Tom On day 2 of our travels in India, we explored all the attractions of Jaipur with our driver, Firoj! Jaipur, also known as the Pink City, earned the nickname because the old town in Jaipur is entirely painted with terracotta “pink” colour (known as Jaipur Pink). To welcome Prince Albert Edward (Prince of Wales who later became King Edward VII), Maharaja (Sawai Ram Singh) decided to paint the entire city in an welcoming pink colour. It was later legislated to be illegal for these protected buildings to be painted in any other colour. Hence, the colour remained over a 100 years after the visit of the Prince of Wales!
Jaipur Attractions and Things To Do
Hawa Mahal Jaipur
As we were staying at the Hotel Pearl Palace in Jaipur, Firoj picked us up at 8am in the morning. It took us about 20 minutes before our eyes landed upon the iconic “Jaipur Pink” buildings. Enroute, we passed by the most iconic building in Jaipur – Hawa Mahal!
Hawa Mahal, also known as the “Palace of Breeze” was built as an extension to the City Palace in 1799. The 953 windows on the facade of Hawa Mahal allowed the cool breeze to enter, making it a “cool” venue during summers. These windows also served an additional function – to allow royal ladies of that time to view processions and activities on the streets without being seen publicly. While taking photos at the platform next to Hawa Mahal, we also saw that the building opposite offers “rooftop views” of Hawa Mahal. The businessmen of Jaipur are indeed very entrepreneurial!
Jaipur Amber Fort (also known as Amber Palace)
Our next stop was Amber Fort (also known as Amber Palace). Firoj dropped us near the entrance of Amber Fort and we took some shots of the facade of Amber Fort before taking the short walk up…
To reach the ticketing counter of Amber Fort, you will have to navigate a series of slopes upwards. Alternatively, there’s an elephant ride option…
However, we did not take the elephant up Amber Fort. This is because at the Jaipur airport, we saw many signs asking tourists not to take these rides as it was a form of mistreatment towards the elephants. Moreover, the walk up only took about 5 minutes. Also, it was a healthier option 🙂
After purchasing the entrance tickets to Amber Fort, we walked up a flight of stairs and had our tickets checked. One of our first views from Amber Fort was this…
The Great Wall of Amer can be clearly seen from Amber Fort. As it has some semblance to the Great Wall of China, it is also sometimes known as the Great Wall of India. Marvelous views indeed.
Hall of Public Audience
The tour around Amber Fort follows a designated tour. The first attraction is the Hall of Public Audience. This was where celebrations and festivities took place. Understandably so because of the magnificent views that it offers of the facade of Amber Fort as well as the Great Wall of Amer. The columns that support the beautifully decorate roof uses a mix of red sand stone and marble. Do check them out while you’re here.
First Courtyard – Ganesh Pol Entrance
The Ganesh Pol Entrance is the entry point into the private palaces of the Maharajas. Also, if you take a look at the top of this entrance, you’ll also observe some openings. It was here that royal ladies would look down upon the activities that took place in the courtyard.
Sunken Garden
Just before we visited the main attraction (Mirror Palace), we saw this sunken garden that separates the Mirror Palace from Sukh Mandir. The garden is fashioned in the Mughal style and has an iconic hexagonal marble platform in the middle of it.
Mirror Palace
Probably the most beautiful part of Amber Fort, the Mirror Palace earned its name because of the glass and mirrors that lines its walls – even on the convex portions of the ceilings. When candles are lit in the night, it was said that it resembled thousands of stars glittering in the night.
Sukh Mandir
Kate’s favourite part of Amer Fort is definitely the Sukh Mandir. Not because of the architectural brilliance that allows breeze to flow through during summer. Nor is it because of the intricate marble cascades that line the halls to allow water to flow through as a cooling aid. But because of the pastel colours! Pastel blue and pink to be exact!
Palace of Raja Man Singh
Entering the next “courtyard”, we arrived at the Palace of Raja Man Singh. Completed in 1599, the palace was built during the reign of Raja Man Singh (1589 to 1614 A.D.) and it took 25 years to build. At the centre of the palace lies a pavilion (as seen in the picture above).
Other Sights Enroute
There were many other pictureque spots enroute out of Amber Palace. In particular, we were surprised to find a description of the Amber Palace Tunnels. It was said that these tunnels were made to conceal movements or to provide a route of escape when the palace grounds were under siege. We left Amber Fort at 9:45am, spending about 1.5 hours there.
Step Well Jaipur
Though we did not visit the Chand Baori stepwell, we were still able to make a quick stopover at this Jaipur stepwell enroute to the King’s Tomb. We reached the Step Well at about 10am. Turns out that stepwells were popular in India because it functioned as a water storage area, providing a constant supply of water to locals through the various seasons. Locals would dig deep to reach the ground water and construct steps for access to the “water tank”.
Jaipur Water Palace (Jal Mahal)
Along the way, Firoj also took us to another attraction in Jaipur – the Water Palace. We arrived at Jal Mahal at 1030am. Also known as “Lake Palace”, Jal Mahal was built in 1799 and was initially built in an area of depression where water accumulated. Man Sagar Lake, which surrounds Jal Mahal was only formed AFTER a dam between the two hills in its vicinity. The Water Palace consists of 5 stories, 4 of which stands below the surface of the water and was designed to keep waters from Man Sagar Lake out.
Gaitore (King’s Tomb) Jaipur
Next stop, Gaitore – the King’s Tomb of Jaipur. Entrance fee was only 30rupees (50 cents SGD). The grounds are peaceful and is a perfect attraction to capture some picturesque shots. Nearby, the “Great Wall” also offers a nice contrast to the grounds of the King’s Tomb that are well-kept. However, while traversing the grounds, please beware of them…
There are many families of monkeys roaming the grounds of the King’s Palace. Different species as well. Red faced and black faced ones. Black-faced ones were HUGE! They’re not afraid of humans as well. Just take note not to provoke them or stare at them when you’re really close. Don’t think monkeys like being stared at , in general, I guess? 🙄
Lunch at Rainbow Restaurant Jaipur
Although it was only 11am, we were starting to feel hungry after all the walks in the morning. Hence, we decided to go for an early lunch. However, as we were concerned about food safety in India, we decided to choose only restaurants that accept credit cards. Why? This is because we think that restaurants that accept credit cards would probably be serving a more discerning clientele. Firoj then stopped by a restaurant that he was familiar with (Rainbow Restaurant) and confirmed with the restaurant staff before asking us to head upstairs.
This time, we ordered the non-vegetable Thali for 490 rupees. Thali is actually the Indian name that refers to a round platter used to serve a variety of dishes. In our Thali, there were 4 different dishes that included cheese, beans and chicken. All of which were rich and delicious. Moreover, the portion was actually quite big. We also ordered a cheese naan (105 rupees) which was crisp, light, fluffy and gooey! Yum! If you’re travelling in Pink City and are looking for a quality restaurant to dine at Rainbow Restaurant and Banquet is definitely a venue to consider!
City Palace Jaipur (aka Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum)
City Palace Jaipur is also known as the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum because a large part of the premise is set aside for cultural, paintings, carpets and sculpture exhibits. Through the museum visit, we learnt about the various textiles and costumes that were worn in those days. Also, we found out how rich that Singh empire was! Explains why the palaces of Rajasthan (such as the Jai Mahal Palace Hotel and Rambagh Palace Hotel) are so posh and grand!
Of course, the other highlight of City Palace is the many instagram-worthy spots all around the palace. We even saw a group of ladies adorned in traditional sari, taking turns to capture that perfect shot with a window frame and pink wall. In fact, they took so long that after we had finished a video phone call home and took a break, they we were still there! 😂
The main highlight are of course the beautifully decorated doorways of City Palace Jaipur…
Before we entered, we were also reminded by Firoj that we don’t really need a local guide. But if you really need, we were surprised by the number of Russian, Spanish and German speaking Indian tour guides! But then again, if you do, you’d probably not be reading our travel blog… 😛
Hawa Mahal Jaipur – The Most Iconic Attraction in Jaipur
For the last stop of the day, we decided to head inside Hawa Mahal. There’s actually a composite ticket (1000 rupees – $20SGD) that allows foreign visitors to visit 8 attractions in Jaipur that includes
1. Amber Palace
2. Nahargarh Fort
3. Hawa Mahal
4. Alber Hall Museum
5. Jantar Mantar
6. Sisodia Garden
7. Vidyadhar Garden
8. Isarlat (Sargasuli)
As we were already a little tired, we decided to call it a day at Hawa Mahal. Visiting Hawa Mahal only, costs 200 rupees…
At the entrance of Hawa Mahal, the following description is written…
“Hawa Mahal at Bari Chaupar, Jaipur was built in 1799 AD by Maharaja Pratap Singh (1778-1803 AD). The chief architect was Usta Lai Chand. This five storied building has two large courts. The names of the five storeys are: Sharad Mandir, the first one where the autumn celebrations took place. The second storey is known as Ratan Mandir because of the dazzling glasswork on its walls. The third storey is called Vichitra Mandir, where the maharaja worshipped his deity Lord Krishna and the fourth Prakash Mandir with an open terrace on both sides. The fifth storey is known as Hawa Mandir after which the whole structure came to be known as Hawa Mahal.
The main entrance of this palace is known as Anandpoli and second entrance as Chandrapoli. There is a water fountain in the second courtyard to its south is Pratap Mandir, the personal room of Maharaja and on the north is Bhojanshala (Dining Hall). Hawa Mahal is connected to city palace by a passage, through which royal ladies come to view the Teej, Gangaur and other processions passing through the main market streets.
”
Remember the windows that royal ladies peer through to get a shot of the streets along Hawa Mahal road? Here are some photos of them…
Our favourite is of course the artsy shot taken by Kate. She used one of the beautifully cut shape on the walls to frame the streets below. Smart eh? To complete our tour of Hawa Mahal, we climbed right up to the top and enjoyed these amazing views…
After visiting Hawa Mahal, Firoj dropped us off at Country Store where we did some shopping (snacks for 225 rupees). Country Store is a small supermarket that is located pretty close to our hotel at Hotel Pearl Palace. Here’s where we bought a bottle of water for 1/5 the price of water at our hotel 🙂
Dinner at Kalyan Rooftop Restaurant Jaipur
Having visited Peacock Rooftop Restaurant above Hotel Pearl Palace, we decided to head over next door (literally a 10 seconds walk across the road) to Kalyan Rooftop Restaurant to compare the difference. If you do a google of rooftop restaurants in Jaipur, these are the top 2 choices and both have relatively good reviews online. However, to get to the bottom of it all (for all our readers, of course!), we decided to visit Kalyan Restaurant…
After our visit, we have to report that the food quality at Kalyan Restaurant definitely pales in comparison to Peacock Rooftop Restaurant. Moreover, there was only 1 service staff throughout our evening there. This is compared to at least 3 service staff at Peacock Restaurant. This also meant that our food took much longer to arrive an we even had to remind the service staff of the Pakora that we ordered. Lastly, we realised how come Kalyan Rooftop restaurant ranked high eventhough it was obviously not as good as Peacock Rooftop Restaurant. The owner, came over to introduce herself and told us that the hotel was opened by her grandfather in 1981. It started with 5 rooms then. Now it’s 5 storeys. Before she left, she made us log on to Kalyan’s wifi and key in “t”, “r”, “i”, “p”, “a”, “d”, “v”, “i”, “s”, “o”, “r”, “dot”, “com”. She literally spelt out tripadvisor for us and wanted us to write a positive review on the spot for Kalyan Restaurant! :O Hence, Kalyan Restaurant is probably artificially ranked high on Tripadvisor. Since the price points are the same, you really only have one choice if you’re looking for a rooftop restaurant in Jaipur – Peacock Rooftop Restaurant!
If you enjoyed our content, “Like” us on Facebook Today!
Check out our video coverage of the Top 8 Jaipur Attractions and Things to do as well!
We hope you have enjoyed our post covering the attractions of Jaipur! Stay tuned as we spend a leisurely afternoon at Rambagh Palace Hotel! For now, we’ll leave you with some Hindi that we learnt from Firoj in Jaipur!
See you later – Paad mir phid meh ler ger
Ok – Tiggae
Sorry – Maf ka row
Very Good – Bode Achar
Related Posts
You have just completed a post from our 13 days travel in India. Find out more about this trip from our posts below!
India Travel Itinerary Day 1: Singapore to Chennai to Jaipur (Hotel Pearl Palace) via Indigo
India Travel Itinerary Day 4: Train from Jaipur to Agra – Our first views of the Taj Mahal
India Travel Itinerary Day 11: Arriving in Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty after Kerala Boat Cruise
Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty Review: Simply the Best Luxury Hotel in Kochi
Thai Soul Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty Review: The Most Authentic Thai Flavours in Kochi India!
Colony Clubhouse & Grill Grand Hyatt Kochi Review: Fine Cuisine in a Modern & Casual Setting
Malabar Cafe @ Grand Hyatt Kochi: Kerala Cuisine at its best!
Top 4 Attractions and Things to do in Munnar
Top 6 Things to do and Attractions in Leh Ladakh India
Top 4 Things to do and attractions in Agra India
Top 8 Jaipur Attractions and Things to do in Pink City
Top 6 Attractions and Things to do of Kochi Kerala
Click here for recommended tours and trips to India!
