Dazzling Jaisalmer
3 Days / 2 Nights
₹10,000 onwards
- Udaipur to Jaisalmer by road
- Sonar Quila & the havelis
- Gadisar Lake, Bada Bagh
- Sam dunes camel safari
The Golden City
Jaisalmer Tour Packages
Four hundred and ninety kilometres of increasingly empty country, ending at a living fort made of yellow sandstone. Three days and two nights from ₹10,000.
Overview
A living fort made of yellow sandstone, in the middle of the Thar.
Jaisalmer is four hundred and ninety kilometres from Udaipur and it feels like it. The last two hours are genuinely empty — scrub, then sand, then a fort on a hill that looks like it grew out of the ground rather than being built on it. The local sandstone turns gold in the late afternoon, which is where the name comes from.
Sonar Quila is one of the very few forts in the world still lived in. Several thousand people have homes inside the walls, which makes walking through it a completely different experience from Mehrangarh or Amber — there are shops and houses and children and cows, and somewhere among them a twelfth-century royal palace and a cluster of Jain temples.
The other half of the trip is the desert: Sam or Khuri sand dunes, forty kilometres west, for a camel ride at sunset and, if you want it, a night in a tented camp with folk music and a Rajasthani dinner. It is touristy and it is also, on a clear December night, genuinely extraordinary.
Packages
Jaisalmer tour packages
Long drives, so the packages are built around comfortable daily distances rather than squeezing the schedule.
Jodhpur & Jaisalmer
4 Days / 3 Nights
₹14,999 onwards
- Mehrangarh & the blue city
- Desert drive to Jaisalmer
- Fort, havelis, dunes
- Return via Pali
Desert Circuit
6 Days / 5 Nights
On request onwards
- Jodhpur, Osian, Jaisalmer
- Bikaner & Karni Mata
- Camel farm & Junagarh
- Back via Nagaur
One-way drop
Udaipur → Jaisalmer
₹7,500 onwards
- Nine hours, one long day
- Stop at Pali or Jodhpur
- Private car, no sharing
- Sedan; Innova ₹8,800
Day by day
Dazzling Jaisalmer — 3 days, 2 nights
Nine hours of driving on day one is unavoidable. Everything after that is gentle.
An early start — six or seven — and a long drive north-west via Pali and Jodhpur. We break for lunch on the way and reach Jaisalmer by evening. If your schedule allows, splitting this with a night in Jodhpur makes the whole trip considerably more pleasant. Evening free; the fort is lit and the rooftop restaurants inside it are the obvious first move.
Sonar Quila in the morning: the Raj Mahal, the Jain temple cluster, the bastions with their old cannon, and the lanes that are simultaneously a monument and a neighbourhood. Then Patwon ki Haveli, five connected mansions built by a jewellery-trading family, and Salim Singh ki Haveli with its peacock-shaped upper storey. Afternoon at Gadisar Lake, a fourteenth-century reservoir with ghats and small temples, and Bada Bagh with its royal cenotaphs on the ridge.
Out to the Sam or Khuri dunes in the afternoon, forty kilometres west, for a camel ride as the light goes. Camp dinner with folk music if you have booked one, or back to town. Depart for Udaipur the following morning — or, if you are on the four-day version, on to Jodhpur.
Gallery
Jaisalmer & the Thar
The Golden City and the dunes west of it.
Getting to Jaisalmer from Udaipur
Four hundred and ninety kilometres and about nine hours of driving. It is the longest single leg of any Rajasthan itinerary that starts in Udaipur, and there is no shortcut. Our strong advice is to split it — either with a night in Jodhpur, which is roughly on the way and worth two days in its own right, or with a shorter halt at Pali. Doing it in one day is possible and leaves you tired for the first day in Jaisalmer.
The fort is a place people live in
About a quarter of Jaisalmer’s population lives inside Sonar Quila. This gives it a texture no other Rajasthan fort has, and also a conservation problem — the drainage was never designed for the water use of hotels and restaurants, and the foundations have suffered. Many visitors now choose to stay outside the walls and visit during the day, which is worth considering.
Sam versus Khuri
Sam is closer, larger, more developed and more crowded — a genuine scene at sunset, with dozens of camels and a row of camps. Khuri, about forty-five kilometres south-west, is quieter and rougher and feels more like actual desert. Neither is wrong; it depends on whether you want the spectacle or the silence. We will book either.
Season and clothing
October to March. Do not attempt the desert between April and June. And be warned about December and January nights in the dunes — the temperature drops close to freezing after dark and every year visitors arrive in a shirt because it was twenty-six degrees at noon. Bring a proper jacket.
Enquiry
How many nights do you have?
Jaisalmer works best with at least one break in the drive. Tell us your dates and we will build a route that does not exhaust you on day one.
- Office
Uday Towers, 58, Road No. 1, New Flora Complex Colony,
Near Navratna Complex, Udaipur, Rajasthan 313001 - Phone & WhatsApp
+91 96101 55555 - Email
info@udaipurtaxibooking.com - Hours
Booking desk 24×7. Walk-in office 9 AM – 8 PM.
Four hundred and ninety kilometres, about nine hours of driving via Pali and Jodhpur. It is the longest leg in any Udaipur-based itinerary and we strongly suggest splitting it with a night in Jodhpur.
₹10,000 for three days and two nights. The four-day Jodhpur-and-Jaisalmer combination is ₹14,999. A one-way drop from Udaipur is ₹7,500 in a sedan or ₹8,800 in an Innova.
At sunset, yes. Sam dunes are closer and busier — a genuine scene with dozens of camels and a row of camps. Khuri is quieter and feels more like real desert. We will book either; it depends whether you want spectacle or silence.
Yes, and the range runs from basic to genuinely luxurious. Folk music, a Rajasthani dinner and a night under a sky with no light pollution. Book ahead in December and January.
A proper jacket if you are travelling between November and February. Desert nights drop close to freezing and visitors are caught out every single year because the afternoon was twenty-six degrees.
It is atmospheric, but the fort’s drainage was never built for hotel water use and the foundations have suffered. Many visitors now stay outside the walls and visit during the day, which we would gently recommend.
Related services