I visited Jaipur in the month of August since I had a Conference to attend. I was really excited since Jaipur also known as the Pink City of India has been very famous for many reasons. One of it is the beautiful monuments and the other is the art. Well I had an experienec of both.
After the Conference, I stayed for 2 days with few of the foreign delegates at a hotel.
The 1st day we visited
-Hawa Mahal: Beautiful from outside, but not well maintained. The place receives a lot of traffic pollution from the adjacent road. The walls have damaged and the small windows which would have looked stunning in the olden days, have started hanging from the edges. Not a sight I though of! A big disappointment!:(
Time required: 1hr
-Amer Fort: The fort is huge and well managed. There are irritating crooks and people who will help you take photographs from the best places in the fort. It is an annoying business shooing them away, and it robs the pleasure of being at such a magnificent place.:/ The fort has a lush garden and beautifully intricate door and window panels. You can have a look at the city which looks gorgeous at night. There is a night lights show, which is said to be spectacular. We couldnt see the light show since we were short of time.
Time required: 2-3hrs
-Jal Mahal: A beautiful Lake Palace built in the center of a lake. It looks stunning! Can imagine how it must’ve looked during its heydays! Now with all the faded colours and the lake being dirty, its not really a great sight. Totally a downer!:/
Time required: 10mins(you can’t go to the lake palace)
-Sadar Bazaar& Bapu Bazaar: I looked all around for the great Jaipur shopping I’ve always heard. Sadly, I didnt really like what I saw:/ The materials and the jootis looked cheap to me. I still purchased a bedsheet(that faded out in few washes), a red tshirt(that bled its colour like anything!), a kurti(the stitches came out), a mojris(that became ill-fitting).
The 2nd day we just walked around the city, ate at a famous mithaiwala and in the evening visited Chokhi Dhani.
The mithai store was good. The famous Paneer Ghevar was good, the Raj Kachori was tasty, and the Lassi was excellent.
Our trip’s sole saviour was the Chokhi Dhani! I loved everything in here. The evening shows, the village setup and the mindblowing Rajasthani Thali. For a price of Rs 700 per head, this was a superb place! The place is a bit far from the city, so thats a bit of annoyance, but otherwise it was an evening well spent! Chokhi dhani opens up at 6 in the evening and closes by 10-11pm. Its better to reach early to see the whole village. Annoying part: all villagers(they were real villagers) ask "tip" which is not encouraged by the managers since its an all inclusive Rs 700.
Time Required:3-4hrs
Last Word: Worth visiting only for the lassi and Chokhi Dhani, otherwise not really recommending!