Why this is our ten-day Rajasthan
Our grandfather used to say that a traveller should leave a place wanting one more day. On this route, almost everyone says that about Bundi. That is exactly why we include it.
The size of a country: Rajasthan is that big, and its desert cities sit far from everything else.
Why not the Thar in ten days: fitting it in with Jaipur and Udaipur means two days of driving across the desert and seeing the state through a windscreen.
- Direction
- South-east, along the Aravallis
- Bundi capital
- Hada Chauhans, since 1342
- UNESCO hill forts
- Amber, Ranthambore, Chittorgarh
- Listed
- 2013
- Desert cities
- Left out on purpose
- South-east instead: along the line of the Aravallis and the plateau beyond, with shorter drives and greener country.
- Four kinds of place: a royal city, a tiger forest, a small painted town and a lake capital.
- Jaipur: the confident eighteenth-century capital of the Kachwahas.
- Ranthambore: a thousand-year-old fort in the middle of the forest, with tigers walking through the ruins of the Jaipur maharajas' hunting grounds.
- Bundi: capital of the Hada Chauhans since 1342, the Rajasthan Kipling saw, all blue lanes and stepwells and a palace that seems to grow out of the hill.
- Chittorgarh: the old capital of Mewar and the scene of its three great sieges.
- Udaipur: the city the Sisodias built after Chittor fell, among lakes and hills where no army could follow.
- History in the right order: you meet the dynasties in sequence as you travel.
- Three UNESCO forts: of the six listed in 2013 as the Hill Forts of Rajasthan, Amber, Ranthambore and Chittorgarh lie on this route.
- Each at its best hour: at Ranthambore that means from an open safari vehicle, and at Chittorgarh it means arriving before the plateau gets hot.
Ten days, one by one
- Nights
- Nine nights, ten days
- Pace
- Two nights in most places, short drives
- Best months
- October to March, April to June for tigers
- Good for
- Palaces, tigers and a quiet painted town
- Starts
- Jaipur International Airport (JAI)
- Ends
- Udaipur, Maharana Pratap Airport (UDR)
Days 1 and 2: Jaipur, the Pink City
Arrival: we meet you at Jaipur airport and take you to your palace hotel.
An afternoon arrival: drive through the walled city at dusk, past Hawa Mahal and the old bazaars, and up to the ridge at Nahargarh to watch the city lights come on.
- Amber at opening: day two starts at Amber Fort as the gates open, with the Sheesh Mahal quiet and soft light on Maota Lake. We walk you up the old ramparts or drive you to the upper gate, never by elephant.
- Before lunch: the City Palace and the Jantar Mantar.
- The bazaars: after a rest, with a guide who grew up in them, from Johari Bazaar's jewellers to the lac bangle makers of Maniharon ka Rasta.
- Dinner: in a haveli courtyard.
- Only one full day: so we choose for you. The Jaipur itinerary guide shows what a longer stay adds.
Day 3: To the forest at Ranthambore
Hawa Mahal at sunrise: Hawa Mahal, when its windows glow and the street below is empty.
The drive: about three and a half hours south-east through farmland, small towns and mustard fields that turn yellow in January and February.
- Lunch: at your lodge.
- First safari: in the afternoon.
- A protected forest: Ranthambore has been protected since 1955 and was part of Project Tiger from 1973.
- Why tigers are visible: they live in open dry forest around lakes, ruined pavilions and the walls of the fort.
- No guarantees: anyone who promises a sighting is not being honest, but the forest, with its sambar deer, langurs, crocodiles and birds, is worth every minute.
Day 4: Safaris and the fort
Morning safari: in the cold blue hour before sunrise, wrapped in the blankets your lodge provides.
The famous lakes: Padam Talao and Rajbagh Talao, with the ruins along their banks, where many of the park's most famous photographs were taken.
- Late breakfast: then a rest.
- Afternoon: a second safari, or a climb to Ranthambore Fort inside the park, with its gates, step tanks and the Ganesh temple to which pilgrims still send wedding invitations.
- The fort's history: a UNESCO site held for centuries by the Chauhan Rajputs, where Hammir Dev made his last stand against Alauddin Khalji in 1301.
- By the fire: our naturalists tell you about the tigress Machli, often called the most photographed tiger in the world.
Day 5: A last safari, then Bundi
One more morning drive: the odds improve with every one.
To Bundi: after breakfast, about two and a half to three hours south-west through the farming country of Hadoti, arriving for lunch at your haveli.
- Late afternoon: walk around Nawal Sagar, the square lake in the middle of town, and watch the Garh Palace and the star fort of Taragarh turn gold in the water.
- Dinner on the haveli roof: with the palace lit above you.
- An early night: Bundi goes to bed early, and so will you.
Day 6: The painted palace and the stepwells
The Garh Palace at opening: climb through the Hathi Pol with its stone elephants.
The Chitrashala: unhurried time in the Chitrashala, the picture gallery built for Rao Umed Singh in the eighteenth century.
- The murals: turquoise and green scenes of Krishna, court processions, hunts and monsoon clouds. A guide who can read them makes all the difference.
- The queen's stepwell: down through the blue lanes to Raniji ki Baori of 1699, with its carved arches going down into the dark.
- Afternoon: after lunch and a long rest, the cenotaph of eighty-four pillars and the geometric steps of Dabhai Kund.
- Kipling's lodging: end at Sukh Mahal on Jait Sagar, where Kipling stayed in the 1880s and wrote of the palace as if goblins rather than men had built it.
- If you have the energy: walk up to Taragarh at first light the next morning before you leave.
Day 7: Chittorgarh on the way to Udaipur
Leave early: about three hours west to Chittorgarh, the largest fort in India, on a plateau of some 280 hectares.
Three hours with a guide: for the sieges of 1303, 1535 and 1567 to 1568, the jauhar of its women, and the poet-saint Meera Bai.
- The two towers: the Vijay Stambha, raised by Rana Kumbha after his victory of 1440, and the older, slender Jain Kirti Stambha.
- Padmini's palace: beside its pool on the southern side of the fort.
- On to Udaipur: lunch near the fort, then about two hours south-west, arriving in the late afternoon to watch the sun go down over Lake Pichola.
- The only full day: it is the longest day of the journey.
Days 8 and 9: Udaipur, slowly
The palace at opening: enter the City Palace and climb straight to the upper courtyards before the groups.
Below the palace: the Jagdish Temple and the painters' lanes.
- The last hour of light: after lunch and a rest, a private boat on Lake Pichola, past Jag Mandir, where the future emperor Shah Jahan is said to have sheltered in 1623.
- Day nine is yours: the pool, the fountains of Saheliyon ki Bari, a cooking class, or the Shrinathji temple at Nathdwara, an hour north.
- Last evening: sunset at the Monsoon Palace, then dinner facing the lit City Palace.
Day 10: Home from Udaipur
- After a slow breakfast: your driver takes you to the airport at Dabok, about 22 kilometres from the city, for a flight to Delhi or Mumbai and on home.
- A late flight: we keep a room for you, or plan a quiet last morning at the Ahar cenotaphs.
Where you'll stay
Jaipur
The grand choice: Rambagh Palace, once the home of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II and Maharani Gayatri Devi, with its lawns, peacocks and gilded dining room.
- Calmer and private: The Oberoi Rajvilas, on 32 acres outside the city.
- Inside the walls: Samode Haveli, a short walk from Hawa Mahal.
Ranthambore
Aman-i-Khas: Aman-i-Khas is a small camp of large white tents on the edge of the forest, inspired by the encampments of the Mughals.
- SUJAN Sher Bagh: SUJAN Sher Bagh has the spirit of an old hunting camp, with some of the best naturalists in the park.
- The Oberoi Vanyavilas: The Oberoi Vanyavilas sets luxury tents in walled gardens and orchards, for families and anyone who wants every comfort between drives.
- Season check: the tented camps keep a shorter season than the hotels. Our guide to wildlife lodges compares them.
Bundi
No palace hotel: and that's part of its charm. The best rooms are in heritage havelis run by the families who own them.
- Haveli Braj Bhushanjee: just below the Garh Palace, with murals in its rooms and breakfast on the roof. Ask for a room facing the palace.
- The trade: what you give up in marble and butlers, you gain in a host who knows the man with the key to the stepwell.
- The others: our guide to Bundi's heritage havelis.
Udaipur
On its own island: Taj Lake Palace floats in Pichola.
- On the western shore: The Oberoi Udaivilas spreads its domes and courtyards along the water, and The Leela Palace sits beside it.
- Inside the City Palace complex: Fateh Prakash Palace or Shiv Niwas Palace.
An alternative near Chittorgarh
Break day seven in two: a night at Castle Bijaipur, a sixteenth-century castle run by its family about an hour from Chittorgarh.
- The reward: the fort in the evening light and again the next morning.
- The cost: a night in Udaipur, for a gentler pace.
A few honest words about tiger safaris
How it works: safaris are run by the forest department, in small open jeeps or larger open buses called canters, along set routes in numbered zones.
Zones and guides: each vehicle is allotted a zone and stays on the tracks with a forest guide on board.
We book jeeps: they are quieter and more flexible, and we book as early as the rules allow, because the best permits go fast in high season.
- Run by
- The forest department
- Vehicles
- Open jeeps or larger canters
- Drives a day
- Usually two, sunrise and afternoon
- On this route
- Three or four drives
- Core zones close
- From around the start of July
- Peak sightings
- Often April to June
- Two drives a day: usually one starting around sunrise and one in the afternoon, each lasting a few hours.
- The odds: three or four drives over two nights gives most guests a good chance, but it is never certain.
- That's the forest: a tiger may be lying in long grass ten metres away and you will not see it.
- The best drives: often the ones where you learn to read the alarm calls of langurs and sambar, and wait.
- The monsoon closure: core zones close from around the beginning of July and reopen in the autumn.
- Hot months, best sightings: April to June, when water holes shrink and tigers come to drink, but the heat is serious.
- Cold winter mornings: bring a hat, gloves and layers for the open jeep. Our guide to the best time for tigers goes deeper.
- Etiquette: keep your voice low, never ask the driver to go off the track, and don't use flash. Our tiger and leopard safaris page explains how we choose naturalists.
The country between the stops
- Jaipur to Ranthambore
- About 3.5 hours
- Ranthambore to Bundi
- About 2.5-3 hours
- Bundi to Chittorgarh
- About 3 hours
- Chittorgarh to Udaipur
- About 2 hours
- Udaipur airport
- About 22 km from the city
South of Jaipur
Flat and farmed: with the low Aravalli ridges always somewhere on the horizon.
- Mustard season: in January and February whole fields turn bright yellow, and women in pink and orange odhnis walk the field edges with fodder on their heads.
- The forest begins suddenly: near Ranthambore the hills rise, dry and tangled, with dhok trees that turn copper before summer and flame-of-the-forest trees that flower orange in spring.
Hadoti, the land of the Hadas
Black soil and small rivers: a plateau between Ranthambore and Bundi.
- Coriander country: in February the fields around Bundi are white with its flowers.
- Village life: buffaloes wallow in the ponds, and villages are built of the region's flat grey sandstone, which you will see again as paving in the palaces.
Up onto the Mewar plateau
West of Bundi: the road climbs gently onto the plateau.
- Poppy fields: around Chittorgarh in late winter you may see the white and mauve flowers of opium poppies, grown under government licence for the pharmaceutical trade, as they have been for centuries.
- Down to Udaipur: the hills close in again, greener and steeper, through the folds of the Aravallis.
- Every leg: our page on road distances and drive times, and getting around Rajasthan for how we plan the stops.
What you'll eat along the way
Jaipur breakfast: pyaaz kachori and a clay cup of lassi.
Jaipur dinner: laal maas, the fiery red mutton curry of the Rajput hunting tradition.
- After the morning safari: the Ranthambore lodges cook generous Rajasthani food, and breakfast in the forest air, with hot parathas and masala chai, tastes better than anywhere else.
- Bundi's haveli kitchens: mostly vegetarian and very good. Ask for a Hadoti thali with dal baati, gatte ki sabzi of gram-flour dumplings in yoghurt gravy, and buttermilk.
- Bundi in winter: maize rotis with jaggery and white butter.
- Udaipur: dal baati churma on a rooftop above the lake, and the Mewari way with greens and maize.
- Eating safely: freshly cooked food, bottled or filtered water, and go easy on street food for the first few days.
- More: our Rajasthani food guide explains the dishes, and we can arrange a cooking class in a haveli in Jaipur or Udaipur.
When to go
October to March: warm, bright days and cool nights. In December and January the mornings in the jeep are cold enough to see your breath.
Jaipur's festivals: Diwali in October or November, the kite festival of Makar Sankranti on 14 January, and the literature festival at the end of the month.
Bundi Utsav: the Bundi Utsav is held in the month of Kartik, around October or November, with processions, music and fireworks.
- Classic season
- October to March
- Best for tigers
- April to June, often above 40°C
- Forest closed
- Monsoon, July to September
- Bundi Utsav
- Kartik, around October or November
- Kajli Teej
- Usually August, in Bundi
- April to June: hot, often above 40°C, but the best season for tiger sightings, with quiet hotels in Udaipur and Jaipur.
- How we plan the heat: early mornings, long afternoons by the pool and evenings outdoors.
- July to September: Ranthambore's core zones are closed, so we would change the route.
- The monsoon's gift: Bundi and Udaipur are at their most beautiful, with green hills and full lakes.
- Kajli Teej: Bundi's festival, usually in August, is one of the loveliest local festivals in Rajasthan.
- Each month: our guide to the best time to visit Rajasthan.
Other ways to spend ten days
With the desert instead of the forest
- Dunes over tigers: our Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer journey, nine nights from the lakes to the Thar.
- Or the classic three plus Jaisalmer: our twelve-day Rajasthan.
With Jodhpur instead of Bundi
- The great royal capitals: Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur with Ranakpur on the way, as in our Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur journey.
- A ninth night: add it wherever you like.
With the Taj Mahal
The shape: start in Delhi, see Agra and the Taj at sunrise, then drive to Jaipur via the stepwell at Abhaneri.
- What changes: you drop Bundi and Chittorgarh and fly from Jaipur to Udaipur.
- Built this way: our Golden Triangle and Udaipur journey.
For families
Children over about eight: they usually love the safaris and the monkeys of Taragarh.
- What we change: The Oberoi Vanyavilas at Ranthambore, and a fourth Udaipur night by the pool.
- More ideas: our Family: Jaipur, Ranthambore and Udaipur journey.
For repeat visitors
Leopards: swap Ranthambore for Jawai.
- Island palaces: spend the Bundi nights further south in Dungarpur.
- Further still: our Offbeat Rajasthan journey.
How we look after you
Met at Jaipur airport: and your private chauffeur stays with you all the way to Udaipur in a comfortable, air-conditioned car.
Drivers from Rajasthan: they know these roads well, from the highway to Ranthambore to the quieter country lanes of Hadoti.
- Daylight arrivals: we plan each drive so you arrive in daylight, with stops every couple of hours.
- A local guide in each place: a Jaipur guide who grew up in the walled city, a naturalist at Ranthambore, a Bundi guide who knows the murals and the people who keep the keys, and a Mewar historian for Chittorgarh and Udaipur.
- No commission shopping: for textiles or paintings, we introduce you to the makers.
- Your planner on WhatsApp: from the first call to your flight home, able to change a dinner or a guide with one message.
- Booked for you: safari permits, flights and any trains.
- No prices on this page: every journey is shaped to the people taking it, so we quote after one conversation. Start with Plan my journey.
Who will love it, and who won't
First-time visitors: who want real variety, from palaces to wildlife to a small painted town, in a manageable ten days.
Families: with children old enough to enjoy a safari and a fort with monkeys.
- Lovers of art and history: the Bundi murals and the Chittorgarh stories are unforgettable.
- Time in places, not on the road: the drives are mostly two to three and a half hours.
- Not for a desert dream: if you want a desert camp and a camel at sunset, choose a western route instead.
- Not the grandest hotel every night: Bundi's havelis are charming and comfortable, not grand.
- Only a week: the one week in Rajasthan page shows how we'd cut it down.
