Royal Rajasthan Palace Hotels Tour

Your chauffeur and a guest host from Payless Tours India wait for you in the arrivals hall at Indira Gandhi International Airport, holding a board with your name, and they will be there at any hour your flight lands, noon or well after midnight. Luggage is loaded into a premium air-conditioned SUV, cold towels and chilled water are ready on the back seat, and the drive into central New Delhi takes around forty-five minutes depending on traffic. Your host uses this time to hand over a printed itinerary, a local SIM card if you would like one, and a direct number that works around the clock for the next two weeks of the trip.

Your first night is spent at a landmark hotel such as The Imperial on Janpath, or similar. The Imperial opened in 1936, when New Delhi itself was still brand new, and its long corridors are hung with colonial-era prints, lithographs and old photographs of the city. Check-in is handled privately, so you can go straight to your room. If you land in daylight and feel fresh, a short evening drive takes you along Kartavya Path to India Gate, lit up after sunset, and past the sandstone domes of Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Secretariat buildings designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker.

The rest of the evening is yours. Dinner can be taken at one of the hotel's restaurants or at a well-known address in the Lodhi Road or Connaught Place area, and your host is happy to make a reservation. Before saying goodnight, your host runs through the plan for the following days: when the car will collect you, what to wear for temple visits, how tipping works in India and which palace hotels have dress codes in their dining rooms. Any special requests, from dietary needs to anniversary surprises, are noted here and passed on to each hotel in advance. Overnight stay in Delhi.

After a relaxed breakfast, your Delhi guide joins you for a single, focused visit before the road trip begins. Humayun's Tomb, finished in the early 1570s for the second Mughal emperor, sits inside a walled garden divided into four quarters by water channels, a layout meant to suggest paradise. Its double dome and red sandstone outlined with white marble set the pattern that the Taj Mahal later followed. Your guide points out the smaller tombs of Isa Khan and the barber's tomb in the same complex, and explains how a long restoration completed in 2013 brought the gardens and fountains back to working order after decades of neglect.

By late morning you are on National Highway 48, heading south-west towards Rajasthan. Traffic thins once you pass Gurugram, and the scenery changes to mustard and wheat fields, brick kilns and the low brown ridges of the Aravalli hills. A good place to break the journey is Neemrana, where a fifteenth-century fort stands on a hillside just off the highway, and your chauffeur can stop for lunch there or at a cleaner roadside restaurant. Past Shahpura the car leaves the highway for a narrow country road, and the last stretch passes small farms, goat herders and village temples before the walls of Samode appear below the hills.

Samode Palace began as a Rajput fort and was rebuilt into a palace in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by nobles who served as ministers at the Jaipur court. Staff greet you with marigold garlands at the gate, and a member of the team walks you up through stepped courtyards to your room. Before dinner, ask to see the Durbar Hall, where every surface carries hand-painted flowers and gilt work, and the Sheesh Mahal, lined with tiny mirror pieces and painted glass. As the light fades, the terrace pool and the village rooftops below turn amber. Overnight stay at Samode Palace, such as named or similar.

Early risers can climb the stone path behind the palace to the ruined hilltop fort, a walk of around three hundred steps that takes twenty to twenty-five minutes. From the top you look down over the palace roofs, the village square and the dry plains reaching towards Jaipur, and on clear mornings the walk is cool and quiet apart from peacocks calling from the scrub. Back in the village after breakfast, a palace host takes you through the lanes where families make lac bangles over small charcoal fires, shape clay pots on hand wheels and print fabric with carved wooden blocks. You are welcome to watch, ask questions and buy directly if something catches your eye.

About three kilometres away lies Samode Bagh, an old Mughal-style garden laid out with water channels, fountains and rows of mango and neem trees. Today it is a luxury tented camp run by the same family, and a short visit shows how royal hunting parties and summer picnics were once arranged here. Walk along the raised paths, look at the old pavilions and enjoy a fresh lime soda on the lawn before heading back. Late morning, the car collects you for the short drive to Jaipur, roughly an hour on a quiet road that joins the main highway north of the city near the Amber hills.

In Jaipur you check in at Rambagh Palace or a similar palace hotel. Rambagh began in 1835 as a garden house, later became a royal hunting lodge, and served as the main residence of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II from 1925 before opening as a hotel in 1957. Peacocks wander the clipped lawns, and the long verandas lead to a polo-themed bar decorated with the Maharaja's trophies and photographs. Wherever the hotel provides butler service, your butler will introduce themselves, unpack if you wish and arrange anything from a spa slot to evening tea. The rest of the day is free for the pool or the gardens. Overnight stay in Jaipur.

Your senior Jaipur guide meets you right after breakfast, and the car heads eleven kilometres north to Amber Fort before the tour coaches arrive. The fort climbs a ridge above Maota Lake, and its four courtyards were added by successive Kachhwaha rulers from the late sixteenth century onwards. Highlights include the Diwan-i-Aam with its double row of columns, the Ganesh Pol gateway painted in fine floral patterns, and the Sheesh Mahal, where convex mirror pieces set into plaster scatter light from a single flame across the ceiling. Your guide also explains how Amber stayed the capital until 1727, when Sawai Jai Singh II moved the court to the planned new city below.

Back in the old walled city, the next stop is the City Palace, which still houses the descendants of the Jaipur royal family in its seven-storey Chandra Mahal. In the Mubarak Mahal you can see royal robes, a heavy pashmina shawl collection and elaborate turbans, and in the Diwan-i-Khas stand two silver urns, each taller than an adult, made to carry Ganges water on a voyage to London in 1902. On days the palace offers it, a privately guided visit to the upper floors of Chandra Mahal can be added at extra cost, letting you see the blue Chhavi Niwas room and rooftop views closed to regular visitors.

Next door is Jantar Mantar, an open-air observatory completed in 1734 with nineteen large masonry instruments for measuring time, tracking stars and predicting eclipses. Its largest sundial, the Samrat Yantra, is about twenty-seven metres tall and tells local time to roughly two seconds. Lunch can be taken at a café in the old city or back at your hotel. In the late afternoon your guide stops in front of Hawa Mahal, the 1799 palace screen with 953 small windows, and the car circles the walled city's pink facades before returning you to the hotel for the evening. Overnight stay in Jaipur.

This morning starts with a ride few visitors get to take. A restored vintage car, arranged through a local collector and subject to availability on the day, collects you from the hotel porch with its own driver. The route runs through the old city gates, past Tripolia Bazaar and the Ishwar Lat tower, and into lanes where tailors, brass sellers and sweet makers are just opening their shutters. The ride lasts around an hour and a half, with stops for photographs beside the City Palace walls and along Johari Bazaar. Your guide sits with you and points out the merchant mansions, temple fronts and old stepwells that line the route.

After the ride you visit a family workshop in the jewellery quarter, where cutters shape emeralds, garnets and rubies on spinning wheels, and craftsmen set stones in the traditional Kundan style using thin strips of pure gold. A second stop shows enamel work, called meenakari, with bright reds and greens fired onto silver and gold. There is no pressure to buy. In the afternoon you may prefer to return to the hotel for the spa or the pool, or visit the Albert Hall Museum, a striking Indo-Saracenic building from 1887 that holds an Egyptian mummy, carpets and miniature paintings.

In the evening, Payless Tours India hosts a private dinner for you, set either on a palace terrace or at a heritage venue on the hills above the city, depending on the season and your preference. Tables are laid with candles and fresh flowers, and the menu leans on Rajasthani royal cooking such as laal maas, a fiery mutton curry, ker sangri made from desert beans and berries, and dal baati churma, with vegetarian options throughout. A pair of musicians may play the sarangi and dholak quietly in the background. Afterwards your chauffeur drives you back to your room. Overnight stay in Jaipur.

Check out after breakfast and set off on the longest drive of the trip, roughly six hours on good highways via Ajmer and Beawar. The road crosses open farmland and the eastern spurs of the Aravalli range, and the scenery turns noticeably drier as you move west into Marwar. Your chauffeur plans stops for coffee and a rest at clean highway cafés, and a light lunch can be taken around the halfway point. Camels pulling carts, women in bright odhnis carrying water pots and roadside stalls selling guavas or roasted corn, depending on the season, break up the long straight stretches through the Jodhpur district.

You reach Jodhpur by mid-afternoon and drive up Chittar Hill to Umaid Bhawan Palace, or a similar palace hotel if this property is unavailable. The palace was commissioned by Maharaja Umaid Singh in 1929 partly to give work to thousands of people during a long drought, and it took around fourteen years to complete. Designed by the British architect Henry Lanchester, it mixes Art Deco lines with Rajput domes and is built from cream-coloured sandstone. Part of the building is still the residence of the Jodhpur royal family, part is a museum, and the rest is one of the most admired hotels in India.

Staff welcome you on the front steps and show you through to your room or suite. In the hour before sunset, take a seat on the rear terrace, where the lawns slope down towards the city and Mehrangarh Fort rises on its cliff on the far side. As the light softens, the fort walls change from brown to deep orange. Dinner is at leisure, either in the hotel's restaurants or in your room. Your butler, where the hotel offers the service, can draw a bath, book an early morning swim in the underground pool or arrange a table outdoors under the stars. Overnight stay in Jodhpur.

After breakfast, your Jodhpur guide drives you up to Mehrangarh, founded by Rao Jodha in 1459 on a rock rising around 125 metres above the city. You enter through seven gates, and on the Loha Pol your guide shows you the handprints of royal widows carved into the wall. Inside, the fort museum is among the best run in India, with jewelled palanquins, elephant howdahs, textiles and weapons. The Phool Mahal, a hall of gold and painted ceilings, and the Moti Mahal, with its coloured glass windows, show how lavishly the Rathore rulers lived. From the ramparts, the old city spreads below in shades of indigo blue.

A short drive down the hill brings you to Jaswant Thada, a white marble memorial built in 1899 for Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. The marble sheets in its walls are so thin that they glow when sunlight passes through them, and the small lake beside it attracts egrets and cormorants. Your guide then takes you into the old city around the Clock Tower and Sardar Market, where spice merchants sell red chilli, dried fenugreek and saffron. Nearby is Toorji ka Jhalra, a restored eighteenth-century stepwell with deep carved steps leading down to green water, now surrounded by small cafés.

Back at the palace after lunch, there is time to visit the Umaid Bhawan Palace Museum, which displays royal clocks, crystal, miniature paintings and photographs of the palace's construction. In the grounds, a small garage holds part of the Jodhpur royal car collection, with polished Rolls-Royces, Packards and Cadillacs from the 1920s to the 1950s. The rest of the afternoon is free for a massage at the hotel spa, a swim or simply reading on the lawn. In the evening, the illuminated outline of Mehrangarh is visible from the terrace, a calm way to end the day. Overnight stay in Jodhpur.

The drive west to Jaisalmer leaves after breakfast and takes around five hours on a well-surfaced road. Beyond Jodhpur, the land opens into the Thar Desert, with thorny khejri trees, low scrub and clusters of round mud-walled huts. Herds of camels and goats graze near the road, and you may spot blackbuck or chinkara gazelles in the fields near Bishnoi villages, as these communities protect wildlife. A tea stop at Pokaran, about two-thirds of the way, gives you a look at a small sandstone fort, and your chauffeur can recommend a simple restaurant for lunch.

Your Jaisalmer stay is at a luxury desert property such as Suryagarh, or similar. Built in the style of a Rajput fort with honey-coloured stone walls, towers and inner courtyards, Suryagarh stands on the western edge of town on the road towards the Sam dunes. Rooms open onto quiet terraces and the property has a large pool and spa, a welcome change after the drive. Staff offer a welcome drink and introduce the evening programme, which often includes folk music in the central courtyard or a short talk on desert life.

In the late afternoon, your guide takes you to Bada Bagh, a garden of royal cenotaphs about six kilometres north of the city. The carved domed chhatris stand on a low ridge, with rows of modern wind turbines turning slowly on the horizon behind them, an odd but memorable mix of old and new. As the sun sets, the cenotaphs and the distant fort turn a deep gold. Dinner is at leisure at the hotel. Ask your butler or host to arrange a stargazing session on the terrace, as the desert sky away from city lights is clear and dark. Overnight stay in Jaisalmer.

Jaisalmer Fort was founded in 1156 by Rawal Jaisal on Trikuta Hill, and it is one of very few forts in the world where people still live inside the walls. Your guide walks you through the four gates and up into lanes lined with homes, shops and small guesthouses. Inside stand seven Jain temples from the twelfth to sixteenth centuries, their pillars and ceilings carved with dancers, elephants and saints. The Raj Mahal, the former royal residence, has a museum of local weapons and paintings, and your guide explains how the fort's ninety-nine bastions protected caravans carrying silk, spices and opium along the old trade route.

Below the fort, the old town is famous for its havelis, the tall mansions of rich traders. Patwon ki Haveli is a cluster of five houses begun around 1805 by the merchant Guman Chand Patwa, with windows and balconies carved from sandstone so finely that they look like lace. Salim Singh ki Haveli, built by a powerful prime minister, has a curved top storey shaped like a peacock. Before lunch, a short walk round Gadisar Lake, an old reservoir with shrines and a carved gateway, shows how the town once stored every drop of rain.

In the late afternoon, the car heads into the desert for a private dinner on the dunes, arranged exclusively for you. You may ride a camel for a short stretch to watch the sunset from a quiet dune, away from the busier Sam area if you prefer. As darkness falls, a table set with lanterns, low cushions and a carpet awaits, with a menu of desert dishes such as ker sangri, gatte ki sabzi and freshly cooked bajra rotis. A small group of Manganiyar musicians play the kamaicha and sing old ballads beside a fire. Afterwards you are driven back to the hotel. Overnight stay in Jaisalmer.

The morning is unhurried. You may like a last walk through the fort lanes, a swim or breakfast on your terrace before your chauffeur drives you to Jaisalmer airport. The flight to Udaipur is a domestic connection, direct when a seasonal route operates and otherwise via Delhi or Jaipur, so departure times vary. Our team books the best available connection and adjusts the morning plan around it. Please note that the flight fare is not part of the package price, though we handle the booking, check the baggage allowance and arrange porter help at both airports for a smooth transfer.

On landing at Maharana Pratap Airport, about twenty-two kilometres from Udaipur, your new chauffeur and guide meet you. The drive takes around forty minutes, winding through green hills that come as a surprise after the desert. At the hotel's private jetty on Lake Pichola, a boat waits to carry you across the water to the Taj Lake Palace, or a similar lakeside palace hotel. Built between 1743 and 1746 as a summer pleasure palace for Maharana Jagat Singh II, it covers almost the whole of Jag Niwas Island and appears to float on the lake.

On arrival, the hotel's butlers, a team known for their old-style royal service, greet you with rose petals and escort you to your room. Spend the evening on the open terrace or by the pool as the sun goes down behind the Aravalli hills and lights come on in the City Palace across the water. Dinner can be booked at the hotel's restaurant or on a private pontoon on the lake, at extra cost. Ask your butler for the story of how the palace featured in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy, a tale every member of staff enjoys telling. Overnight stay in Udaipur.

A boat carries you back to the shore after breakfast, and your Udaipur guide begins at the City Palace, the largest palace complex in Rajasthan. Construction started in 1559 under Maharana Udai Singh II and continued for nearly four centuries, so the building rises in layers of balconies, towers and cupolas above the lake. Inside the museum, look for the Mor Chowk courtyard with peacocks made of blue glass mosaic, the Badi Mahal garden built on a hilltop, and rooms of miniature paintings and royal portraits. The Crystal Gallery, holding crystal furniture ordered from England in 1877, can be seen on a separate ticket.

From the palace gate, a short walk leads to the Jagdish Temple, built in 1651 and dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Steep steps climb to a carved shrine where devotees sing hymns throughout the day. Your guide then takes you through the old city lanes to Bagore ki Haveli, an eighteenth-century minister's mansion beside Gangaur Ghat, now a museum of turbans, costumes and puppets. A visit to a family studio of miniature painters shows how artists still use squirrel-hair brushes and natural colours ground from stones to paint fine details such as eyelashes and jewellery.

In the late afternoon you board a private boat for a sunset cruise on Lake Pichola. The route passes the bathing ghats, the long white walls of the City Palace and the Lake Palace before stopping at Jag Mandir, an island palace where the young Shah Jahan is said to have taken refuge in the 1620s. Walk among its stone elephants and garden courtyards while the light turns pink over the water. As the boat returns, the ghats come alive with evening prayers and the palace lights start to glow. The evening is at leisure. Overnight stay in Udaipur.

Begin with a visit to the Vintage and Classic Car Collection of the Maharanas of Mewar, kept in the old state garage at the Garden Hotel. The collection includes Rolls-Royces, a Cadillac convertible, a Mercedes and a Vauxhall from the 1920s to the 1950s, all lovingly maintained and some still used for royal ceremonies. Your guide explains how each car arrived in Udaipur, often shipped in pieces and carried by road. It is a natural stop after your vintage car ride in Jaipur and pairs well with the stories you have heard at Umaid Bhawan.

Next, drive north to Saheliyon ki Bari, the Garden of the Maidens, laid out in the eighteenth century for royal ladies. Its marble pavilions, lotus pools and fountains, fed by water from Fateh Sagar Lake, still run on the original gravity system. From there, a short drive along the bank of Fateh Sagar shows a quieter side of the city, with locals jogging and boating. In the afternoon you can rest at the hotel or ride a cable car up to a viewpoint over the lakes. Another option is the Monsoon Palace on a hilltop west of the city, best visited at sunset.

Tonight, Payless Tours India arranges a private farewell dinner for you in a lakeside setting, such as a heritage terrace or a candlelit table by the water, depending on the season and the hotels available. The menu can be Mewari, with dishes such as safed maas cooked in yoghurt and cashew, or a western selection if you prefer something lighter. A musician plays the flute or sitar softly as the lake reflects the lights of the palaces. Your host checks the details for tomorrow's flight and makes sure everything is packed and ready. Overnight stay in Udaipur.

After a final breakfast on the lake, the hotel boat takes you to the jetty, where your chauffeur is waiting for the drive to Udaipur airport. The Udaipur–Delhi domestic flight takes about one hour and twenty minutes, and several airlines fly the route daily. The fare is not included in the package price, but we book the most convenient timing for you. On landing in Delhi, your chauffeur meets you at the terminal and drives you to your hotel, such as The Imperial or a similar luxury property, where you check in and freshen up.

In the afternoon, your Delhi guide takes you to the old city built by Shah Jahan in the seventeenth century. Your first stop is the Red Fort, its red walls rising above the Yamuna, although please note it is closed on Mondays, in which case you see it from outside. Nearby, the Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque, holds up to 25,000 worshippers in its courtyard. A cycle rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk follows, weaving past spice shops, silver jewellers and sweet stalls selling hot jalebis. Your guide explains the lanes, the trades and the history.

Return to your hotel in the late afternoon to rest and pack. The evening is free, and your host can book a farewell table at a fine dining restaurant serving modern Indian food, or recommend a quiet bar for a last drink. Before you go to bed, your host confirms the time of your airport transfer and checks your flight details once more. This last evening is a chance to look back over two weeks of palaces, forts and lakes before the flight home, and to share any feedback with the team. Overnight stay in Delhi.

After breakfast, or at whatever hour your flight requires, your chauffeur drives you to Indira Gandhi International Airport for your onward journey. Your host stays in touch until you have checked in. This brings your luxury Rajasthan palace tour with Payless Tours India to a close.