Private Jaipur Full-Day Sightseeing Tour by Car with Guide

Amber Fort and Palace

Amber Fort rises above Maota Lake about eleven kilometres north of the city and was the seat of the Kachwaha Rajput rulers before Jaipur was founded. Work on the present palace began in the late sixteenth century in red sandstone and white marble, mixing Rajput and Mughal styles. Inside you cross the Jaleb Chowk courtyard, climb to the Diwan-i-Aam hall of public audience, pass through the painted Ganesh Pol gateway and reach the Sheesh Mahal, where thousands of mirror pieces glitter in the light.

Amber is part of the Hill Forts of Rajasthan UNESCO site, and most visitors spend about two hours here, which is how this tour is planned. Mornings are the best time to visit Amber Fort, before the heat and the tour buses; that is why our driver heads here first. Your guide also points out the long walls of Jaigarh Fort on the ridge above.

Panna Meena ka Kund and the Jal Mahal

Just behind Amber, the Panna Meena ka Kund is a sixteenth-century stepwell built to collect rainwater, with criss-crossing stairs on three sides that form a perfect geometric pattern down to the water. It is one of the most photographed corners of Jaipur, and a stop of about half an hour is enough to take in the symmetry. Please respect the local rules, which do not allow visitors to walk down the steps.

On the way back towards the city the road runs along Man Sagar Lake, where the Jal Mahal seems to float on the water. This eighteenth-century palace has five storeys, most of them below the surface when the lake is full, and its interior is not open to visitors. The promenade gives the classic view, so this is a photo stop of about twenty minutes, at its prettiest in the soft morning light.

Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds

The Hawa Mahal, built in 1799 on the edge of the City Palace complex, is the symbol of the Pink City. Its five-storey pink sandstone facade is covered with hundreds of small latticed windows, or jharokhas, arranged like a honeycomb. They allowed the royal ladies to watch festivals and street life without being seen, while letting cool breezes pass through the building, which gave it its name.

Many people photograph the facade from the cafes across the street, but the inside is worth visiting too: narrow ramps instead of stairs lead up to the top, where you look down over the bazaars of the old city and across to the Jantar Mantar and the City Palace. Your guide explains why the whole old city was painted pink in 1876 to welcome a royal visitor, a tradition that local law still keeps.

City Palace and Jantar Mantar

Jaipur was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, who gave the city his name and laid it out on a grid of wide streets. At its heart he built the City Palace, still partly the residence of the former royal family. You visit the Mubarak Mahal with its textile and costume collection, the Diwan-i-Khas with two giant silver water urns, and the Pitam Niwas courtyard with four painted gates dedicated to the seasons, the most famous being the Peacock Gate.

Next door stands the Jantar Mantar, the astronomical observatory built by the same ruler and completed in 1734, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2010. Its nineteen masonry instruments track stars, eclipses and time; the Samrat Yantra, about 27 metres tall, is the largest stone sundial in the world and still tells local time within seconds. Plan about an hour at each site.

Gaitor royal cenotaphs and the Jaipur craft tradition

At the foot of the Nahargarh hills, on the road between the old city and Amber, the Gaitor ki Chhatriyan is the cremation ground of Jaipur's maharajas. Elegant domed cenotaphs in white marble and sandstone, carved with lotus flowers, elephants and dancing figures, stand in quiet courtyards, and the oldest one honours the city's founder. It is a calm place with very few visitors and a lovely contrast to the busy bazaars; about thirty minutes is enough.

During the day your guide can also include a short visit of about fifteen minutes to a workshop where you see Jaipur's hand block printing and gem cutting, two crafts the city has been known for since its founding. It is purely an introduction to local skills, with no obligation to buy anything, and it can be skipped if you prefer more time at the monuments.