Why one day is enough, and why it isn't
A full day works: with an early start, a rest in the middle and a guide who knows the order, you see the heart of the fort without rushing.
Half a day does not: you see the main towers and palaces and miss the quiet corners, the stories and the light.
- Capital of Mewar
- From the eighth century to 1568
- Great sieges
- 1303, 1535 and 1567 to 1568
- UNESCO
- 2013, one of the Hill Forts of Rajasthan
- Height
- About 180 metres above the plains
- Shade
- Very little; plan around the sun
- The ideal: arrive in the afternoon, stay nearby and return at opening the next morning. You see the fort in both of its best lights.
- The honest constraint: the plateau is hot and open. The middle of the day, outside the cool months, belongs to the museum, lunch or a rest.
- The reason to go: for many of our guests, especially those of Indian descent, it is the most moving day of the journey.
How we plan the day
The sun first: the best hours are the first after opening and the last before sunset. We keep the exposed monuments for those.
The story second: we visit the monuments roughly in the order of the history, so the gates and Rana Kumbha's palace come before the later palaces, and the day builds towards the sieges.
- Distance third: the monuments are scattered along several kilometres. We plan a loop that never doubles back, and you walk at each stop.
- A car on the plateau: your driver takes you from one monument to the next and waits.
- A guide who knows the difference: between history, legend and devotion. Ours tell all three and say which is which.
- Our full guides: Chittorgarh Fort, monument by monument and our Chittorgarh itinerary for longer versions.
The day, hour by hour
Early morning, the drive from Udaipur
Leave early: with a breakfast box in the car. The drive east takes about two hours by the expressway.
- The landscape: low hills give way to the open plains of eastern Mewar.
- A winter stop: the bird lakes of Menar, for ten minutes with binoculars, if time allows.
- Arrive: at the foot of the fort as the gates open.
First hours, the seven gates
Drive slowly up: from Padan Pol through Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol and Laxman Pol to Ram Pol.
- Stop at the memorials: the chhatris of Jaimal and Kalla, and the memorial near Ram Pol associated with Patta.
- Look back: from each bend you see how the road was designed to break an attack.
Morning, Kumbha's palace and the temples
Rana Kumbha's palace: the largest palace ruin on the plateau, with courtyards and stables, best in the soft early light.
- Panna Dhai's story: tradition places it here. Ask your guide to tell it on the spot.
- Kumbha Shyam and Meera temples: two temples side by side in a walled compound, where devotees may be singing before the day visitors arrive.
- Nearby: the treasury ruins of Nau Lakha Bhandar and the small, finely carved Jain shrine of Shringar Chauri.
Late morning, the two towers
Vijay Stambha: an hour at the tower of victory, raised by Rana Kumbha after 1440, nine storeys of carved gods.
- Samadhishvar and the Mahasati ground: the old Shiva temple beside the tower, and the open ground tradition links with the jauhar. Time for silence.
- Kirti Stambha: the older Jain tower of fame, twelfth century, quieter and for many guests the finest carving on the fort.
Midday, lunch and the museum
- Lunch: a picnic we arrange in a shady corner of the fort, or a simple meal in the town below.
- The museum: a cool hour in Fateh Prakash Palace, among sculpture, weapons and crafts gathered from across the plateau.
Afternoon, water and the goddess
Gaumukh Kund: steps down the cliff edge to a deep tank fed by a spring from a stone cow's mouth.
- Kalika Mata: a working temple to the goddess, thought to have begun as a sun temple.
- Padmini's palace: a pale pavilion beside a tank, largely a nineteenth-century reconstruction, lovely in the late light.
Sunset, the western walls
- Finish on the ramparts: near Gaumukh, as the sun goes down over the plains.
- Then: drive back to Udaipur for a late dinner, or continue to a family castle at Bijaipur for the night.
The climb, and the men remembered on it
Tradition says that when Jaimal Rathore was wounded in the leg and could no longer stand, his kinsman Kalla carried him into battle on his shoulders, and the two fought as one man with four arms. Both died near the gates. In Mewar, Jaimal and Patta are always said together, like a single word for courage.
Jaimal Rathore: the commander who held the fort for Udai Singh II in 1567 to 1568. He was killed by a musket shot while repairing a breach in February 1568.
- Patta Sisodia: the young commander who fought beside him and died in the final charge.
- Kalla Rathore: still worshipped as a folk hero in parts of Rajasthan.
- Akbar's tribute: it is recorded that after the siege he set up statues of Jaimal and Patta on stone elephants at a gate of his fort at Agra.
- Please don't climb: local people still touch the memorials and leave red thread and flowers.
The stories, and how we tell them
The three sieges
1303: Alauddin Khalji, Sultan of Delhi, took the fort from Rawal Ratan Singh after a long siege.
- 1535: Bahadur Shah of Gujarat attacked during the reign of the young Rana Vikramaditya. Rani Karnavati led the women in jauhar.
- 1567 to 1568: Akbar besieged the fort for about four months. After its fall, the court of Mewar never returned.
Padmini, as legend
The story: the queen whose beauty drew the sultan, the reflection, the palanquins full of warriors and the fire.
- The history: first written down in the poem Padmavat by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in 1540, more than two centuries after the siege. Writers of the sultan's own time do not mention her.
- In Mewar: she is revered as entirely real. Read the story of Padmini.
Panna Dhai and the infant prince
- The story: a nurse who saved the infant Udai Singh from the usurper Banbir by putting her own son in his place.
- Where it leads: the prince was raised in hiding, crowned at Kumbhalgarh, and later founded Udaipur.
Meera Bai, the singing princess
Who she was: a Rathore princess of Merta, married in 1516 to Bhoj Raj, son of Rana Sanga.
- Why she is loved: her songs to Krishna, whom she called Giridhar Gopal, are still sung across India.
- Historians' view: little firm evidence survives about her life, and only some of the songs sung in her name are thought to be hers.
Jauhar and saka
- The words: jauhar, the mass self-immolation of the women of a besieged fort, and saka, the men's last charge in saffron.
- How to listen: they are remembered with pride and with grief. We ask guests to keep their voices low at these sites.
If you only have half a day
Drive straight up: through the gates without stopping at every one.
The heart of the fort: Rana Kumbha's palace, the Meera and Kumbha Shyam temples and the Vijay Stambha.
- If time allows: the Kirti Stambha, which most hurried visitors miss, and Padmini's palace on the way back down.
- Choose the hour: morning or late afternoon, never the middle of the day.
- From Udaipur to Bundi: see the fort in the morning, lunch in town and continue east in the afternoon, stopping at the Menal temples.
Arriving from other directions
From Bundi and Hadoti
- About three hours: leave Bundi early, stopping at Menal's Shiva temples beside a gorge and a monsoon waterfall.
- Then: the fort from late morning, with the towers and sunset, and on to Udaipur or Bijaipur.
From Jaipur and the north
- A long drive: arrive in the late afternoon for the towers and the sunset, stay nearby and see the rest the next morning before continuing to Udaipur.
By train
- Chittorgarh is a major junction: with trains to Udaipur, Jaipur and Delhi. Your chauffeur meets you at the station.
Food, rest and the town below
Breakfast on the road: a box from your Udaipur hotel, eaten in the car or at a quiet roadside stop before the climb.
Water and fruit: we stock the car, because there are few places to buy anything on the plateau.
- A picnic in the fort: in a shady corner near the monuments, with simple Mewari food from a kitchen we trust.
- Or lunch in town: a simple, freshly cooked thali in Chittorgarh town, a busy market and railway town of cement works and sweet shops.
- Tea at the temples: sometimes a priest or caretaker offers a glass of tea. Accept it. It is the best tea of the day.
- The bazaar: local sweets, brassware, glass bangles and the bright tie-dye fabrics worn across Mewar.
- Crafts nearby: kavad makers at Bassi and the dabu mud-resist printers around Akola. We visit working families, buying directly.
Before you go
Hire a good guide: without one, the fort is a series of ruins. With one, it is the most moving historical site in Rajasthan.
Carry water and sun cream: there is little shade and few places to buy anything on the plateau.
- Bring
- Water, hat, sun cream, a light scarf
- Shoes
- Slip-off, with good grip for Gaumukh's steps
- Dress
- Shoulders and knees covered for temples
- Photography
- Welcome; ask inside temples
- Mobility
- Car reaches most monuments; some steep steps
- Slip-off shoes: you will enter several working temples.
- Steps: Gaumukh, the palace ruins and the tower stairs involve steep steps and uneven ground. Tell us in advance and we plan around them.
- The Vijay Stambha stair: a narrow internal stair climbs the tower, but access is sometimes closed. We check on the day.
- Leave before dusk: if you are driving back to Udaipur, the road is easier in daylight.
Chittor through the year
October to March: warm, bright days, pleasant for walking. December and January mornings are cool, so bring a light jacket.
April to June: very hot. We start at opening and finish by late morning, and keep the afternoon for the museum or the road.
- July to September: the plains turn green, the tanks fill and storm clouds build over the fort. On a cloudy day it is at its most dramatic.
- Navratri: in autumn the Kalika Mata temple fills with worshippers and lamps. Moving, and busy.
- More detail: our best time to visit Chittorgarh.
What most visitors miss
The labels on the gods: on the Vijay Stambha, many carved figures are named in old script beneath them. Ask your guide to read some aloud.
The Kirti Stambha in quiet: older, finer and almost always empty.
- Shringar Chauri: a small Jain shrine of the mid-fifteenth century near the palace. Easy to walk past. Do not.
- Suraj Pol and the eastern wall: the gate of the sun, with wide views east towards the hills of Hadoti.
- A song for Meera: if women are sitting with a harmonium in the temple compound, sit quietly at the back for a few minutes.
- The other Ratan Singh: a palace by a northern tank is linked to Rana Ratan Singh II of the early sixteenth century, not the Ratan Singh of the Padmini story. Guides often mix them up.
Chittor with children
Count the gates: give children the seven names at the bottom and let them tick each one off on the way up.
Find the cow's mouth: at Gaumukh, the spring that flows from a carved stone cow is a small wonder, and families feed the fish in the tank.
- Climb carefully: the steps at Gaumukh and in the palace ruins are steep. Hold small hands.
- Tell the stories gently: our guides tell the sieges to children as stories of courage, and leave the hardest parts for the adults.
- Break up the day: the museum at midday, a picnic and a rest in the car with the air conditioning on.
- Keep it shorter: with young children, a half day in the morning is often enough. Our travelling with children notes have more.
Turning the day into a night
Castle Bijaipur: a sixteenth-century family castle about an hour away, with a courtyard garden and rooms over the Vindhyan hills. Our favourite base. See Castle Bijaipur.
Closer to the fort: a heritage hotel in an old noble fort at Bassi, a village also known for its kavad makers, painters of folding wooden shrines.
- The light and sound show: in the evenings, telling the story of the sieges and of Meera Bai. Dramatic and patriotic. We translate and confirm the timing on the day.
- The next morning: back at opening for Kumbha's palace and the Kirti Stambha while the air is cool.
- All the options: our guide to luxury hotels near Chittorgarh.
Where Chittor fits in a journey
Udaipur to Bundi: Chittor and Menal on the way, with a night at Bijaipur. See Bundi.
Mewar in depth: our Mewar Lakes and Temples journey brings together Udaipur, Kumbhalgarh, Ranakpur and Chittor.
- The quieter roads: our Offbeat Rajasthan journey links Chittor with Bundi and Dungarpur.
- All six UNESCO forts: our guide to the UNESCO forts of Rajasthan has a route that includes it.
- Pratap's story: after Chittor, the hill fort of Kumbhalgarh and the battlefield of Haldighati complete it. Read Maharana Pratap and Haldighati.
Who Chittor is for
History lovers: a plateau of stories pieced together from fragments.
Travellers of Indian descent: these are the names of school textbooks and grandparents' stories.
- Photographers: long views from the ramparts and the light on the two towers.
- Families: children who like forts love the gates, the tanks and the scale.
- Less suited to: anyone who wants comfort, polish or interiors. If your Mewar days are few, you may be happier in Udaipur.
- Our view: with three or four nights in Mewar, Chittor adds a depth nothing else in the region matches. Read our Chittorgarh guide.