Sacred Pushkar, the reason the town exists
Our order: the ghats and temples at first light, the bazaar and breakfast in the late morning, a long rest through the heat, and the lake again for the evening lamps.
Why it works: you see the town as its families do, without the late-morning crowds.
- Daily peaks
- Dawn and dusk
- Monthly peak
- The full moon
- Crowds gather
- Around eleven
- You need
- Bare feet, modest dress, quiet
- Everyone is welcome: you do not need to be Hindu, or religious at all, to take part.
- Pilgrims' kindness: they will often smile, make room on a step or offer you a sweet from their prasad. Accept it with your right hand.
- Small courtesies: our page on temple etiquette covers them.
Walk the ghats at first light
Why: this is the hour when Pushkar belongs to its own people. Pilgrims bathe, bells ring, marigolds float and winter mist lifts off the lake.
When: about half an hour before sunrise.
- How: barefoot with a guide from Varaha Ghat towards Brahma Ghat and Gandhi Ghat, never photographing anyone bathing. Our guide to Pushkar Lake and its ghats goes ghat by ghat.
- In December and January: it is cold before sunrise, so wear a shawl and thin socks for the stone.
- What to notice: families performing rites for their ancestors, barbers shaving children's heads for their first haircut and priests with their registers. Give each of them space.
Sit for the evening aarti
Why: for a few minutes at sunset, priests on several ghats raise brass lamps to the water while conches sound and the lake glows.
When: half an hour before sunset, to find a quiet step.
- How: sit to one side, flash off, and let the pilgrims nearest the lamps have their turn. Gandhi Ghat and the quieter far shore are our choices.
- Stay back: do not try to join the priests or step down to the water for a better angle.
- The best photographs: lamps against the dark lake, from a distance, never faces in prayer.
- A leaf lamp: if you would like to float one yourself, our guide will arrange it with a priest.
Greet the creator at the Brahma temple
Why: the most important of India's very few Brahma temples, with a silver turtle, a hamsa over the gate and a floor set with pilgrims' coins.
- When: just after dawn, or after the evening aarti.
- How: shoes off, shoulders and knees covered, offerings through the priests. Read our Brahma temple guide before you go.
Climb to Savitri for sunrise
Why: Ratnagiri hill shows you the whole town, lake and desert at once, and sunrise is the quietest hour.
- When: start about an hour and a quarter before dawn.
- How: the stone stairway, thirty minutes to an hour, with a torch and a flask of tea, or the ropeway later in the day. Our Savitri temple guide has the details.
Visit Gayatri, the second wife
Why: pilgrims say you must honour both of Brahma's wives, and almost no visitor climbs Gayatri's lower hill on the eastern side of the lake.
- When: early morning or late afternoon.
- How: a short climb with a guide. The view back across the water to Savitri's hill completes the story beautifully.
See the Varaha and Rangji temples
Why: the Varaha temple, for Vishnu as the boar who saved the earth, is one of Pushkar's oldest shrines.
- Rangji: its tall south Indian gateway tower shows how far Pushkar's pull reaches.
- When and how: late morning with the bazaar, on foot, with shoes off at each door.
Find the cave of Shiva
Why: beside the Brahma temple, steps lead down to Atpateshwar, a small cave shrine where a copper snake coils around a Shiva linga. Most visitors never know it exists.
- When: with your Brahma temple visit, or on Mahashivratri in February or March if you love a crowd.
- How: ask your guide to take you down.
Arrange a ritual with a family priest
Why: Pushkar's priestly families keep handwritten registers of the pilgrim families they serve, sometimes over many generations.
- A proper puja: a short ritual at the lake, guided properly, means far more than a hurried blessing from a stranger.
- When: dawn is best.
- How: our guide arranges it with a priest our family trusts and explains each step. Avoid anyone who presses flowers into your hand in the lanes.
Walk the parikrama around the lake
Why: a parikrama, a walk around a sacred place with it always on your right, threads along the tops of the ghats, through temple courtyards and past old rest houses.
- When: before sunrise, starting near Varaha Ghat while the mist is on the water.
- How: clockwise, under an hour at a pilgrim's pace, finishing with tea at Jaipur Ghat or on a rooftop.
Find Jahangir's hunting lodge
- Why: the Mughal emperor built a lodge on the lake shore in 1615 to 1616, and its ruins still stand, quiet and crumbling.
- When and how: on your lake walk, with a guide who can tell the story of the emperor's hunts against the old taboo.
Walk the circuit of the three lakes
Why: legend says three lotus petals fell here and made three lakes, and devout pilgrims walk all three, especially on Kartik Purnima.
- When: in the cool of the morning.
- How: by car between the lakes with short walks, unless you want the full pilgrim distance. It shows you a Pushkar very few outsiders see.
Bazaars, roses and things to carry home
- Truly Pushkar
- Rose products, devotional objects, music
- Made elsewhere
- Most bazaar textiles and jewellery
- Serious shopping
- Save it for Jaipur
- Travels well
- A jar of gulkand
Walk the main bazaar in the late morning
Why: pilgrims buy offerings here, travellers buy cloth and everyone stops for lassi.
When: after the dawn rituals and before the midday heat.
- How: on foot, with a guide if you want to avoid the commission shops. Our shopping guide explains how we shop without pressure.
- What to look for: brass bells, prayer beads, mirror-work cushions, silver, bangles and printed cotton.
- Crowds: motorbikes, cows and handcarts squeeze past, so keep your bag in front of you.
- Cousins' shops: if someone offers to take you to one, smile and keep walking. The best shops never need to send anyone out.
Buy rose water and gulkand
Why: the fields around Pushkar grow roses, and the town is known for rose water, rose syrup and gulkand, a sweet preserve of petals and sugar.
- Grandmothers' remedy: gulkand is given for cooling the body in summer.
- When: any time, but spring is rose season.
- How: buy from shops that make their own, and taste first.
Visit the rose fields
Why: seeing petals picked at dawn and distilled into rose water makes every bottle in the bazaar mean more.
- When: early morning in the flowering season, roughly spring.
- How: our guide arranges a visit with a farming family when the season allows. Go gently. It is their work, not a show.
Look for music in the lanes
Why: Pushkar has been a town of devotional music for centuries, and later of travelling musicians.
- What you will find: small shops selling harmoniums, drums and stringed instruments, with someone often trying one out.
- When and how: late afternoon. Browse slowly and ask for a short demonstration. Many shopkeepers love to play.
Have your hands painted with mehndi
Why: henna patterns are part of every Rajasthani celebration, and women sit by the lanes painting hands with fine cones.
- When: in the afternoon, so it dries before dinner.
- How: natural henna only, never the black kind, which can burn the skin. Our page on mehndi explains what to look for.
Eating and drinking, the Pushkar way
No hardship: Pushkar's kitchens have had centuries to perfect vegetarian cooking for pilgrims.
- Meat, fish, eggs
- Not served in town
- Alcohol
- Not allowed
- Water
- Bottled or filtered only
- Must eat
- Hot malpua with rabri
- The travellers' menu: cafes added falafel, hummus and wood-fired pizza for travellers who arrived from the 1970s onwards.
- Eating safely: busy places and freshly cooked food. Our health and safety guide has more.
Breakfast on hot malpua
Why: malpua, a thick pancake of flour and milk fried in ghee and soaked in syrup, is Pushkar's signature sweet.
- When: mid-morning, fresh from the pan.
- How: with rabri, thickened sweet milk, at a busy sweet shop where the oil is hot. Our food of Pushkar guide has more.
Try kachori and poha
Why: the savoury side of a Pushkar breakfast. Kachori is a flaky fried pastry stuffed with spiced lentils, and poha is flattened rice with mustard seeds, turmeric, peanuts and curry leaves.
- When: after the dawn rituals, with a glass of ginger chai.
- How: kachori with tamarind chutney, poha with crunchy sev, a squeeze of lime and, if you like, a hot jalebi.
Drink lassi from a clay cup
Why: thick yoghurt lassi, sometimes topped with cream or a spoon of gulkand, is the town's favourite drink.
- When: late morning, before the heat.
- How: from a busy stall, in a kulhad, a clay cup you discard after use.
- Refuse bhang lassi: it is laced with cannabis and best left alone.
Take tea on a rooftop above the ghats
Why: from above, the lake becomes a single picture of steps, domes and pigeons.
- When: late afternoon, as the light turns gold.
- How: many cafes and guest houses have roof terraces. Order masala chai and something simple, and stay for the aarti bells.
Hot saffron milk on a winter night
Why: in the cold months sweet shops sell hot milk from great iron pans, flavoured with saffron and cardamom and topped with cream.
- When: after the evening aarti, from about December to February.
- Also look for: moong dal halwa, lentils slow-cooked in ghee and sugar, and in the monsoon around Teej, honeycomb-like ghevar.
Eat a Rajasthani thali
Why: dal, seasonal vegetables, kadhi, bajra roti and churma, sweet crumbled wheat with ghee, make the most satisfying meal in town.
- When and how: at dinner, at your hotel, where the kitchen can make it fresh. Our Rajasthani thali guide explains each dish.
- In the cool months: ask for dal baati churma, lentils, baked wheat balls and sweet crumble, cooked the old way over cow-dung embers or in a clay oven.
- A farmer's meal: heavy, filling and exactly what desert farmers ate before a long day.
Dunes, horses and the open country
Two landscapes: herders move between the hills, scattered with thorn trees, and the dunes with their animals.
- East and south
- Stony Aravalli hills
- West
- The first dunes of the Thar
- Fields grow
- Roses, wheat, millet
- Best hours
- Dawn and dusk
- Winter evenings
- Bring a warm layer
- A counterweight: a morning or evening outside town balances the intensity of the ghats.
- Choose your hours: the sand is beautiful at dawn and dusk and punishing at midday.
- Cold after dark: desert temperatures drop fast once the sun has gone.
Ride into the dunes at sunset
Why: the dunes west of town glow orange at dusk, with the hills beyond and the town's lights coming on behind.
When: the last hour before sunset.
- How: by camel cart, a short camel ride with an operator who treats animals well, or jeep, with tea on the sand. Our page on camel safaris explains how we choose.
- Short and gentle: never more than an hour, and only in the cool of the evening.
- Ask the camel's name: most herders love to talk about their camels. Our journal on the camels of Rajasthan tells their story.
Ride a Marwari horse
Why: the Marwari, with its curved, inward-pointing ears, is Rajasthan's own breed, and the country around Pushkar is good riding ground.
- When: early morning or late afternoon in the cool season.
- How: with an established stable, for experienced riders only. Our journal on Marwari horses tells their story.
Float over the dunes in a balloon
Why: at sunrise you see the lake, the temples, the dunes and, in fair week, the great camp of herders and camels.
- When: the cool season, especially during the fair, when flights are most likely to run.
- How: we confirm licensed operators each season. Our page on hot-air balloons has more.
Visit a herders' hamlet
Why: the Rabari and Gurjar herders who bring their animals to the fair live in the villages around Pushkar, in a world of camels, cattle, embroidery and great turbans.
- When: morning, with a guide who knows the families.
- How: as guests, never as spectators. Our journal on the Rabari herders explains their way of life.
Watch the stars from the sand
Why: a short drive from town, the desert sky is dark and full of stars, especially in winter.
- When: after dinner, on a moonless night.
- How: rugs and blankets at a quiet spot, sometimes with a telescope. Our page on stargazing explains the best nights.
Music, rest and Pushkar after dark
Quiet by design: shops close early, the lanes empty after the aarti, and the town wakes long before dawn.
- Bed by ten: most of our guests are happy with that.
- Who it suits: if you want lively nights, Pushkar is the wrong place. If you want music under the stars and a long, deep sleep, it is exactly right.
An evening of folk music
Why: Rajasthan's folk musicians and the Kalbelia dancers, whose swirling black skirts recall the snake-charming community they come from, are part of the desert's soul.
- When: after dinner.
- How: at your hotel or camp, with musicians we know and pay properly. Our page on folk music tells their story.
A long afternoon at the spa
Why: Pushkar's days begin very early, and the hours between lunch and the evening aarti are made for rest.
- When: from about one to four.
- How: a treatment at your resort's spa, then sleep in the shade. Our page on spa and Ayurveda explains the treatments we trust.
The camel fair, in the month of Kartik
The lunar calendar: exact dates change every year, so we confirm them as soon as they are announced.
- When
- Kartik, building to the full moon
- Usually
- Late October or November
- Dates
- Confirmed each year
- Come early for
- The herders
- Come late for
- The faith
- Fewer camels: numbers have fallen in recent decades as roads and tractors replaced the old caravans, and the trading is smaller than it once was.
- Still extraordinary: the gathering remains one of the great sights of India.
- The whole season: our guide to the best time to visit Pushkar explains how the fair shapes it.
See the trading days
Why: herders arrive from across Rajasthan with camels, horses and cattle, and the dunes become a vast market of bargaining, tea and smoke.
- When: the early days of the fair, usually late October or November.
- How: at dawn with a guide who knows the herders, staying in a camp near the fairground. Our page on the Pushkar Camel Fair explains how the days unfold.
Witness the full-moon bathing
Why: on Kartik Purnima, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims bathe in the lake on the holiest day of the year.
- When: the last days of the fair, from Ekadashi to the full moon.
- How: with a guide, early, from a quiet rooftop rather than the crowded ghats. Our fair guide and the Pushkar Camel Fair journey help you plan.
Day trips from Pushkar
From a Pushkar base: all three trips work there and back in time for the aarti.
- Ajmer
- Fifteen minutes over Nag Pahar
- Kishangarh
- About an hour
- Sambhar Lake
- A full day
- Back by
- The evening aarti
- On your way out: Ajmer and Kishangarh sit neatly on the road to Jaipur, so see them as you leave rather than doubling back.
- A longer pilgrimage: our sacred Rajasthan journey links Pushkar and Ajmer with Nathdwara and Ranakpur.
Ajmer and the dargah
Why: the shrine of the Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, revered by people of every faith, with one of India's oldest mosques and the twelfth-century lake of Ana Sagar.
When: early morning, or the evening for the lamp ritual and qawwali.
- How: head covered, shoes off, carrying very little. Read our Ajmer Sharif Dargah guide first.
- Pair it with: Adhai Din ka Jhonpra, a few minutes' walk uphill from the dargah, and an hour beside Ana Sagar in the late afternoon.
- A moving day: Brahma's temple in the morning and the saint's shrine at dusk.
Kishangarh, paintings and marble
Why: Kishangarh gave India one of its loveliest schools of miniature painting, famous for the elegant Bani Thani, and today it is a great centre of the marble trade.
- When: a half day.
- How: by road, with lunch at the lake palace. Our Kishangarh guide has the details.
Sambhar, the salt lake
Why: India's largest inland salt lake is a vast white shimmer of salt pans, and in good winters it draws flamingos.
- When: a full day, best between November and February.
- How: by road, combined with the Shakambhari temple. Our Sambhar Lake guide explains when to go.
What we tell our own cousins
Dawn and dusk: do the sacred things then, and rest through the middle of the day. The town is at its worst at noon.
Scarf and sandals: carry one and wear the other. You will take your shoes off many times a day.
- Town rules: Pushkar is vegetarian and alcohol-free. Our note on dry days and alcohol explains the wider rules.
- Flower blessings: say no politely to anyone offering one at the lake, and go with your own guide instead.
- Photographs: never of people bathing, and ask before photographing anyone at prayer.
- Affection: keep it discreet. Pushkar is relaxed about many things, but not about that.
- The fair: book many months ahead. The best tents and rooms go first.
- Two nights at least: one night gives only a glimpse. Our Pushkar itinerary shows how we spend them.
