Three places to sleep, three kinds of Pushkar
- Old town
- Bells and ghats, simple rooms
- Outside town
- Pools, spas, quiet; our usual pick
- Ajmer road
- Close to both towns
- Fair weeks
- Luxury tented camps
- For a palace
- Kishangarh or Jaipur
Inside the old town
The setting: a tight knot of lanes around the lake, with cars kept mostly to the edges.
- What you gain: walking to the ghats at dawn and hearing the temples from your bed.
- What you give up: narrow approaches, small rooms, noise from the lanes and very few of the comforts luxury travellers expect.
The country just outside
The setting: fields of roses and wheat, low Aravalli hills and the first dunes. This is where the resorts are.
- What you gain: birdsong instead of bells, a pool, a spa and space to breathe.
- What you give up: ten or fifteen minutes in a car each time you go into town.
- Who: most of our guests. It is the right balance.
The road between Ajmer and Pushkar
- The setting: a few hotels among the hills, close to both towns.
- Who it suits: travellers dividing their time evenly between the dargah in Ajmer and the lake in Pushkar.
The exceptions
Fair camps: during the Pushkar Camel Fair, luxury camps open near the fairground, and for a few nights they are the most exciting place to sleep in Rajasthan.
- A palace base: base yourself in Kishangarh or Jaipur and visit Pushkar for a day or two.
- In brief: our overview of luxury stays in Pushkar sets out the options.
The resorts outside town
The Westin Pushkar Resort and Spa
The place: opened in 2017 as the first Westin in Rajasthan, on about eleven acres at the foot of the Aravalli hills on the edge of town.
The layout: built around a large central pool, with low buildings and villas spread through gardens, and a spacious spa.
- The style: the most international and polished stay in Pushkar, with the service you would expect from a large global brand.
- Who it suits: couples, families and anyone who wants reliable comfort after early mornings in the lanes.
- Ask for: a villa, and for privacy, one with its own plunge pool, which some categories have. Families should ask for connecting rooms or a villa near the main pool.
- Not for heritage: it feels modern rather than Rajasthani, though after a dawn on the ghats very few of our guests complain.
Ananta Spa and Resort
The place: opened in 2010 in the countryside at Leela Sevri, a few kilometres before Pushkar on the road from Ajmer, with the Aravallis behind it.
- The feel: quieter and more rural than the Westin, with gardens, a pool and a spa, and a short drive into town.
- Who it suits: travellers who want to be truly out of town, and families who want space for children to run.
- Check first: it is popular for weddings. If a large celebration is booked for your dates, we may suggest another stay or a room away from the lawns.
Pratap Mahal, an IHCL SeleQtions hotel
The place: part of the SeleQtions collection of the Indian Hotels Company, the Taj group, on about six acres on the Pushkar bypass near the village of Hokra.
The setting: among the hills between Ajmer and Pushkar.
- The feel: a pool, a spa and rooms in a traditional Rajasthani style.
- Who it suits: travellers who want the reassurance of the Taj group and plan to divide time between Ajmer's dargah and Pushkar's lake.
- Allow time: it is a little further from the ghats than the resorts on the edge of town, so leave a few minutes earlier for dawn.
Bhanwar Singh Palace
Despite the name: a newer hotel built in palace style, not a historic palace.
- The place: large, with gardens, a pool and extensive lawns, and one of the most popular wedding venues around Pushkar.
- Who it suits: groups, wedding guests and families who enjoy space and a bit of spectacle.
- Couples: check the wedding calendar first, as we always do. A big celebration can transform the atmosphere for a few days.
Lakeside heritage, for atmosphere over polish
- You get
- Place, not amenities
- Expect
- Steep stairs, bells at four
- Festival nights
- Loudspeakers
- Winter
- Hot water can run out
- For the right traveller: every one of those things is part of the magic.
- For others: one night is wonderful and a second is too many. We will tell you which you are likely to be.
Pushkar Palace
The house: an old palace building on the eastern shore, long a hotel, and said to have once belonged to the rulers of Kishangarh.
The setting: its own steps down to the water, a garden courtyard and rooms with old furniture.
- The style: charming rather than grand, with relaxed service. Come for the setting, not five-star polish.
- Who it suits: travellers who will be up for the dawn rituals and who value character above everything.
- Ask for: a room facing the lake. The ghats and Savitri hill at sunrise, from your own window, are the reason to stay.
Havelis and guest houses in the old town
What they are: small heritage havelis around the lake, old merchants' and priests' houses with courtyards, painted walls and rooftop terraces, now simple guest houses.
- Honest view: some are lovely. Most are basic by luxury standards, with small rooms, steep stairs and limited hot water in winter.
- When we use them: only for guests who ask for the experience and understand the trade-off.
- One magical night: especially for the full moon of Kartik. Our journal explains what a haveli is and why they are worth knowing.
Camps at the fair
Where: during the camel fair, tented camps open on the edge of the dunes near the fairground.
The best: true luxury camps with large canvas tents on raised floors, proper beds, attached bathrooms with hot water, heaters for cold nights and dining tents serving fresh vegetarian food.
- Distance
- To the fairground on foot
- Noise
- Loudspeakers and generators
- Comfort
- Bathrooms and heating
- Track record
- Promises kept year to year
- Book
- Many months ahead
- The worst: crowded rows of small tents with shared facilities.
- Why it matters: the difference is enormous, and so is the camp's exact location.
- Only camps we know: we use only camps we have stayed in or visited ourselves.
- No names in print: names change and new ones appear, so we recommend them season by season.
- Book early: the best tents for the days around the full moon are reserved many months ahead.
- Read more: our fair guide, the Pushkar Camel Fair journey and our guide to luxury desert camps.
Heritage or modern: an honest comparison
What heritage means elsewhere: former palaces, forts and havelis that still feel like homes, with families, histories and staff who have served for generations.
Never a capital: Pushkar's rulers lived in Ajmer, Kishangarh and Jaipur.
- What was built here: temples, rest houses and guest palaces for visiting kings. Charming old buildings, but none on the scale of a palace hotel.
- Read more: our journal explains how heritage hotels work across the state.
- What the resorts give: space, quiet, pools, spas and reliable service. Not historic, but well made.
- The true luxury: they let you rest between the town's two great hours of dawn and dusk.
- Our usual advice, a mix: stay at a resort, come in with a guide at the right hours, and if you love atmosphere add a single night on the lake.
- If heritage matters most: sleep in a palace at Kishangarh or Jaipur and visit Pushkar on a long day trip or a single night.
Which stay suits which traveller
Couples and honeymooners
Where: a villa at a resort outside town, ideally with its own plunge pool, for privacy after crowded mornings.
- Add: a single night on the lake for the romance of waking to the bells.
- Discretion: public affection causes real offence in town, so save it for your garden. Our honeymoon journeys show how Pushkar fits between Jaipur and Udaipur.
Families with children
- Essential: a resort with a large pool and lawns, because children need space after the lanes. The Westin and Ananta both work well.
- Pace: short early visits to the ghats, the ropeway to Savitri and afternoons for swimming. Our family journeys explain how we pace days.
Three generations together
Rooms: ground-floor rooms or villas close to the main buildings for grandparents, and connecting rooms for the children.
- Avoid: lakeside heritage hotels with steep stairs.
- Separate guides: when grandparents want a slow temple morning and teenagers want the dunes. Our multi-generation journeys have more ideas.
Photographers
Close to the lake: as close as comfort allows, because the best light is at dawn and dusk and every minute counts.
- Ideal: a lakeside heritage room facing the ghats for one or two nights, and a camp near the fairground during the fair.
- Our route: the photography journey is built around these hours.
Women travelling alone or together
Generally welcoming: but the lanes can be crowded and the touts persistent.
- Easy evenings: a resort with good security and a driver on call, with our guides beside you at the ghats at dawn and dusk.
- Read more: our page for women travellers.
Who should look elsewhere
- Not for nightlife: anyone who wants bars, clubs or late evenings out. Pushkar is a pilgrim town first.
- Not for a grand palace: for that, sleep in Kishangarh or Jaipur and visit Pushkar from there.
Guests coming to rest
- A pause: after a busy journey, Pushkar is a good place to slow down.
- How: a resort with a real spa, treatments in the afternoons, and the town for the two great hours of each day. Our wellness journeys build these pauses into longer trips.
Which room to ask for
At the Westin: a villa rather than a standard room, and one with its own plunge pool if privacy is your priority.
On the lake: a room facing the water. A room at the back, onto the lane, loses everything that makes the lakeside worth it.
- At wedding venues: a room away from the lawns, and a check of the wedding calendar before you book.
- For the Savitri climb: a hotel with an easy, early exit. Tell the hotel the night before so tea and a light breakfast are ready.
- In December and January: nights are cold, so at a camp or heritage house check for proper heating and plenty of hot water.
- Limited mobility: a ground-floor room or villa close to the main buildings, since lakeside hotels often have steep stairs. Our guide to accessible travel explains how we plan.
Getting between your hotel and the lake
No cars at the ghats: the lanes are narrow, often crowded and partly closed to traffic, so your driver drops you at the nearest point and you walk the last few minutes.
Allow more: from the Ajmer road or the bypass, and on festival days when the town fills with pilgrims' buses.
- From the resorts
- Ten to fifteen minutes
- From the bypass
- A little longer
- Last stretch
- On foot into the lanes
- Festival days
- Roads restricted
- The rhythm: in before dawn, out for breakfast, back in the late afternoon, out after the aarti.
- Big days: on the full moon of Kartik and the busiest fair days, roads into town are restricted, and we may walk further or use a different approach.
- How we work: our guide to getting around Rajasthan explains our drivers and guides.
Food, drink and the rules of a holy town
Inside the town: the lakeside hotels follow the rules completely.
Good vegetarian kitchens: many will prepare Jain food, without onion, garlic or root vegetables, if you ask in advance.
- Food in town
- Strictly vegetarian
- Eggs and alcohol
- Not permitted
- Outside town
- Some resorts have their own arrangements
- Jain food
- On request, in advance
- If wine matters: resorts outside the town limits sometimes have arrangements for meat or alcohol within the law. Tell us and we will check for your season.
- Respect: never bring alcohol, meat or eggs into the old town, and keep anything you have at your hotel. Our note on dry days and alcohol explains the wider rules.
- Ask for local dishes: a good Rajasthani thali, hot malpua or dal baati churma from a hotel's own cooks can be the best meal of your stay.
- What to order: our food of Pushkar guide explains.
Palaces within reach of Pushkar
Kishangarh, about an hour away
- Why: the old capital of a small Rathore kingdom, famous for its miniature paintings, with a lake palace run as a hotel by its former ruling family.
- Practical: the closest stay to Kishangarh Airport, so a good first or last night.
Jaipur, about three hours away
- Why: our own city has some of the finest palace hotels in India, among them Rambagh Palace, once the home of the Jaipur royal family.
- Our usual pairing: palace nights in Jaipur, then two nights in a Pushkar resort.
Samode, on the way from Jaipur
- Why: a fortified palace in the Aravalli hills north of Jaipur, for guests who want one more night of royal Rajasthan.
- Read more: our page on Samode Palace.
What money really buys in Pushkar
Time: the best hours are dawn and dusk, and a well-planned stay protects them.
Small things that change everything: a driver waiting at the edge of the old town at five, a guide who knows which ghat will be quiet, and tea ready before sunrise.
- Access: a genuine ritual with a priest our family has known for years, an introduction to a herder at the fair, a quiet rooftop for the aarti instead of a crowded step.
- Not for sale: money cannot buy these directly, but the right local relationships can, and that is what we bring.
- Calm: after the bazaar and the ghats, a garden, a pool and a long afternoon sleep are the real luxuries of Pushkar.
- Said plainly: that is why we recommend resorts outside town for most guests.
- Value across the trip: our guide to the cost of luxury travel in Rajasthan explains how we think about it.
How the seasons change the hotels
October to March: the best weather and the busiest hotels.
Fair week in Kartik: in a category of its own, with minimum stays at some properties and camps fully booked months ahead.
- Busiest
- October to March
- Fair week
- Highest demand, minimum stays
- Wedding season
- Roughly November to February
- Quietest
- April to June
- Monsoon
- Green hills, a full lake
- Weddings: the winter wedding season can fill resorts with celebrations at weekends.
- Holidays: Christmas and New Year bring crowds from Indian cities.
- April to June: very hot, the town empties of travellers and hotels are quiet. With early mornings and long afternoons indoors it is peaceful, and pools come into their own.
- July to September: the monsoon turns the hills green and refills the lake, and the resorts feel fresh and calm.
- Month by month: our guide to the best time to visit Pushkar.
Getting to your Pushkar hotel
By road from Jaipur: about three hours, often with a stop at Kishangarh or Samode on the way.
By train: Ajmer is on the main line from Delhi and Jaipur, a short drive over the hill from Pushkar.
- By road
- About three hours from Jaipur
- By train
- Ajmer, on the Delhi and Jaipur line
- By air
- Kishangarh Airport, about an hour
- Ajmer
- About fifteen kilometres
- By air: Kishangarh Airport is about an hour away, with limited flights, so many guests fly into Jaipur instead.
- On arrival: check in, rest, and see the lake for the first time at dusk.
- On the way west: Pushkar is a natural stop on the road from Jaipur to Jodhpur or Udaipur, and it sits at the heart of our sacred Rajasthan journey.
How we book Pushkar
Two nights: the right length for most guests. One is rushed, and three suits the fair or a slow, restful stay.
The fair: book as early as you can, ideally many months ahead, and confirm the exact lunar dates as soon as they are announced.
- Weddings: the resorts around Pushkar are popular venues, especially in winter, so we check.
- Add Ajmer: the dargah is fifteen minutes away, and the evening qawwali is worth the short drive.
- Arrive in the afternoon: rest, and see the lake for the first time at dusk.
- Ask about the full moon: every full moon brings pilgrims, and Kartik Purnima brings hundreds of thousands. Our best time to visit Pushkar guide explains the calendar.
- How a stay unfolds: our Pushkar itinerary shows it.
