Traveling to Jaipur, India with kids

Top places to visit in and near Jaipur
How to get there
Duration of the visit
When to visit
Tips and Tricks
The story of our adventures visiting India- Jaipur

Top places to visit in and around Jaipur, India

• Amer Fort /Amber Fort

Amer Fort was built in 1592 by Raja Man Singh, about 6 miles away from the current city of Jaipur.  It is built with red and white sandstone with some marble inlays.  It is one of the most important attractions in Jaipur and visited by over a million tourists every year.  Some of the things to see or do at Amer are the royal elephant ride, which is available early mornings, Diwane Aam(Public audience hall) and Diwane Khas or Sheesh Mahal(Audience for special guests/Palace of Mirrors), Sila Devi Temple, bathing quarters, Kesar gardens, Ganesh Pol and a light show in the evening from 6:30 to 7:30 PM.

• The City Palace

City Palace in Jaipur is a fairly large complex with multiple palaces and museums, located in the heart of the city of Jaipur. It was built in early 1700s by the Rajput rulers to move their capital from Amber to Jaipur.  It is painted in the signature pink color of the Jaipur city and is beautifully maintained. The museums housing clothes and lifestyle items and the arms and weaponry of the time are a must see.

• Hawa Mahal

Hawa Mahal, also known as the Palace of Breeze, was built in 1799 as an extension of the City Palace. It is a five story structure in red and pink sandstone and is almost entirely built as a lattice of windows called “jharokas” for the royal ladies to view the city and celebrations below without being visible to anyone. It appears as a beautiful giant pink lattice wall when viewed from the front.

• Jantar Mantar

Jantar Mantar is an observatory built by Raja Man Singh in the 1728, and is located adjacent to the City Palace.  It has large sculptures that were used to measure the stars and objects in space. The words “yantra mantra” literally means “instruments to calculate”. The City Palace ticket includes entrance to Jantar Mantar. A guide would be helpful here to explain how the observatory functioned and some history behind it.

• Jaigarh Fort

Jaigarh Fort is located about 10 miles from the city of Jaipur, at the top of the Aravelli mountain ranges.  It is a beautiful fort built in the style of other forts and palaces in the region with tall, engraved pillars surrounding expansive grounds.  Today, it houses arms and weaponry of the Rajput period in the museum and is definitely worth a visit.

• Chawki Dhani

Chawki Dhani is a concept Rajasthani village which is setup to showcase a traditional view of Rajasthani people and their life style.  It’s about 75-90 minutes drive from Jaipur and opens daily from 6:30 PM and the ticket includes a buffet Rajasthani dinner.  As you walk around, you can see people dressed in local outfits putting up a display of their art and lifestyle, like cooking Indian bread on open fire, tight rope walking, puppet show, traditional dance and music, etc. You can also get a camel rides, elephant rides and bullock cart rides; camel ride is a pretty awesome experience and very unlike riding a horse. Spending an evening in Chawki Dhani is a great way to end an evening in Jaipur.

• Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing

Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing is a living museum of the block printing done by hand, a practice of printing followed in Rajasthan for over 500 years.  This museum is located in a heritage building very close to the Amer Fort.  It houses samples of textiles, tools and blocks used for printing. On the second floor, there’s an artist who makes these blocks by hand as part of the museum showcase. On the third floor, there’s a technician who shows how the hand printing is done with the blocks. It is a unique opportunity to see in action how printing was done for centuries to make colorful prints.  A good stop if you have a couple of hours to spare.

• Elephant village

There are many elephant villages or safari providers who give you an opportunity to spend some time with the elephants.  You get a chance to feed and play with the elephant, decorate it with chalk and then ride it for a short ride.   Its available only during the mornings and is usually in high demand and needs to be booked a day or two in advance.

How to get there

By Car: Jaipur is around 4 hours drive from Agra as well as New Delhi.

By Train: Jaipur is  4 – 7.5 hours by train from New Delhi and about the same time from Agra. There are several express and regular trains between both stations.

By Air: Jaipur is about 50 minutes flight from Agra and New Delhi.

When to visit

Northern India tends to get extremely hot during the summer months with peak temperature going over 105 F.  The best time to visit is during cold and dry season of October through March where the temperature ranges from 30 F to 60 F.  July and August are monsoon months of high humidity and rains and best avoided for a tourist visit.  End of December through January has little visibility in the morning due to heavy fogs so the travel will be affected.  It would be a good idea to plan for more time for the car drive or train delays in the morning during these months.

Duration of the visit

A three day stay in Jaipur would be adequate to visit most of the attractions in Jaipur and to spend some time shopping as well.

Tips and Tricks

• Sun safety
  • Sunscreen and hats are a must for kids. Most of the fort is open to the sun and it takes a couple of hours walk inside to view all the main attractions.
  • Cotton is the most comfortable fabric for Indian weather.  You could buy a few pure cotton clothes in India for a comfortable travel.
• Elephant ride to Amer Fort
  • You can take an elephant ride up the  entrance of the Amer Fort, this needs to be booked a day or more in advance.
• Safety
  • Keep your valuables close and your camera in a safe hold.
  • Keep your children close, especially in crowded places. Its easy to get pulled away. Keep your hotel and contact information on your kids in case they get separated.
• Food and drinks
  • It is unsafe to drink any water that comes from an unsealed bottle.  The water is not safe for consumption for visitors as our bodies are not immune to the bacteria in it. I would avoid ice for the same reason.
  • It would be safer to eat only cooked food in a restaurant that looks reasonably clean.  I would avoid eating from a cart or a hole in a corner type of place. More than food preparation, we feel that we can’t trust the cleanliness of glasses, plates, utensils, etc.
  • Avoid salad as well as it is uncooked and can cause food poisoning if not properly washed.
  • Allergens are not well documented on packets, so in case of doubt, avoid it.
• Shopping
  • Price of everything being sold is up for negotiation.  It’s a good idea to offer half the quoted price and go from there.
  • Shops do not open before 11 AM.
  • Bapu bazaar is a great local market for buying all kinds of local fabrics, handicrafts, etc.
• Transportation
  • Ask your hotel to arrange for a taxi. Negotiate for the fare in advance.
  • Tuk-tuks or the three wheeled auto-rikshaws are common and a cheap mode of transportation in Jaipur.  Negotiate for the fare in advance or make sure the meter is turned on
• Money and Currency Exchange
  • ATMs are the way to go.  Banks and other exchange places offer a much lower exchange rate.
  • Most restaurants and large stores take MasterCard and Visa credit cards .
  • Most small/local stores and restaurants will take cash.  Its best to use INR instead of dollars at these places.
  • Keep smaller denominations for paying for tuk tuks, shopping at local markets, etc.

The story of our adventures visiting India- Jaipur

Amer Fort

Out visit to Amer Fort started with a fun stop where Yuri got to play the snake charmer.  The kids got to touch the snakes and see how the flute made the snakes sway.

Looking at the pictures later on, I wondered about taking the risk of letting him put on that head gear. Shaving all that hair to get rid of cooties would not have been fun!

 

Up from the fort, you get a view of the beautiful Kesar Kyari or the Saffron Garden. The weather in Jaipur is no longer conducive to growing saffron so other plants are grown in the garden these days.

 

The fort has two main meeting places. One is the Diwane-Aam in the second courtyard for meeting the common people.  The next one is in the third courtyard of the Fort and called Diwane-Khas, a place to meet special people like envoys or other visiting dignitaries. It is also called the Sheesh-Mahal (Palace of Mirrors) as it is completely decorated with millions of mirrors and colored glasses in a beautiful pattern.  Sheesh Mahal has also been featured in many Bollywood movies and is one of the most well known features of the Amer Fort.

In the morning, there are elephants available to ride upto the fort entrance.  Some elephants come from the nearby elephant village where the tourists have spent the morning hanging out with them, feeding and decorating them.  Watching them come up the path to the fort entrance gives one a glimpse of how it must have been in the past, as a long line of elephants may have walked up the same path, carrying other kings or dignitaries.

 

After spending the whole morning in the fort, we encounter these large cooking vessels as we head back down the exit.  These vessels were used in the movie “Jodha” by the queen Jodha to cook food for the king, Akbar.

Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing

Anokhi Museum is a living museum of the block printing done by hand, a practice of printing followed in Rajasthan for over 500 years.  This museum is located in a three story heritage building very close to the Amer Fort.

On the first and second floor, it houses samples of textiles, tools and blocks used for printing. In the courtyard of the second floor, there is a live demonstration of the art of making wooden blocks for prints by one of the few artisans left with the skill.  He carved 2 small blocks with flowers on them while we watched and handed them to our kids as souvenirs.  They have it to this day and we marvel at the intricate flower he carved in a matter of few minutes.

On the third floor, there’s a technician who shows how the hand printing is done with the blocks. We get to see as master printer in action on how printing was done for centuries in this area to make colorful prints.

He showed and helped both our kids to hand print a complete area of fabric in three colors in a matter of minutes.  They got to take home these hand printed fabrics home and they decorate a small area in a shelf in their bedrooms today.  What an amazing opportunity!

That was followed by an afternoon of shopping in the local street markets of Bapu Bazaar.  We had a fun time trying out colorful dresses and bangles for the kids and bargaining for prices of everything from local made colorful shoes to dresses to hand bags.

Chawki Dhani

Visit to Chawki Dhani, a concept Rajasthani village located about 90 minutes from Jaipur was one of the highlights of our Jaipur visit.

The village showed glimpses of life in Rajasthani villages from cooking, fold dance and music, to tight rope walking and puppet shows, camel and elephant rides.

The musicians also provide a photo opportunity for pictures like these :).  And yes, we did put that headgear on that was worn by probably thousands of people before us..yikes!  What were we thinking?

 

 

The City Palace of Jaipur

 

The beautiful City Palace, painted in pink with white details. This pink color everywhere in Jaipur is the reason its called the Pink City. It has many palaces and museums inside the outer walls, one leading to another.

Admiring the artful display of 17th century weaponry in the City Palace.  There’s an amazing display of well preserved arms and weapons in one of the museums and an absolute must if you are a history fan.  They didn’t allow cameras inside so Yuri spent quite a bit of his spare time drawing the weapons from memory every night.

 

Jantar Mantar

 

Visiting the Jantar Mantar at the end of the visit to the City Palace was fascinating.  It would have been worthwhile engaging a guide who could have explained how these structures were used for astronomical science measurement centuries ago.

Ending the visit with a snack of peanuts.  Roasted indian peanuts are a delicious snack during the winter season and taste unlike any we have eaten in other places.

We were lucky to catch a wedding procession in front of our B&B on the last night of our stay.  It is normally the groom’s party going for the wedding accompanied by light, music, dancing and some drinks and revelry! It can take upto a couple of hours with the groom riding on a horse to walk and dance to the wedding location.

Also see – Visit to India