The India travel specialists · London
Best of Rajasthan — 12 nights through Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Pushkar, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.
Rajasthan is the India most people picture before they have ever been: fort walls the colour of honey, a lake with a palace floating in the middle of it, camel trains crossing sand that goes orange an hour before sunset. It is also, happily, one of the easiest parts of India to travel through, because the great cities sit a comfortable drive apart and the road between them is half the pleasure.
This 13-day route starts in Delhi, takes in the Taj Mahal at Agra, then works its way south and west through Jaipur, Pushkar, Udaipur and Jodhpur before finishing in the desert at Jaisalmer. You have the same driver and car the whole way, with a local guide meeting you in each city, so nobody is standing on a platform at six in the morning working out which carriage is theirs.
One private car and driver the whole way. The only flight inside India is Jaisalmer back to Delhi on the last day.
Everyone has seen the photograph. What the photograph does not carry is the scale, or the way the marble changes colour through the day, or how quiet it goes once you are inside the garden and away from the gate. Your guide gets you in early and then leaves you to it.
A fortified palace built in pale yellow and pink sandstone, with mirrored halls inside and the Aravalli hills running off behind it. You go up by elephant where they are working, by jeep when they are not, and the view back down over the valley is worth the climb either way.
Udaipur is the softest city on this route and the boat ride is the reason people stay an extra night. You go out as the light drops, the palaces along the shore come on one by one, and the whole thing lasts about an hour.
Forty kilometres west of Jaisalmer the scrub gives up and the dunes start. You go late in the afternoon, when the sand turns orange and the heat has gone out of the day, and come back under a sky with nothing in the way of it.
October to March is the season. December and January are glorious by day and genuinely cold at night in the desert, so pack a jumper. From April it gets hard work, and by May Jaisalmer and Jodhpur are punishing.
Arrive Delhi
Met at the airport and taken to your hotel. Rooms are available from 2pm. Nothing is scheduled, which after a nine-hour flight is the correct amount of plan.
Delhi
Old and New Delhi with a guide: Jama Masjid, a cycle-rickshaw through the lanes of Chandni Chowk, the Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Qutub Minar and India Gate. Two cities in one day, and they feel like it.
Delhi to Agra
204 km, about 4 hours
Stopping at Sikandra, Akbar's tomb, on the way in. Agra Fort in the afternoon and then the Taj Mahal. Closed Fridays.
Agra to Jaipur
238 km, about 5 hours
Via Fatehpur Sikri, the sandstone city Akbar built and then abandoned when the water ran out. It is almost entirely intact and almost entirely empty.
Jaipur
Amber Fort in the morning, reached by elephant where available or by jeep if not. Then the City Palace, the Jantar Mantar observatory and the Hawa Mahal.
Jaipur to Pushkar
138 km, about 3 hours
A small temple town around a lake, with ghats running down to the water and one of the very few Brahma temples anywhere. Quieter than anywhere else on this route.
Pushkar to Udaipur
275 km, about 6 hours
Breaking the drive at the temple complexes of Nagda and Eklingji, which are worth the stop rather than just somewhere to stretch.
Udaipur
The city in the morning, then a boat out on Lake Pichola as the light goes. This is the evening people photograph.
Udaipur to Jodhpur
250 km, about 6 hours
Via Ranakpur, where a Jain temple holds up its roof on more than a thousand marble pillars, no two carved the same.
Jodhpur
Mehrangarh Fort, which does not so much sit on the hill as grow out of it, and Jaswant Thada. From the ramparts the old town below is genuinely, completely blue.
Jodhpur to Jaisalmer
287 km, about 6 hours
The longest drive, and the one where the landscape empties out into the Thar.
Jaisalmer
The fort, the merchant havelis and Gadisar Lake, then out to the Sam sand dunes for the late afternoon and a camel ride.
Jaisalmer to Delhi
flight
Transfer to Jaisalmer airport for the flight to Delhi and your onward connection home.
We price the land arrangements and your flights together, then come back with one number. No deposit is taken on the call and nothing is booked until you say so.
Prefer to talk? Call 0203 668 2943 and ask for the India tours desk, or message us on WhatsApp.
October to March. The desert is pleasant by day and genuinely cold at night in December and January, so pack a jumper. April onwards gets very hot, and by May daytime temperatures in Jaisalmer and Jodhpur are hard work. The monsoon is July to September and is lighter here than most of India, but it is not the season most people want.
No. The from-price covers the land arrangements. We book your flights from London, Manchester or Birmingham separately, which usually works out better because we can price several carriers against your exact dates rather than fixing you to one.
Yes. British passport holders need a visa, and for a trip of this length the e-Visa is normally the right one. Apply online before you travel. We will tell you which type you need when we confirm your dates.
It is the length that works without rushing. You get two nights in the cities that deserve them and single nights where a single night is plenty. If you have less time, the Golden Triangle covers Delhi, Agra and Jaipur in a week.
Yes. This is the standard route, but it is private rather than a group departure, so we can add nights, drop a city, change the hotel grade or build a different route entirely. Tell us what you want on the call.
Yes, every Friday. The itinerary is already built around it, but it is worth knowing if you are choosing your own departure date.
Prices shown are the supplier’s published “from” price for the land arrangements only, per person on a twin-share basis, and vary by date, hotel grade and party size. International flights are quoted separately. The route map is an illustration of the order of stops, not an accurate map. Patel Travel is ATOL 74904 and IATA accredited. Tours are operated by our ground partner in India; your confirmation will state who is responsible for your booking.
Full financial protection & ATOL bonded — IATA accredited
Best prices to India — we’ll beat any quote*·Speak to a real consultant
*We beat a written quote from an ATOL licensed agent for the same flight, where seats are still available. Full terms.
Send Mr. Patel your trip and a consultant replies with our best price. No call needed, no waiting on hold.
or speak to someone now
0203 668 2943Speak to a consultant who books this route every day
We’ll Beat Any Quote
Send us a written quote from another ATOL licensed agent. If seats are still
available on that flight, we’ll beat it — not just match it.
See terms
Checking which airlines fly this route…
Don’t want to wait?Call 0203 668 2943