Jaipur is a vibrant amalgamation of the old and the new. Also called the Pink City, the capital of the royal state of Rajasthan, was ruled by the Rajputs for many centuries and developed as a planned city in the 17th century AD. Along with Delhi and Agra, Jaipur forms the Golden Triangle and hails as one of the most famous tourist circuits of the country.
With the old city surrounded by walls and gates decorated with drawings on the backdrop of a beautiful pink hue, Jaipur, the pink city successfully manages to retain its old-world charm. Home to a few UNESCO World Heritage sites including Amer Fort and Jantar Mantar, Jaipur holds many magnificent forts, palaces, temples, and museums and brims with bustling local bazaars where you can shop to your heart's content. Popular bazaars in the city include Bapu Bazaar, Tripolia Bazaar, and Johri Bazaar. The city is also very well known for its local food and the most famous dishes include the Ghewar, Pyaaz Kachori, and Dal Baati Churma.
One of the largest cities in India, Jaipur is also home to all the modern amenities with some of the most exotic hotels and resorts in the world. The city boasts an international airport and is also very well connected by rail and road. The metro, local buses, shared tuk-tuks, auto-rickshaws, and taxi aggregator apps including Uber and Ola solve the commute problem in the city quite comfortably.
Traditions Of Jaipur :
Once an integral part of the most powerful province in India, Jaipur, popularly known as 'The Pink City' can undoubtedly boast of embracing modernity while maintaining traditional values. An extremely well-organized city planned according to the principles of Vastu Shastra and Shilpa Shastra, Jaipur weaves a sense of royalty and grandeur equipped with its vibrancy and charm.
Best Time To Visit Jaipur :
November to March is the best time to visit Jaipur and other parts of Rajasthan as the weather ranges between 8-degree Celcius at night to 32-degree Celcius in the day. Summers are extremely hot, and sightseeing isn't a very joyful experience. Monsoons, on the other hand, are quite hot and humid which isn't an ideal time to visit too. January is an excellent time to visit Jaipur because of the Kite Festival and also the Jaipur Literature Festival that's held around this time. Sometime in the month of March, Jaipur witnesses the Elephant festival, just a day before Holi.
Places To Visit In Jaipur :
1 . Amer Fort :
In the Pink City of Jaipur, cradled on the top of the Aravali Hill lies the Amer Fort, one of the most magnificent palaces in India. Also commonly known as the Amber Fort, this majestic building with its maze-like passages and serpentine staircases is an architectural masterpiece and with significant importance in Indian history. Only 11 kilometers away from the capital city of Jaipur, Amer Fort is clad in pink and yellow sandstone and is a part of an extensive complex. Built by one of the most trusted generals of Akbar, Maharaja Man Singh I in the year 1592, Amer Fort served as the main residence of the Rajput Rulers.
2 . City Palace :
The magnificent City Palace in Jaipur is one of the most famous tourist attractions located in the old part of the city. Built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh during the years 1729 to 1732, the vast complex of the palace occupied one-seventh of the walled city. In fact, it was once the seat of the Maharaja of Jaipur. The palace is divided into a series of courtyards, buildings, and gardens including the Chandra Mahal and the Mubarak Mahal. The museum showcases various unique handcrafted products and other things that belong to the royal heritage of the City Palace.
3 . Hawa Mahal :
The massive edifice of Hawa Mahal stands at the intersection of the main road in Jaipur, Badi Chaupad, and was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh in the year 1799. Hawa Mahal derives its name from its unique structure, which is a mesh of small windows that allowed the cool wind to enter the palace and hence kept the palace comfortable during the hot summer months. The main reason behind the palace's construction was to allow the women of the royal house to observe the festivities on the streets whilst being unseen from the outside as was the custom of the land. It is located right on the edge of the City Palace Jaipur and extends right to the 'zenana'.
4 . Jantar Mantar :
Located near the City Palace in the regal city of Jaipur, Jantar Mantar is the largest stone astronomical observatory in the world. Owing to its rich cultural, heritage and scientific value, Jantar Mantar in Jaipur has also been featured on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. This ancient study boasts of nineteen instruments built out of stone and brass and was built by Raja Sawai Jai Singh in 1727-33. The intelligent construction and placement of these instruments allowed the observers to note the position of heavenly bodies with their naked eye alone. Time has failed to lay dust upon this engineering marvel and it still works as well as it used to in the olden times.
5 . Nahargarh Fort :
