Jaipur Travel Guide: Exploring India’s Magnificent Pink City

Visit the pink city of Rajasthan: Jaipur. With fairy-tale forts and palaces, as well as the bustling energy of India, you simply cannot miss this pink city during your Rajasthan journey. I’ve been there three times now and still haven’t seen everything I’d love to explore. The pink city of Jaipur has a wonderful atmosphere, and I’m completely charmed by it.

Where is Jaipur Located?

Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan state and is located about 4 hours’ drive from Delhi. Jaipur is one of the most visited cities in Rajasthan, and I completely understand why. Rajasthan has a charm that appeals to many visitors – the diversity in the streetscape is enormous. This makes it a very enjoyable city to visit during your Rajasthan travel journey.

Why Visit Jaipur? The Pink City’s Unique Charm

Jaipur is often called the Pink City. When you drive through the city, you’ll quickly notice why it earned this name. Many buildings and walls are painted pink. It’s obvious that the pink/terracotta color dominates Jaipur’s architecture. It gives the city a lovely character and creates a pleasant atmosphere, I found.

But did you know that before deciding on pink, the city first tried white and then yellow? It eventually became pink, and this remains visible today. In 1883, it was more pink than it is now – today the color appears more terracotta, which I was told is due to the more expensive materials needed to achieve a pinker shade.

If you walk for miles through Jaipur city, you’ll surely come across this section too. Suddenly everything is yellow. This is the block where the color yellow was tested in 1883 – this Yellow Block is also protected and will remain so. When you walk here, you’ll see that much metalwork is done in this area.

Top Attractions in Jaipur: Must-See Palaces and Forts

How Long Do You Need for Jaipur?

The city has many beautiful destinations to visit, but I was only there for one day this time and visited these highlights! If you have time, I can recommend taking an extra day so you have more time to see and absorb everything. Two days is much better for your Jaipur visit.

And let’s face it – a city that calls itself the Pink City is worth seeing, right? Just like the blue city of Jodhpur

Traditional Crafts in Jaipur

Jaipur and its surroundings are famous for block printing. Using different stamps and wooden blocks, they dye fabrics in multiple phases. This creates beautifully patterned textiles. There are various places and small factories to visit in Jaipur, and in the many streets, you can see the stamps lying around so you could even try it yourself.

Walking through the streets, you’ll also pass paper factories, see blacksmiths at work, and encounter sculptors. You might notice that one street has only blacksmiths and the next street only sculptors. This is how it was organized in the past – the caste of blacksmiths lived there, and the caste of paper printers lived in the next street. And largely, this is still how it is today.

Of course, food is sold on every street. And on the right of the photo above, you can see a small local paper factory.

Amber Fort: Jaipur’s Crown Jewel

You can reach Amber Fort by elephant. There are still too many tourists who do this. I really think we should stop doing this. Those elephants shouldn’t be kept for this purpose, walking around there all day. I signed a petition last year saying I won’t do this anymore… will you do the same?

Are you on the same page? We should not do that anymore

My father and I walked up and spent about 2.5 hours wandering through Amber Fort and the palace. Everything is made of marble, everything is white or terracotta colored. Everywhere I looked, I saw beautiful decorations or had magnificent views! Definitely recommended to visit and take your time!

Also notice the mountain ridge you see in the distance… There you can see a defensive wall that strongly resembles the Great Wall of China, except this one is about 11 km long.

Nahargarh Fort

I walked here from the city center. This gave me a beautiful view of the immense sea of houses in Jaipur along the way. Little high-rise construction, so no impressive skyline, but certainly an impressive number of houses.

The fort was once part of the defense ring around Jaipur, together with Amber and Jaigarh forts. The former name of this fort was Sudershangarh, meaning “Ode to the Tigers.”

The fort has two beautiful stepwells, which I always find fascinating to see.

In Amber, there’s also a beautiful stepwell – Panna Meena ka Kund (it’s on my list for a next visit to Jaipur and surroundings).

Within the fort walls stands a beautiful palace worth visiting: the Madhavendra Bhawan, built by Sawai Madho Singh. It’s a palace that provided space for him and his 9 wives. All 9 wives had their own house connected to each other with passages and openings within the rooms and on the outside.

Along the outside, you had beautiful views, the wind blew delightfully through, and you could move from house to house. When I walked there, I could imagine all the children of all those wives running through all those corridors and openings – what a wonderful place for ‘hide and seek.’

Jaigarh Fort

A third fort in the defense ring around Jaipur is Jaigarh Fort. A good reason to visit Jaigarh Fort is Asia’s largest cannon on wheels. The cannon is called the Jaivana cannon and is over 6 meters long and was built within the fort walls. Legend has it that during the test shot, it made a hole near the village of Chaksu, creating a lake there. Chaksu is about 40 km from Jaipur, and the 50 kg cannonball could travel a distance of 35 km.

Hawa Mahal: The Iconic Palace of Winds

Hawa Mahal, the Wind Palace, is a truly magnificent and imposing building. Standing in front of this enormous wall full of small windows makes you feel very small. It looks like a high wall with not much behind it. This high wall was built so that women of the royal household could see the street without being seen themselves. And because it can get quite hot in India, the many windows were all open, allowing lovely breezes to flow through so the ladies wouldn’t get too warm.

It looks like a high wall, but there’s actually a whole building behind it. You have to walk a bit to get there, but that’s actually quite fun! We took the small paths and narrow alleys between shops and houses to get there. Wonderful!

When you enter, you come to a courtyard with a fountain, with stairs leading up all around so you get a beautiful view into and of the building and surroundings. The building has incredibly detailed decorations and inlaid pieces to enjoy. And quite surprising – the entire interior is yellow, as you can see in the photos below. The recognizable front facade of Hawa Mahal is naturally in the beautiful, recognizable pink color of Jaipur.

From this position, I also had a nice view of our next destination: Jantar Mantar (top right in the image).

Best Time to Visit Jaipur

Jantar Mantar: Ancient Astronomical Wonder

This astronomical wonder was built in the early 18th century. It consists of 20 observation instruments. When I looked across the square where they stand, I got an artistic feeling. It’s like modern art installations.

Walking around here makes you feel small, seeing how everything was made so precisely long ago is almost unbelievable. The time is displayed exactly with corrections for winter or summer. The universe could be read so well – they understood it then… and how much further have we actually come now?

Jal Mahal: The Water Palace

The Water Palace – when you return to the city from Amber Fort, you’ll pass by here.

This palace sits in the middle of Man Sagar Lake, an artificially created lake. This palace is also in that typical Jaipur pink color and is built in Rajput and Mughal style. The palace is 5 stories high, but you can’t see this because 4 of these stories disappear into the lake.

The sewage once flowed into this lake without being treated, and this seems to have changed. However, the lake is not clean, and much plastic and other garbage floats in it. The palace will be put to use – there will be hotels, art galleries, and shops. So far, this hasn’t happened yet, and we can only admire the palace from a distance. This plan has existed since 2003, but due to multiple lawsuits, it still hasn’t succeeded.

When I was there in 2025, I saw this sculpture at the waterfront. I couldn’t find a description, but it’s beautifully shaped. So it’s worth looking around at the ‘boulevard’ at the viewing point to Jal Mahal.

City Palace Jaipur

This palace is a fusion of different architectural styles and an artwork to behold. Here too, the pink/terracotta color dominates. It’s a complex of palaces, so you could easily spend an afternoon wandering through the beautiful courtyards and magnificently decorated rooms.

Local Food and Markets in Jaipur

Tripolia Bazaar

The streets of the pink city Jaipur are busy and intense. The various streets of Tripolia Bazaar, Bapu Bazaar, and Chanpoli Bazaar are great to visit, and you can buy everything you can imagine. From jewelry and incense to bathrooms and furniture. You’ll be amazed when you walk around here.

All these lovely streets and neighborhoods are within walking distance of Hawa Mahal.

Food Tour in Jaipur

During my latest visit to Jaipur, I booked a food tour. I chose the food & heritage tour and was thus guided through a section of central Jaipur’s neighborhood. Very nice and interesting to see the different streets with different professions.

During this tour, I was offered an Aloo Tiki, a Samosa, and a sweet treat. Additionally, a masala chai and Lassi. I can’t really recommend this tour for the food, but definitely for the guided tour through part of the inner city and the nice conversations I had with people.

This food tour promises 8 to 10 different dishes, which I think is a better option.

For Tthe real local food experience you can also book a cookingclass. At this cookingclass you’ll get some background info as well. So much better!

Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple

Not a touristy place and not very accessible on foot, but because I was curious, I walked there anyway. I love those enormous statues, and when I saw that Hanuman, the monkey god, had a large statue here, I went to see it.

A beautiful, imposing statue of Hanuman along the busy road. It wasn’t crowded, and I could walk around leisurely. The temple is located across Man Sagar Lake from where you find the water palace.

Getting Around Jaipur: Transportation Tips

Day in Jaipur?

On this day tour, my father and I had a private driver and car at our disposal. This is a convenient and common way of traveling in India. We had the car with driver for several days, making you flexible and able to easily arrange trips that totally meet your expectations.

Traveling with public transport while traveling is so great! Especially in India, this might be the challenge you should take on. Are you going by train, bus, or flight from Jaipur further into India? Book your journey right away.

If you are travelling around alone and don’t have a private driver at your disposal check out your options for day trips in Jaipur.

Where to Stay in Jaipur: Accommodation Guide

Dera Rawatsar

During my first time in the pink city Jaipur, I stayed at Dera Rawatsar. I have wonderful memories of that place. In their inner courtyard, there was a fun/hilarious puppet show in the evening that we had such a laugh about.

Nahagarh Haveli

My second time in Jaipur, together with my father, I stayed in this wonderful old Haveli. A magnificent building to stay in, worth recommending for that reason alone.

Getting to and from Jaipur

Transportation Options to & from Jaipur

Distances:

• Jaipur – Ajmer: about 130 km
• Jaipur – Delhi: about 300 km
• Jaipur – Jodhpur: about 330 km or Bikaner: about 340 km

Bus: From Delhi, it’s about 6-7 hours by bus to Jaipur. Multiple buses run, and you can choose from different classes. It’s more comfortable to do this by plane and then use local buses between cities in Rajasthan itself.

Train: The pink city Jaipur has a large train station, and from Delhi, you can easily travel to Jaipur by train. If you’re traveling further into Rajasthan, the train is also convenient and fun to use.

Flight: Jaipur has an airport, and from major cities in India, you can easily fly to Jaipur. The airport is only about 20 minutes’ drive from the city center.

Planning Your Pink City Adventure

Will you also visit the pink city Jaipur in Rajasthan? This magnificent destination offers an perfect blend of history, culture, and architectural wonders. From the majestic Amber Fort to the intricate Hawa Mahal, every corner of Jaipur tells a story of royal grandeur and artistic brilliance.

Whether you’re interested in exploring ancient forts, shopping in vibrant bazaars, or experiencing authentic Rajasthani cuisine, Jaipur has something for every traveler. The Pink City’s unique charm and welcoming atmosphere make it an unforgettable destination that will leave you planning your next visit before you’ve even left.

Want to read more about India travels and discover other incredible destinations in Rajasthan? Check out our complete India travel guides for more inspiration and practical tips.

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