Rajasthan is not a dry state, but it has dry days
In Jaipur you can order a fine single malt in a palace bar that once belonged to a maharaja. Thirty kilometres away, in a village temple town, nobody will even say the word.
Sold under licence: luxury hotels have bars and serve wine, beer and spirits with dinner.
Restaurants and shops: many good city restaurants are licensed, and there are licensed shops, though our guests rarely need them.
Facts to know
- Status
- Not a dry state; sale under licence
- Where to drink
- Hotel bars, licensed restaurants
- Shops
- Licensed wine and spirits shops
- Dry days
- Set by the state and districts
- Holy towns
- Some forbid alcohol entirely
- Normal on a luxury journey: a sundowner on a fort terrace or a glass of wine at a desert camp.
- Mixed, often conservative attitudes: many families, of every faith, do not drink at all, and some communities have strong traditions against it.
- Holy towns: the areas around great shrines keep their own customs, and some forbid alcohol entirely.
- Mostly private: people who drink usually do so at home, at weddings or in hotels, not in public.
- Dry days: when the state or a district orders that alcohol is not sold or served for a set period, the most common surprise for visitors.
- General guidance: laws, licences and dry days vary and change, so let us check the details for your dates.
Local tip
In Jaipur you can order a fine single malt in a palace bar; thirty kilometres away, in a village temple town, nobody will say the word. Match your drinking to where you are.
What a dry day is
A dry day is simple in principle: for a day or two, licensed shops and bars stop selling alcohol by order. In practice, the list changes every year.
Each state sets its own: in India, states make their own alcohol rules and declare their own dry days.
Typical dry days
- Republic Day
- 26 January
- Independence Day
- 15 August
- Gandhi Jayanti
- 2 October, most widely observed
- Elections
- About 48 hours before polling, often counting day
- Festivals
- Vary with the lunar calendar
- Local orders
- Fairs, processions, public order
- Who publishes them: the state's excise authorities, and districts can add days for local reasons.
- Similar, not identical: the pattern is broadly alike across many states, and festival dates move with the lunar calendar.
- We check every year: the official orders for the cities on your route.
National days
On our usual routes: many states keep Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti as dry days.
- What closes: liquor shops close and many bars do not serve.
- Most widely observed: Gandhi Jayanti, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.
Elections
Before polling: sales usually stop in the voting area, commonly for around 48 hours, and often on counting day.
- Every level: national, state, municipal and village council polls can each bring dry days to the places affected.
- Late notice: they are announced close to the date, so we check again the week before you travel.
Festivals and special occasions
State or district: some religious festivals and special days are declared dry, and the list varies by year.
- One-offs: the state has also declared dry days for occasions of national importance.
- Moving dates: the lunar calendar shifts festivals, so we confirm them for your journey.
Local orders
- District orders: for a local fair, a procession, a sensitive occasion or reasons of public order.
- Short but sudden: usually limited to the area, but they can close a town's bars for a day with little notice.
How a dry day affects a luxury journey
For most of our guests, a dry day passes almost unnoticed. For a couple who planned a champagne proposal on that exact evening, it matters a great deal.
What closes: liquor shops close and most bars and restaurants stop serving alcohol.
Hotels vary: it depends on the licence and the day's order; some may serve resident guests in certain circumstances, others close their bars completely.
Our rule: we never promise service on a dry day unless the hotel has confirmed it in writing for that date.
- Celebrations: tell us the date early, and we will move a dinner, proposal or anniversary to the evening before or after if needed.
- State by state: Rajasthan's dry days do not apply elsewhere, and vice versa, so in Delhi, Agra or Gujarat each state's calendar matters.
- Elections: announced shortly before the polls; your planner will tell you which days and places are affected.
- Minibars and room service: usually follow the same rules as the bar.
- The law, not the hotel's choice: staff cannot make exceptions, and it is kind not to press them.
- A pleasant excuse: to try Rajasthan's own drinks, from saffron milk to fresh lime soda, described below.
Local tip
For most guests a dry day passes unnoticed. For a couple who planned a champagne proposal on that exact evening, it matters a great deal, so give us the date.
Holy towns and sacred places
On the road into Pushkar there is no line on the map, but everyone knows where it falls. Beyond it, there is no meat, no eggs and no alcohol.
Where alcohol is off-limits
- Pushkar
- Not permitted, with meat, fish and eggs
- Nathdwara
- Vegetarian pilgrim town, no alcohol
- Ajmer Sharif lanes
- Entirely out of place
- Jain temple towns
- Never near the temples
- Any sacred site
- Never bring it, never visit after drinking
- Law, order or custom: some places forbid alcohol by law, by local order or by long custom; in others, drinking in public would cause real offence.
- The rule of thumb: the closer you are to a great shrine, the less acceptable alcohol becomes.
Pushkar
One of Hinduism's holiest towns: alcohol, meat, fish and eggs are not permitted within Pushkar.
- Hotels around it: follow its customs in different ways, so tell us if a drink with dinner matters and we will choose your stay accordingly.
- At fair time: many guests stay outside the town during the Pushkar fair partly for this reason.
Nathdwara
Shrinathji's town: Nathdwara lives entirely around the temple.
- Vegetarian and dry: a pilgrim town where alcohol has no place.
- How we visit: for a darshan from Udaipur, returning to the city for dinner.
Ajmer Sharif
- Busy pilgrim lanes: around the Ajmer Sharif Dargah, the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, among the busiest in India.
- Out of place: keep alcohol for your hotel, well away from the shrine.
Jain temple towns
- Food: usually vegetarian and often prepared without root vegetables.
- Never near the temples: and do not visit after drinking.
Temples, ghats and shrines everywhere
Never bring alcohol: into a temple, mosque, dargah or gurdwara, or onto a ghat.
- Never visit after drinking: any sacred place.
- Wider customs: our temple etiquette guide and faith and temples in Rajasthan.
Local tip
On the road into Pushkar there is no line on the map, but everyone knows where it falls. Have your sundowner the evening before, back at a hotel outside town.
Gujarat, the dry state next door
Cross the border from Rajasthan into Gujarat and the rules change completely. Gujarat has kept prohibition since it became a state in 1960.
Prohibition: alcohol is not sold or served freely, and most restaurants and many hotels serve none at all.
Visitor permits: visitors from outside the state, including foreign tourists, can apply to buy and drink a limited amount privately.
A moving target: where permits are issued and what they allow have changed more than once.
Gujarat at a glance
- Status
- Dry state since 1960
- Visitors
- Permit for limited private drinking
- Where to buy
- Licensed shops at certain hotels
- Permits
- Process now online; details change
- GIFT City
- Rules relaxed for approved venues, late 2025
- GIFT City: the financial district near Gandhinagar.
- We check first: before any journey to Kutch or Ahmedabad.
- If a drink matters: we help you apply through the official route and choose hotels where the permit can be used.
- If it doesn't: enjoy Gujarat's excellent tea, buttermilk and fresh juices, and save the wine for Rajasthan.
- At the border: never carry alcohol from Rajasthan into Gujarat without checking; checks are common and it can be a serious offence without a permit.
- Built into the plan: our Rajasthan and Kutch journey and Mount Abu and Gujarat journey.
Delhi, Agra and the other states on your route
A journey of two weeks can cross three or four states, and each has its own calendar of dry days.
Delhi: Delhi sets its own list of dry days each year, and it can be longer than visitors expect.
Uttar Pradesh: Agra, Varanasi and Mathura and Vrindavan follow its own list.
- Mathura and Vrindavan: the holy towns keep strict customs of their own.
- Madhya Pradesh: home to Orchha, Khajuraho and Gwalior, with rules of its own.
- We don't memorise lists: they change, so we check the official orders for every state on your route, for your year, and move any special dinner off a dry day.
- Duty-free: international airports have duty-free shops, and the customs allowance on arrival is set nationally.
- Between states: what you may then carry is set by each state.
- The same bottle: fine in your Jaipur hotel room, and a serious problem in a car crossing into Gujarat without a permit.
Local tip
If you are unsure about a bottle you are carrying, leave it with us and we will look after it until you return.
The drinks of the old courts
In the zenana of some Rajput palaces, the women's quarters, recipes for spiced and perfumed liqueurs were guarded as closely as the jewels.
Heritage liqueurs
A royal tradition: liqueurs distilled with saffron, rose, cardamom, aniseed and other spices, sometimes dozens in a single recipe.
- For occasions: drunk at celebrations, offered to honoured guests and made in small quantities for the palace.
- Revived: a few recipes are now sold in Rajasthan as heritage liquors, of which saffron-scented kesar kasturi is the best known.
- Ask at the bar: your palace hotel's bar, and treat them with respect: they are strong and very sweet.
Mahua
Village spirit: in southern Rajasthan, around Dungarpur and Banswara, distilled at home from the spring flowers of the mahua tree.
- Part of life: in the ceremonies of the Bhil and other communities.
- Not for visitors: we do not offer it, and home-distilled spirits of any kind are best avoided.
Bhang and amal
Bhang: a cannabis-leaf preparation, traditionally drunk in spiced thandai at Holi and on Shivratri, sold in some places under licence.
- Our advice: it is far stronger and less predictable than many visitors expect, and we advise against it.
- Amal or kasumba: opium mixed with water, once offered to guests in parts of Marwar as hospitality.
- Today illegal: politely decline if anyone ever offers it.
Local tip
In some Rajput palaces, the zenana's recipes for spiced and perfumed liqueurs were guarded as closely as the jewels. Order one small glass after dinner, not before.
Where and how to enjoy a drink
Our favourite drink in Rajasthan is a cold glass of something on a fort terrace, at the exact moment the evening call of the peacocks begins.
The right places: your hotel, a licensed restaurant or a private event we arrange.
Palace bars: some of the finest in India, often in rooms full of trophies, portraits and old polo photographs.
Made for an evening drink: Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur and the lake palaces of Udaipur.
- Outdoors: licensed desert camps serve sundowners on the dunes, and a private dinner on a rampart or palace terrace can include wine.
- Not in public: drinking on the street, in a park or at a monument is not acceptable and is often against the law.
- Never in a vehicle: your chauffeur never drinks on duty, and we never ask him to carry open bottles.
- Don't offer: alcohol to your driver, guide or hosts unless you know they drink; many do not, and some would be embarrassed to refuse.
- Follow your host: in a village or family home, if no one offers a drink, don't ask for one.
- Women: drink comfortably in hotel bars and good restaurants; local bars in smaller towns are male spaces, and we would not take guests to them.
- Drinking age: differs from state to state, so check each state's rules if travelling with older teenagers.
- Insurance: many policies exclude claims linked to drinking. See our travel insurance guide.
- Indian wine: mostly from the hills around Nashik in Maharashtra, and Indian craft gins and single malts are a source of national pride.
- Imported bottles: widely available in luxury hotels, but expensive because of high import duties.
Local tip
Ask the sommelier at your palace hotel to pair an Indian wine with a Rajasthani meal. Then take your glass to the terrace as the peacocks begin their evening call.
Weddings, festivals and private celebrations
At one Rajput wedding the bar runs until dawn. At the next, in the same city, not a drop is served. Both are entirely proper.
Family by family: some Rajput and business families serve drinks generously at weddings and parties.
Many serve none: including most Jain, Vaishnav and Muslim families and many Hindu families of every background.
As a guest: follow your hosts' lead, and never bring a bottle as a gift unless you know it will be welcome.
At celebrations
- Weddings
- Depends on family and community
- Safe gifts
- Sweets, dried fruit, flowers
- Holi
- Ask for thandai without bhang
- Private events
- Need the venue's licence for the date
- Near temples
- Some venues allow no alcohol
- Diwali: Diwali evenings in Jaipur bring lamps, sweets and card parties, some with drinks and many without.
- Holi: Holi is the one festival when bhang appears openly.
- Christmas and New Year: palace hotels hold dinners with wine and champagne; see our Christmas and New Year in a palace journey.
- Clashing dates: a national day on a festival, or an election near a holiday, can change the picture, so we check.
- Private events: a rampart dinner, a palace courtyard party or a destination wedding needs the venue's licence; we arrange it through the hotel or venue.
- Heritage venues: some, especially near temples, allow no alcohol, and we tell you before you fall in love with a place.
- Dry and joyful: a Manganiyar singer by firelight, fireworks over a lake, a royal kitchen feast and saffron milk at midnight need nothing else.
Local tip
At one Rajput wedding the bar runs until dawn; at the next, in the same city, not a drop is served. Some of the most joyful evenings we have planned were completely dry.
What Rajasthan drinks instead
Ask a Jaipur grandmother for her favourite drink and she will tell you it is saffron milk at bedtime, made in an iron pan with the cream left on top.
Lassi: thick, sweet yoghurt whipped and served in a clay cup. In Jaipur, Lassiwala on MI Road sells out by lunchtime.
Makhaniya lassi: Jodhpur's rich version, flavoured with saffron and cardamom.
Chaach: thin, salted buttermilk spiced with cumin and mint, drunk with lunch across the desert to cool the body.
- Kesar doodh: hot milk with saffron, cardamom and nuts, a winter evening drink sold at sweet shops after dark.
- Thandai: chilled milk with almonds, fennel, rose, pepper and saffron, for Holi and the hot months. Ask for it without bhang.
- Aam panna: a tart, cooling drink of green mango, roasted cumin and mint, made in early summer.
- Jaljeera: cumin water with black salt, mint and lemon, sold from carts and good for the digestion.
- Kanji: a tangy fermented drink of black carrots and mustard seed, made in late winter in many north Indian homes.
- Masala chai: tea brewed with milk, sugar and spices, the drink of every roadside stop, every morning and every welcome.
- Fresh lime soda: sweet or salted, made by every bar and cafe, perhaps the best drink in India on a hot afternoon.
- By the end of the journey: many guests are ordering these in their palace bar. See our Rajasthani food guide and food and royal kitchens.
Local tip
Ask a Jaipur grandmother for her favourite drink and she will say saffron milk at bedtime, made in an iron pan with the cream left on top. Find a sweet shop after dark and try it.
How we plan around the rules for you
Our planners keep a calendar of every dry day we know of on your route, and update it until the week you land.
Checked twice: the dry-day orders for each state on your route, for your year, and again shortly before you travel.
In writing: we confirm whether each hotel will serve on a dry day, rather than assuming.
- Moved or reimagined: special dinners, proposals and celebrations come off dry days, or become alcohol-free evenings with a menu that makes up for it.
- Holy-town hotels: chosen to suit you, whether you want a drink with dinner or a vegetarian, alcohol-free stay.
- Gujarat permits: we help through the official route on journeys to Kutch and Ahmedabad.
- Gentle warnings: we tell you when a place, family or village does not drink, so you never put anyone in an awkward position.
- Not drinking at all? Every hotel we use offers excellent non-alcoholic drinks, and we can arrange a bar-free celebration with music and fireworks.
- More on how we plan: our etiquette guide and frequently asked questions.
Local tip
Our planners keep a calendar of every dry day we know of on your route, and update it until the week you land. Check it with us before you book a celebration dinner.