Rajasthan
Jaipur · Jodhpur · Udaipur
Estimated budget
£23k
2 travellers · full trip
Twelve days through the three royal cities of Rajasthan — each a different colour, a different dynasty, a different relationship between grandeur and decay. Begin in Jaipur: four nights in a converted maharaja palace where the concierge has a personal relationship with every artisan in the Pink City. Then west to Jodhpur: three nights in Umaid Bhawan Palace, still partly occupied by the royal family, where the Art Deco ballroom serves dinner for two under a chandelier. Finally south to Udaipur: five nights at the Taj Lake Palace, floating in the middle of Lake Pichola, where the sunset turns the marble orange and the boat is the only way in or out. Rajasthan is not one place — it is a sequence of impossible discoveries.
Estimated budget
Estimated budget
From
£22,600
Estimates in GBP for two people. Final pricing depends on dates, availability, and preferences.
Jaipur
4 nights in Jaipur · India
Jaipur was purpose-built in 1727 by Jai Singh II — a planned city on a grid, painted terracotta pink for the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1876 and never repainted. The Pink City is the most complete 18th-century urban fabric in India. Four nights gives you time to go past Amber Fort and find the block printer, the gem cutter, the blue pottery master.
Where you're staying
Day 1
Jaipur arrival — pink city & palace
Arrive, accept the welcome ceremony, walk the palace gardens. The Pink City can wait until tomorrow.
Jaipur International Airport
Rambagh Palace
Jaipur was planned in 1727 by Maharaja Jai Singh II according to Vedic architectural principles — a grid city of wide avenues in the distinctive pink-ochre sandstone that gives the Pink City its name. The Rambagh Palace car — a white Ambassador with the hotel crest — is the correct arrival vehicle, and the drive from the airport through the old city walls sets the register for everything that follows.
Rambagh gardens & heritage walk
The Rambagh gardens hold the original Maharaja polo trophies and peacocks that have occupied the lawns for generations.
Rambagh Palace, Jaipur
Dinner — Suvarna Mahal
The Suvarna Mahal is the former banquet hall of the Maharaja — vaulted ceiling, original crystal chandeliers, live sitar.
Rambagh Palace, Jaipur
Day 2
Amber Fort & block printing master
The fort at dawn before the elephant rides start. Then Arvind takes you to the printer who has been doing this since 1930.
Amber Fort — private early morning
Amber Fort at 7am has no other visitors.
Amber, Jaipur
Block printing master — private workshop
The Sanganer block printing tradition dates from the 16th century.
Sanganer, Jaipur
Onward to Jodhpur
Jaipur
Rambagh Palace
Jodhpur
Umaid Bhawan Palace
The road west from Jaipur through Ajmer and Pali passes through the Thar Desert transition — the landscape shifts from pink to ochre to blue as you approach Jodhpur, the Blue City.
Jaipur
4 nights in Jaipur · India
Jaipur was purpose-built in 1727 by Jai Singh II — a planned city on a grid, painted terracotta pink for the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1876 and never repainted. The Pink City is the most complete 18th-century urban fabric in India. Four nights gives you time to go past Amber Fort and find the block printer, the gem cutter, the blue pottery master.
Where you're staying
Day 1
Jaipur arrival — pink city & palace
Arrive, accept the welcome ceremony, walk the palace gardens. The Pink City can wait until tomorrow.
Jaipur International Airport
Rambagh Palace
Jaipur was planned in 1727 by Maharaja Jai Singh II according to Vedic architectural principles — a grid city of wide avenues in the distinctive pink-ochre sandstone that gives the Pink City its name. The Rambagh Palace car — a white Ambassador with the hotel crest — is the correct arrival vehicle, and the drive from the airport through the old city walls sets the register for everything that follows.
Rambagh gardens & heritage walk
The Rambagh gardens hold the original Maharaja polo trophies and peacocks that have occupied the lawns for generations.
Rambagh Palace, Jaipur
Dinner — Suvarna Mahal
The Suvarna Mahal is the former banquet hall of the Maharaja — vaulted ceiling, original crystal chandeliers, live sitar.
Rambagh Palace, Jaipur
Day 2
Amber Fort & block printing master
The fort at dawn before the elephant rides start. Then Arvind takes you to the printer who has been doing this since 1930.
Amber Fort — private early morning
Amber Fort at 7am has no other visitors.
Amber, Jaipur
Block printing master — private workshop
The Sanganer block printing tradition dates from the 16th century.
Sanganer, Jaipur
Onward to Jodhpur
Jaipur
Rambagh Palace
Jodhpur
Umaid Bhawan Palace
The road west from Jaipur through Ajmer and Pali passes through the Thar Desert transition — the landscape shifts from pink to ochre to blue as you approach Jodhpur, the Blue City.
Jodhpur
3 nights in Jodhpur · India
Jodhpur is the Blue City — a sea of indigo-washed houses tumbling down from the Mehrangarh Fort that appears to grow from the cliff above. The fort is the finest in Rajasthan. The hotel is the most extravagant Art Deco building in India. Three nights is the right amount.
Where you're staying
Day 5
Blue City arrival & Mehrangarh at dusk
Five hours from Jaipur through the Thar. Arrive, check in, walk up to the fort at dusk.
Rambagh Palace, Jaipur
Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur
The 5-hour drive west through the Thar Desert transition — the landscape shifts from Jaipur pink to Jodhpur ochre as the desert begins. Stop at Ajmer for chai.
Mehrangarh Fort — private dusk visit
Mehrangarh Fort rises 125 metres above Jodhpur on a natural cliff.
Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur
Day 6
Vintage Rolls & spice market
A vintage Rolls-Royce through the Blue City streets. The spice market in the old city. Dinner in the Art Deco ballroom.
Vintage Rolls-Royce — Blue City tour
The Umaid Bhawan vintage car collection includes a 1940 Silver Wraith, a 1945 Phantom, and a 1955 Silver Dawn.
Jodhpur old city
Dinner — Pillars Restaurant, Umaid Bhawan
Dinner in the original Art Deco dining room of Umaid Bhawan — marble pillars, 30-foot ceilings, the original 1940s murals.
Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur
Onward to Udaipur
Jodhpur
Umaid Bhawan Palace
Udaipur
Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur
The drive east from Jodhpur through Pali and the Aravalli Hills to Udaipur — scrubland, tribal villages, temples in impossible locations. Arrive in Udaipur before the afternoon light on the lake.
Jodhpur
3 nights in Jodhpur · India
Jodhpur is the Blue City — a sea of indigo-washed houses tumbling down from the Mehrangarh Fort that appears to grow from the cliff above. The fort is the finest in Rajasthan. The hotel is the most extravagant Art Deco building in India. Three nights is the right amount.
Where you're staying
Day 5
Blue City arrival & Mehrangarh at dusk
Five hours from Jaipur through the Thar. Arrive, check in, walk up to the fort at dusk.
Rambagh Palace, Jaipur
Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur
The 5-hour drive west through the Thar Desert transition — the landscape shifts from Jaipur pink to Jodhpur ochre as the desert begins. Stop at Ajmer for chai.
Mehrangarh Fort — private dusk visit
Mehrangarh Fort rises 125 metres above Jodhpur on a natural cliff.
Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur
Day 6
Vintage Rolls & spice market
A vintage Rolls-Royce through the Blue City streets. The spice market in the old city. Dinner in the Art Deco ballroom.
Vintage Rolls-Royce — Blue City tour
The Umaid Bhawan vintage car collection includes a 1940 Silver Wraith, a 1945 Phantom, and a 1955 Silver Dawn.
Jodhpur old city
Dinner — Pillars Restaurant, Umaid Bhawan
Dinner in the original Art Deco dining room of Umaid Bhawan — marble pillars, 30-foot ceilings, the original 1940s murals.
Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur
Onward to Udaipur
Jodhpur
Umaid Bhawan Palace
Udaipur
Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur
The drive east from Jodhpur through Pali and the Aravalli Hills to Udaipur — scrubland, tribal villages, temples in impossible locations. Arrive in Udaipur before the afternoon light on the lake.
Udaipur
5 nights in Udaipur · India
Udaipur is the City of Lakes — five interconnected lakes surrounded by the Aravalli Hills, with a white marble palace floating in the middle of Lake Pichola. The Taj Lake Palace is accessible only by boat. The sunset from your room terrace, with the City Palace reflected in the lake below, is the image that brought you to Rajasthan.
Where you're staying
Day 8
Arrival by boat — floating palace
The boat across Lake Pichola to the white palace is the arrival. After that, nothing else is required for the day.
Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur
Bansi Ghat Jetty, Udaipur
Five hours through the Aravalli Hills — the landscape changes completely from desert to green hills as you approach Udaipur. Arrive in time for the afternoon light on the lake.
Lake Pichola sunset — private boat
The private hotel boat at sunset on Lake Pichola, with the City Palace and ghats reflected in the water and the Aravalli Hills above — this is the image that defines Udaipur.
Lake Pichola, Udaipur
Day 9
City Palace private access & miniature painting
The royal apartments of the City Palace — the parts no one sees. In the afternoon, a miniature painting session with a hereditary artist.
City Palace — private royal apartments tour
The City Palace complex is the largest palace in Rajasthan — 400 years of Mewar dynasty construction.
City Palace, Udaipur
Mewar miniature painting — private session
The Mewar school of miniature painting has been a hereditary tradition in Udaipur since the 16th century.
Old City, Udaipur
Udaipur
5 nights in Udaipur · India
Udaipur is the City of Lakes — five interconnected lakes surrounded by the Aravalli Hills, with a white marble palace floating in the middle of Lake Pichola. The Taj Lake Palace is accessible only by boat. The sunset from your room terrace, with the City Palace reflected in the lake below, is the image that brought you to Rajasthan.
Where you're staying
Day 8
Arrival by boat — floating palace
The boat across Lake Pichola to the white palace is the arrival. After that, nothing else is required for the day.
Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur
Bansi Ghat Jetty, Udaipur
Five hours through the Aravalli Hills — the landscape changes completely from desert to green hills as you approach Udaipur. Arrive in time for the afternoon light on the lake.
Lake Pichola sunset — private boat
The private hotel boat at sunset on Lake Pichola, with the City Palace and ghats reflected in the water and the Aravalli Hills above — this is the image that defines Udaipur.
Lake Pichola, Udaipur
Day 9
City Palace private access & miniature painting
The royal apartments of the City Palace — the parts no one sees. In the afternoon, a miniature painting session with a hereditary artist.
City Palace — private royal apartments tour
The City Palace complex is the largest palace in Rajasthan — 400 years of Mewar dynasty construction.
City Palace, Udaipur
Mewar miniature painting — private session
The Mewar school of miniature painting has been a hereditary tradition in Udaipur since the 16th century.
Old City, Udaipur
Ready to make this yours?
Tell us your dates, who's travelling, and what matters most. We'll shape this blueprint around you — then our concierge team handles every booking, every detail.