to end it than by having a sumptuous Rajasthani meal here at Chokhi Dhani.