RutzIndia.com's tour packages from Jaipur are six chauffeur-driven circuits: Rajasthan in 6, 8 or 10 days, and the Golden Triangle in 4, 5 or 6 days started from the Pink City. The chauffeur collects you at home, a hotel or Jaipur airport, and the car is billed on kilometres driven with a minimum of 250 km a day.
The Pink City as a starting line
Jaipur is where most Rajasthan journeys ought to start. The airport at Sanganer is about 12 km from the walled city, the railway station is in the middle of town, and the Delhi road brings the capital within a morning. Every Rajasthan circuit on this page begins here, and the Golden Triangle, normally sold as a Delhi trip, is just as easy to join from Jaipur by running it the other way round.
That matters for two groups of people. Jaipur families who want to see their own state properly can leave from home without a flight. And visitors who land at Jaipur International Airport, perhaps after a wedding in the city, can step straight into a tour with the same chauffeur they have already met. For the days around the trip, the airport run, the bazaars or a wedding, book our Jaipur taxi service, car rental with driver in Jaipur by the 8-hour block, or a decorated car from wedding car rental in Jaipur.
Rajasthan west: how long do you need?
Six days covers the three cities that define the state. The 6-day Rajasthan package gives Jaipur two days, then drives about 335 km west to Jodhpur, with a Pushkar detour if you like, for the morning inside Mehrangarh and an afternoon in the blue lanes below it; then south through the Aravallis past the Ranakpur temple to Udaipur. It ends at Udaipur's airport, or with the 395 km drive back to Jaipur, which our Jaipur to Udaipur taxi page prices one way.
Eight days adds the desert. The 8-day package stops properly at Pushkar for the lake and the Brahma temple, and after Jodhpur heads across the Thar through Pokhran to Jaisalmer. You have a day in the living fort and its havelis and an evening at the Sam or Khuri dunes, before the longest single drive of any circuit here, roughly 495 km from Jaisalmer to Udaipur. The chauffeur starts early and stops for a proper lunch. Read our Jaisalmer road guide and the Pushkar guide first.
Ten days is the grand loop for people who want to see Rajasthan once and properly. The 10-day package goes north-west through the painted havelis of Shekhawati to Bikaner's Junagarh Fort, then Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, a full morning at Ranakpur, Udaipur and a final day at Chittorgarh, the largest fort in the country. See our Mandawa and Bikaner guides for the northern legs.
If you are unsure, pick eight days. It is the shortest trip that shows both the palace cities and the desert, and the pace leaves space for a rooftop dinner rather than another early start. For a wider view of driving through the state, the Rajasthan tour by car page explains the roads in more depth.
The Golden Triangle, turned around
The three Golden Triangle circuits are written from Delhi, but for someone in Jaipur the natural order is Jaipur, Agra, Delhi. The chauffeur leaves Jaipur in the morning on the Agra road through Dausa and Bharatpur, about 240 km. On the 6-day version you stop at the Chand Baori stepwell at Abhaneri and at Fatehpur Sikri, then take two nights in Agra so the Taj Mahal can be seen at opening. The 5-day package keeps Fatehpur Sikri but trims a night, and the 4-day package is the fast version for people who already know Jaipur and only need Agra and Delhi.
From Agra the Yamuna Expressway runs north to Delhi in a little over three hours. You can end in Delhi, at the airport or a hotel, or ask for the last day to bring you home to Jaipur, roughly 270 km. The Agra to Jaipur taxi and Delhi to Jaipur taxi pages show the single-leg fares if you only need part of the loop. One rule governs the whole plan: the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays, so the chauffeur arranges the Agra day to fall on any other day of the week. The same-day Agra tour is the option for people with only one day to spare.
Seasons, heat and Jaipur's festival calendar
October to March is the season. Days are warm and clear and nights in the desert cold, especially in December and January, when a jacket is needed at the dunes. From April to June the heat is serious: Jodhpur and Jaisalmer pass 40 degrees by mid-morning, so sightseeing happens at dawn and dusk and the car's air conditioning does the rest. The monsoon from July to September is light in western Rajasthan but turns Udaipur's hills green and fills its lakes.
Jaipur's calendar affects everything. The wedding season from November to February fills palace hotels and books out larger vehicles; the Jaipur Literature Festival in late January takes rooms across the city; Diwali and Holi are wonderful to see but crowded; Teej and Gangaur bring processions through the old city. Pushkar's camel fair in the Kartik month, usually November, makes the town unrecognisable, and Jaisalmer's desert festival in winter does the same for the dunes. The Rajasthan Tourism site publishes the dates each year.
Which car for the palace cities and the desert
- Compact sedan, Rs 72 a km. Two people on the Golden Triangle, where the roads are expressways and the drives are short.
- Innova Crysta, Rs 114 a km. The workhorse of Rajasthan tours, and our suggestion for families of four to six on the 8-day and 10-day circuits with their long desert days.
- Fortuner, Rs 170 a km. Couples who want a higher, quieter ride; it suits the rougher side roads to Ranakpur and Kumbhalgarh.
- Mercedes E-Class, Rs 330 a km. For honeymoons and heritage-hotel trips; see our luxury car rental in Jaipur page.
- Tempo Traveller, Rs 160 a km, or Urbania, Rs 200 a km. Wedding guests, school groups and extended families; compare them on the tempo traveller in Jaipur page.
Whatever you drive, the sum is worked out the same way. Count the kilometres the trip really covers, compare that with 250 multiplied by the number of days, keep the bigger number and multiply it by the car's rate. On these circuits the floor usually wins, because the city days in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Udaipur cover few kilometres, and the package pages show exactly where each one lands. Added on top: the driver's night money, Rs 3,000 a night; tolls on the expressways, parking at the forts and the entry tax charged when the car crosses into Uttar Pradesh or Delhi, all at actual cost; and 5% GST. We only run cars from the last four model years; photographs are on the fleet page.
What the chauffeur plans around on Rajasthan roads
The main highways west of Jaipur are good. The six-lane road to Ajmer is quick, the Jodhpur road beyond it is wide, and the long desert run to Jaisalmer through Pokhran is often almost empty. The difficulties are elsewhere. Camels, cattle and goats wander onto desert roads at dusk, and trucks run without proper lights at night, so the chauffeur plans every long leg to finish in daylight. Fuel stations thin out between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer and on the Bikaner road, so he fills up in the cities. Old-city lanes in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Udaipur are too narrow for cars near the forts and palaces; the driver drops you at the nearest gate, waits in a legal spot and picks you up where you finish.
On the Golden Triangle the pressure points are different: Agra's traffic around the Taj's eastern and western gates, the approach to Delhi in the evening peak, and the queue at the expressway toll plazas on long weekends. That is why the itineraries leave Jaipur by mid-morning and aim to reach Delhi before dark.
Before you leave Jaipur, and short additions
If you have a spare day at the start, spend it at home: Amber and Jaigarh early, Nahargarh for the view over the city at sunset, and the old bazaars in between. For a tiger reserve, Ranthambore is about 180 km south-east and fits between the Golden Triangle and a Rajasthan circuit; safaris are booked online through the state forest department and the core zones generally close in the monsoon. Bundi, with its stepwells and painted palace, is a quieter detour on the way south. Our Ranthambore and Bundi guides explain the roads.
Where to stay along the way
Rajasthan is the one state where the hotel can be part of the sight. In Jaipur, heritage havelis inside and just outside the walled city sit alongside modern hotels on the airport side. Jodhpur has guesthouses under Mehrangarh with rooftop views as well as palace hotels. In Jaisalmer, some travellers stay inside the fort, others in town or in a camp near the dunes; Udaipur's best rooms face the lake. The travel desk can hold rooms in each category and put them into one written quote.
Booking, payment and cancellation
The online booker needs three things: where to collect you in Jaipur or which flight you are on, the circuit, and the class of car. It then displays the transport fare, which you settle by card or UPI. Companies sending teams on offsites are issued a GST invoice. If the trip falls through, there is no charge while the first pickup is more than 72 hours off; a tenth of the fare is kept after that point, half once you are inside 48 hours, and everything inside the final 24 hours or on a no-show. The cancellation policy is the reference.
