Jaipur

The first destination in the Palace on Wheels is Jaipur. The train starts from Delhi and reaches Jaipur on the second day morning. Jaipur is the capital of the state, Rajasthan. It is a royal place with numerous palaces and memorial structures. These stand today as a reminder of the royal lives, tradition and skills of people who lived many centuries from today. This city is located 258 km away from Delhi and 232 km away from the famous Agra. This is also an important destination in the Golden Triangle route of India.

This city was built in 18th century with many architectural marvels and interesting city planning. You can find palaces that can be imagined in any fairy tale, fortresses that stand as a reminder on barren hills, avenues of the city and many others. This city gets the name, ‘pink city’ as most of the ancient buildings are in shades of pink. This includes the famous tourist destination, Hawa Mahal or the wind palace. Apart from these, this city is also famous for shopping, fairs and trinkets.

As stated before, there are a lot of tourist destinations in Jaipur. The first one to visit is the City Palace. This palace is located at the heart of the city. A little away from this palace, you can find the Central Museum which is famous for its collection of ancient costumes, pottery, brassware, woodwork, artefacts and many others. Another attraction near the City Palace is a large observatory called Jantar Mantar. Hawa Mahal, the honeycomb shaped palace with numerous windows is another attraction. Amber Fort is located a little outside the city. This is the most beautiful palace of all. This gives a very grand view of the whole city. Other top attractions in the city include Kanak valley, Jaigarh fort, Sisodia Rani Ka Bagh, Birla Mandir and many others.

There are a lot of interesting and attractive cities and towns around Jaipur. Ajmer is the best of all and it is located 130 km away from the main city of Jaipur in South West direction. It is a pilgrim spot with the tomb of a Sufi saint, Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisti. Another attraction near Ajmer is Pushkar. It is a pilgrim town too but, it is much more famous for camel fair that happen once a year. Kishangarh is another tourist attraction near Jaipur. It is known for its collection of miniature paintings. Roopangarh is famous for fort and Samode is famous for a garden and a palace.