Why we shop differently
The oldest trade in tourism: a driver, guide or friendly stranger suggests a workshop, a family emporium or a government-approved gem shop.
How it works: the tea is warm, the welcome generous, and prices are inflated to pay a commission of a third or more to whoever brought you.
- Commission
- None, from any shop
- Shops we visit
- Only ones you ask for
- Where we take you
- Makers, family firms, fixed-price stores
- Usual commission elsewhere
- A third or more
- If pushed
- Tell us
- What you may get: machine-printed cloth sold as hand block, glass sold as emerald, factory rugs sold as antique.
- Our rule, never bent: our guides and chauffeurs are paid properly, take no commission from any shop, and will never steer you towards a store.
- Where we take you: to the artisans' villages, the old family businesses in the bazaars and fixed-price stores where you learn what things should cost.
- If it happens: if a guide or driver ever suggests a shop you did not ask for, tell us.
- Rarely in a showroom: the best shopping is in a printer's courtyard in Bagru, a potter's workshop in Jaipur, a weaver's pit loom in Salawas or a silversmith's tiny shop in Jodhpur.
- Time with makers, not shops: you watch the thing being made and pay the person who made it. See crafts we arrange and our textile and craft trail.
What to buy, and how to tell the real thing
- Block print
- Check the back: slight overlaps
- Blue pottery
- Light, irregular, hand-painted
- Bandhani
- Tiny crisp dots, knot creases
- Kota Doria
- The khat check against the light
- Hand-knotted rug
- Clear pattern, irregular knots behind
- Mojaris
- Soft leather, leather sole, hand-stitched
Gemstones and jewellery
A world centre: Jaipur is one of the great centres for cutting coloured gemstones, especially emeralds.
Kundan and meenakari: kundan sets gems in pure gold foil; meenakari is bright enamel on gold and silver, often on the back of the same piece.
- Where: Johari Bazaar and the lanes behind it, where old family firms have sold to the same families for generations.
- Buy safely: from someone established, with a written description of stone and metal, and have any significant stone checked at an independent gem testing laboratory in Jaipur.
- Never: buy gems as an investment from someone you met on the street.
Hand block-printed cotton
The villages: Sanganer and Bagru, just outside Jaipur, have stamped cotton with hand-carved wooden blocks for generations.
- Two styles: Sanganer for fine florals on white, Bagru for earthier prints in natural dyes and the dabu mud-resist technique.
- The test: look at the back. Hand printing shows slight colour variations and tiny overlaps where blocks meet, and the print shows through. A machine print is too perfect.
- What to buy: by the metre, or as quilts, tablecloths, cushions and clothes.
Blue pottery
Not clay: Jaipur's blue pottery is quartz powder, glass and gum, glazed and painted in cobalt blue, turquoise and white.
- Its story: it came from Persia by way of the Mughal courts, nearly died out in the twentieth century and was revived by the artist Kripal Singh Shekhawat and others.
- The real thing: light, slightly irregular and hand-painted, with fine brushwork.
- Travelling with it: fragile, so ask for proper packing; tiles, bowls, door knobs and vases travel well if wrapped carefully.
Bandhani and leheriya
Bandhani: tie-dye made by pinching and binding thousands of tiny points of cloth before dyeing, so each knot leaves a dot.
- Leheriya: the wave pattern worn at Teej, made by rolling the cloth diagonally and tying it at intervals.
- Where: the finest pieces come from Jaipur, Jodhpur and the towns of Marwar.
- Quality: fine bandhani has tiny, crisp dots and often still shows the creases of the knots. Pure silk and fine cotton cost more, and are worth it.
Lac bangles and puppets
Maniharon ka Rasta: bangle makers heat sticks of lac, a natural resin, over charcoal fires, roll it round a wooden form and press in glass, stones and mirrors while soft.
- Made to fit: a set is light, cheap and very Rajasthani, and many shops will make one to fit your wrist while you wait.
- Kathputli: the string puppets are carved and dressed by families of hereditary puppeteers who still perform the old stories of kings and heroes.
- Buy from the puppeteers: a pair bought after a performance takes home a little of the show.
Kota Doria and handwoven saris
Woven in Kaithoon: near Kota, a light, open-checked fabric of cotton and silk, sometimes with gold thread.
- Made for heat: cool and airy.
- The test: genuine Kota Doria has a square check called khat, visible against the light.
- Where: cooperatives or established weavers rather than city showrooms, where power-loom copies are common.
Durries and hand-knotted rugs
Salawas: near Jodhpur, families weave durries, flat cotton and wool rugs, on pit looms dug into their courtyards.
- Jaipur carpets: an important centre for hand-knotted wool and silk.
- Turn it over: a hand-knotted carpet shows the pattern clearly on the back with tiny irregular knots; a machine rug has a stiff, regular backing.
- Ask: knots per square inch, what the pile is made of and how long it took, and expect real answers.
Silver and tribal jewellery
Village silver: women wear heavy silver anklets, necklaces and armbands.
- Where: old-style silver is sold in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Pushkar and Udaipur.
- Ask: about the silver content, and whether a piece is new or old.
- Thewa: in Pratapgarh in southern Rajasthan, a few families still fuse gold leaf onto coloured glass, a rare craft worth seeking out.
Mojari slippers
What they are: mojaris, also called juttis, are leather slippers with pointed or curled toes, often embroidered or decorated with beads and mirrors.
- Where: Jaipur and Jodhpur are the main centres.
- Good ones: soft leather, a leather sole, stitched by hand.
- Fit: stiff at first and soften with wear, so buy them snug.
Miniature and pichwai paintings
Great schools: Mewar, Bundi, Kota, Kishangarh, Jaipur and Marwar.
- Still alive: painters in Udaipur and Jaipur work in the old techniques with fine squirrel-hair brushes and mineral colours.
- Pichwai: in Nathdwara, large cloth paintings of Krishna as Shrinathji, traditionally hung behind the deity.
- Look for: fine detail, natural pigments and a painter who will show you how the work is done.
Marble, brass and embroidery
Makrana marble: from Nagaur district, it gave the white marble for the Taj Mahal, and marble inlay is still made in Agra.
- Metalwork: brass, copper and iron in Jaipur and Jodhpur.
- Barmer: in Barmer, women stitch mirrorwork, appliqué and fine embroidery in their homes.
- To carry home: embroidered quilts and wall hangings from the desert are among the most beautiful things you can buy.
Where to shop, city by city
- Jaipur
- Johari, Bapu, Nehru, Tripolia bazaars
- Jodhpur
- Sardar Market, Clock Tower
- Udaipur
- Below Jagdish Temple, Hathi Pol
- Jaisalmer
- Lanes in and below the fort
- Pushkar
- The main bazaar
- Shilpgram fair
- December, Udaipur
Jaipur
Bazaars by trade: Johari Bazaar for jewellers and fabric; Bapu and Nehru Bazaars near Sanganeri Gate for block prints, quilts and mojaris.
- Brass and bangles: Tripolia Bazaar for brass and household goods, and Maniharon ka Rasta for lac bangles shaped over charcoal fires.
- Fixed prices to compare: Rajasthali, the government handicrafts emporium on MI Road.
- Before you buy block print: Anokhi, a long-established brand of hand block-printed clothes and textiles, runs a museum of hand printing in Amer worth seeing.
Jodhpur
Sardar Market: around the Clock Tower, Jodhpur's noisy heart of spices, bangles, textiles and silver.
- Look for: bandhani, mojaris, silver jewellery and the famous Mathania red chillies.
- Furniture: wooden pieces in old styles, much of it reproduction, so ask what is old and what is new.
- Nearby: the durrie weavers of Salawas are a short drive away.
Udaipur
Where Udaipur shops: the lanes below the Jagdish Temple and around Hathi Pol, with miniature painters, silver shops and textile stalls.
- Miniatures: the best place in Rajasthan to watch painters at work and buy their paintings.
- Nathdwara: an hour north, the home of pichwai.
- Shilpgram: the crafts village on the edge of Udaipur holds a large crafts fair in December.
Jaisalmer and Barmer
Jaisalmer's lanes: inside and below the fort, full of embroidered textiles, patchwork quilts, mirrorwork, silver and camel-leather goods.
- Barmer: to the south, the source of much of the region's finest embroidery and appliqué.
- Buy from the makers: through the cooperatives and village workshops we visit.
Pushkar, Bikaner and Shekhawati
Pushkar: the main bazaar is a long string of stalls selling silver, clothes, leather bags and music.
- Bikaner: famous for bhujia, the crisp spiced gram-flour snack, camel-leather work and painted usta gold work.
- Shekhawati: the painted towns sell old doors, carved woodwork and textiles, but be careful with anything sold as antique.
Bargaining, and paying fairly
Expected and friendly: in the bazaars, the first price is often well above what the seller expects, with no fixed rule about how far to go.
Know values first: browse a fixed-price store such as Rajasthali before you start.
- How to bargain: smile, take your time, offer a lower price, and be ready to walk away. Often the right price arrives as you leave.
- Where not to bargain: established stores, hotel boutiques, cooperatives and fair-trade shops, where prices are fixed.
- Never too hard: a few hundred rupees means little to a visitor and a great deal to a weaver or a printer.
- Cash and cards: cash still matters in the bazaars; larger shops take cards.
- UPI: many smaller shops take UPI, India's instant mobile payment system, though visitors with foreign phone numbers may find it harder to use.
- Receipts: ask for one for anything valuable, both for customs and for your insurance. See money and tipping.
Buying gems and jewellery safely
- Seller
- Established jeweller, real shop
- Receipt
- Stone, weight, natural or treated, metal purity
- Valuable stones
- Independent lab certificate
- Red flags
- Investment pitch, bargain price, hurry
- Custom pieces
- Allow a few days for fittings
The Jaipur gem scam
The approach: a friendly young man, or a pair, strikes up a conversation and says he exports gems.
- The story: he cannot ship them himself because of taxes or customs limits, so he asks you to carry some home and sell them to his partner for a large profit.
- The catch: you pay for the gems by credit card to prove good faith. They are worth a fraction of what you paid, and the partner does not exist.
- The answer: it is never a real deal. Walk away.
Buying jewellery for yourself
A wonderful place to do it: buy from an established jeweller with a real shop and a long reputation.
The receipt: it should describe the stone, its weight, whether it is natural, treated or synthetic, and the purity of the metal.
- Valuable stones: ask for an independent laboratory certificate, or have the stone tested in Jaipur before you pay.
- Be wary: of anything sold as a rare investment, prices that seem too good, and anyone in a hurry.
- Made to your design: many jewellers make a piece in a few days; some of our guests' favourite souvenirs are rings and necklaces they designed themselves.
- Allow time: for fittings. Our piece on shopping for gems in Jaipur has more advice.
Clothes made to measure
What tailors can do: copy a favourite shirt, make a kurta from block-printed cotton you bought that morning, or stitch a silk jacket in a few days.
Bring a model: a garment that fits you well to copy.
Allow time: at least two or three days for a fitting and alterations.
- Where
- Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur
- Allow
- Two or three days with fittings
- Bring
- A garment that fits well
- Sari blouse
- About a day
- Fittings
- At your hotel
- Pre-wash: hand-dyed cotton can shrink, so have the fabric washed first.
- Family tailors: our guides know the tailors their own families use, and we arrange fittings at your hotel so you never lose an afternoon.
- Jodhpurs: the city gave its name to riding breeches, and a few tailors there still make them.
- The bandhgala: the high-collared jacket worn by Rajput men at weddings and formal dinners.
- For women: a lehenga, the long gathered skirt, or a simple cotton kurta in a Sanganeri print, a souvenir you will actually wear.
- Saris: need no tailoring except the blouse, which a tailor can make in a day.
- Wear it here: people are delighted to see visitors in local clothes, and a cotton kurta is cooler than anything you packed. See dress and textiles.
Spices, sweets and tea to carry home
Mathania chillies: Jodhpur's chillies give laal maas its colour.
The spice lanes: around Sardar Market, whole dried chillies, cumin, coriander and the dried desert beans and berries of ker sangri.
- Travels well
- Whole spices, chillies, ker sangri
- Sealed packets
- Bikaner bhujia
- Good gifts
- Chai masala, saffron, rose petals
- Eat here
- Ghevar, mawa kachori, milk cake
- Check first
- Your country's food rules
- Bikaner bhujia: the crisp spiced snack of gram flour and moth beans comes in sealed packets that travel well.
- Gifts: masala chai blends, saffron and dried rose petals.
- Saffron caution: it is often adulterated, so buy it only from a trusted shop.
- Ghevar: the honeycomb-like disc of fried batter soaked in syrup, made in the Teej season.
- Best eaten fresh: Jodhpur's mawa kachori and Alwar's milk cake; most sweets do not survive a long flight.
- Customs: many countries restrict seeds, dairy and fresh produce, so check your own rules. Our food guide introduces the dishes.
Shipping home, and what you cannot take
Shipping is a promise: established businesses usually ship well, with proper packing, tracking and insurance, but promises vary.
Protect yourself: ship only through a shop you trust, with a written receipt listing the items and shipping terms, and keep it until the parcel arrives.
- Antiquities
- Over 100 years old, without permission
- Ivory
- Illegal
- Shahtoosh
- Illegal, endangered Tibetan antelope
- Protected wildlife
- Illegal to trade
- Often restricted abroad
- Coral, some shells, some plants
- Precious things: carry smaller ones in your hand luggage.
- Import duty: your own country may charge it on goods you bring or ship home, so check before buying anything large.
- Antiquities: under Indian law, those over a hundred years old cannot be exported without permission, and old sculptures, manuscripts and paintings may be protected.
- Anything called antique: either it is not, or you may not be able to take it home.
- Illegal to trade: ivory, shahtoosh shawls made from the endangered Tibetan antelope, and products from protected wildlife.
Shopping that keeps the crafts alive
Buying keeps crafts alive: many Rajasthani crafts are under pressure from cheap machine-made copies, and the families who make the real thing often earn very little.
Geographical Indication: several crafts now carry GI status, a protection similar to the appellations of European wine.
- GI examples: Jaipur's blue pottery and the block prints of Sanganer and Bagru.
- Ask the maker: look for makers who can tell you how their work is made, and pay a fair price.
- Visits we arrange: printing families in Bagru, potters in Jaipur, weavers in Salawas and Kaithoon, painters in Udaipur and Nathdwara, and embroiderers in Barmer.
- No commission: we never take one on what you buy.
- Meet them: our piece on the artisans we work with, and our page on textile shopping, which plans a day around fabric.
What our aunt tells visiting cousins
Look before you buy: spend the first day browsing and the second day buying.
Turn everything over: the back of a print, a rug or an embroidery tells you more than the front.
- Street offers: if someone in the street offers to take you to a shop, smile and say no.
- Get a receipt: one that describes what you bought, especially for jewellery and gems.
- Never carry gems for anyone: however good the story.
- One beautiful thing: rather than ten cheap ones. The bazaars are full of copies, and the real things last a lifetime.
- Stop for chai when it is offered: in a good shop, tea is hospitality, not pressure, and you are not obliged to buy.
- Carry a cloth bag: many shops have stopped giving plastic bags.