What to do in Jaipur in one day

If you are travelling to Delhi, you will have to see Jaipur as well. Here are my suggestions for what to do in Jaipur in one day.

Jaipur is part of the famous Golden Triangle in India. It goes like this: Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. Everyone recommends visiting the Golden Triangle.

As big as India is, many fascinating sites are far away from each other, and it takes long hours, if not days to get there. Luckily, Jaipur is only 4 hours away from Delhi and the road is good. The options for transport are many, and the accommodations are plenty.

Getting from Delhi to Jaipur

As I said before, in my Travelling to India for the first time article, buying a train ticket was difficult and unsuccessful, so getting to Jaipur required us to find other means of transport. Luckily, Indians use Bla bla car and we were able to find a car with 2 seats available for the time and day we wanted to go there.

I can say that near bigger cities, where people are more educated, everything is easier, people speak English and it’s easier to get by.

We found an available car ride in the evening, less than 12 hours before the departure. Looking back, I can’t understand how was I so calm, but in India, you have no other option when things don’t go your way. You have to keep your calm and try to find a solution. And trust me, things you will go wrong a lot.

I would like to point out one more just ho big India is. Starting with Jaipur, the region of Rajasthan begins. This is a colourful area and the more you go west, the more you get into the desert area. People go there for desert experiences, camel rides and all of that. Udaipur is another hot destination (figuratively and literally).

We arrived in Jaipur by Bla Bla car around noon. We were so lucky to be dropped off at our hotel.

Where to stay in Jaipur?

We stayed at the Umaid Mahal Heritage Style Hotel and it was lovely.

I told you before that finding a hotel in India can be troublesome, as many use fake photos and some even have fake reviews. That’s why I always spent hours researching hotels and we had no problems with them, but it was a lot of research. You can say it’s not a big deal, but just wait to arrive in India.

So, what to do in Jaipur in one day?

Hawa Mahal

This is the first place we visited in Jaipur. Luckily, they have Uber and Ola (The local service which works just like Uber). We got dropped off here and then explored by foot. The traffic is crazy, just like everywhere else in India.

So what is the Hawa Mahal?

The Hawa Mahal is a palace. Mahal means palace. It would be translated as the Palace of Winds. It’s made of pink sandstone, like many other buildings in Jaipur. They don’t call it the pink city for anything. It’s right next to the City Palace. The Hawa Mahal is on absolute every list of things to do in Jaipur and it has to be on this list of what to do in Jaipur in one day.

What makes it so special and attracts so many photographers to this special structure? It looks like a honeycomb of a beehive and it has over 900 windows which are preciously decorated. I have to add that the famous wall is actually the back of the palace.

Why was this build with this window design? The elaborate design was to allow the royal ladies to observe everyday life without being seen. They weren’t allowed to appear in public without covering their faces.

City Palace

The City Palace is a beautiful construction which actually consists of many courtyards, museums and restaurants. It was the home of the Jaipur royal family.

Here is where you’ll discover some fascinating artworks, which look so great in all those colourful pics you’ve seen from Jaipur.

If you have the time and means, make sure to visit the entire Palace. It is pricey, but because it’s so exclusive, not so many visit it so it means you’ll have the beautiful halls of the palace just for yourself.

Jal Mahal

Jal Mahal or the Water Palace is another palace in Jaipur which is in the middle of a lake. Hence the name of the Water Palace.

The royal red sandstone residence is a five-storied structure, of which four stories are submerged when the lake is full and only the highest floor is exposed.

Jawahar Circle

The locals claim that the Jawahar Circle is the biggest circular park in Asia developed on a highway traffic circle.

The diameter of the circle is 452 m and the circumference measures 1420 m. This park was fully developed by Jaipur Development Authority and is one of Jaipur’s favourite leisure places. There are multiple concentric tracks in the park. It is surrounded by Rose Gardens.

I admit I’ve missed this one, but I wouldn’t if I were to visit Jaipur again. That’s why I included it on my list of what to do in Jaipur in one day. I saw beautiful pics from this place on Instagram and believe me, it’s worth a short visit.

Albert Hall Museum

Albert Hall Museum is the oldest museum of the state and functions as the state museum of Rajasthan. The building is a great illustration of Indian architecture.

The building was designed to be the city hall, but then it was decided it’s more suited to be an art museum. It was named after Edward VII who visited Jaipur in 1876, as the prince of Wales. His full name is Albert Edward, hence the name of the museum.

Amer Fort

Sooner or later you will discover that India is all about forts and majestic buildings, which came in huge contrast to the humble dwellings of its inhabitants.

After visiting a few cities, which I consider to be big cities, I realized there is a fort in each one of them.

Panna Meena ka Kund (step wall)

I know we are talking about what to do in Jaipur in one day, but this is close enough and it’s worth it.

Jaipur came to be popular due to the rose colour of its buildings and the famous step wall of which we can see pictures everywhere on social media.

So, you can go and see it for yourself, if you are in Jaipur. But you will need to take an Uber, or taxi to get there because this is actually in Amer, a small city next to Jaipur.

Masala Chowk

We had no idea about this place, but luckily enough we made some local friends. Indians are some of the friendliest people you’ll meet. Even when they don’t speak perfect English, or they don’t completely understand what you want or need, they will try to help you.

Now, this is for me fascinating. After a long day of walking in Jaipur, discovering the City Palace and some temples around, we were so hungry, we wanted to find a nice restaurant. I bought a coconut for Edi. He never had it before. And there were 2 teenagers, looking at us. They looked surprised and then asked us where we were going. Then I asked them to tell us about a nice restaurant around and they offered to take us there.

And this is just one example of people’s kindness. This is how we ended up at Masala Chowk. And the food was delicious. This is an open-air food court, like the ones we have in shopping malls. There is a nice variety of food to choose from and the prices are good.

Talking about food, check out how to learn how to cook real Indian food from locals in India.

You know the place is good when locals are around. And it does have a funny hame: Masala means spice and chowk means public square or an open area.

So if you are in Jaipur for one day, this should be on your list of what to do in Jaipur in one day. Just watch the YouTube vlog from there, we met some amazing people just because we went to this place.

These are some easy to get to and probably one of the most famous things to do in Jaipur in one day. But if you really want to enjoy it all, maybe it would be better to not stress yourself with visiting all, because India has always something new to offer and for you to discover. My recommendation is to take your time and enjoy yourself.

If you are heading to Delhi or you are planning your trip to India, make sure to check out what to visit in Delhi, my impressions when I first arrived in India and here are some things to know before travelling to India.

TRAVEL RESOURCES
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