Best day trip from Udaipur
Kumbhalgarh & Ranakpur Day Trip
Thirty-six kilometres of fort wall and 1,444 carved marble pillars, in one 220 km day. Sedan ₹3,600, Innova ₹4,200 — timed around when Ranakpur actually lets visitors in.
Overview
A wall you can see from space, and a temple that took fifty years.
Kumbhalgarh has the second-longest continuous wall in the world — thirty-six kilometres of it, wide enough in places for eight horses abreast, running along a ridge of the Aravallis at eleven hundred metres. It was built in the fifteenth century by Rana Kumbha, and in five centuries it was taken only once, and then only because the water supply was poisoned. Maharana Pratap was born inside it.
Ranakpur, forty-five minutes further on, is the opposite kind of building. A Jain temple of white marble with 1,444 carved pillars, no two of them alike, arranged so that from the centre you can see the image in all four directions. It took roughly fifty years to build in the fifteenth century and it is, by a distance, the most beautiful interior in Rajasthan.
Together they make a long day — 220 kilometres round trip, out at eight and back around seven. It is the single best day trip from Udaipur and the one we recommend more often than any other.
Fares
Kumbhalgarh & Ranakpur day trip fares
Round trip from Udaipur, car, chauffeur, fuel, tolls and parking. Entry tickets paid at the gate.
| Trip | Sedan | Innova Crysta | Tempo Traveller 17 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kumbhalgarh only | ₹3,200 | ₹3,800 | ₹7,000 | 170 km round |
| Ranakpur only | ₹3,400 | ₹4,000 | ₹7,200 | 185 km round |
| Kumbhalgarh + Ranakpur | ₹3,600 | ₹4,200 | ₹7,500 | 220 km round |
| With Haldighati added | ₹4,200 | ₹5,000 | ₹8,500 | 250 km round |
| Onward drop at Jodhpur | ₹6,500 | ₹7,500 | On request | One way via both |
| Overnight at Kumbhalgarh | ₹5,000 | ₹6,000 | On request | 2 days |
Day by day
How the day runs
The order matters. Ranakpur only opens to visitors around midday, so the fort goes first — which also means you climb in the cooler part of the morning.
North-west out of the city on the Gogunda road. The landscape changes quickly — within forty minutes you are in the Aravallis proper, climbing through scrub and terraced fields. Roughly two hours to the fort gate.
Through the Arait Pol and up. The walk to Badal Mahal at the top takes about forty minutes at a steady pace and the view from there is across into what is now Marwar. Allow two hours in total. The Ganesh temple, the Vedi temple and the wall walk are the things worth seeing besides the palace itself.
Forty-five minutes through the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary and down the Desuri ghat — a genuinely lovely stretch of road. Lunch at the temple complex or at one of the resorts on the way.
The Chaumukha temple, open to non-Jains from around noon. Photography is allowed with a ticket; leather must be left outside. Give it a full hour — it is a building that does not reveal itself quickly. The Surya temple and Amba Mata temple nearby are worth twenty minutes if you have them.
Two and a half hours via Sadri and Gogunda, or slightly longer via Haldighati if you have added it. Back in the city by about seven.
Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur — what to know before you go
This is a long day and there is no way around that. Two hours out, two and a half back, and four to five hours of actual sightseeing in between. Guests who try to add a third stop usually regret it. What makes it worth the effort is that these two places are genuinely world-class and see a fraction of the visitors that the Jaipur circuit does.
The climb at Kumbhalgarh
The fort is spread over a ridge and the walk from the ticket gate up to Badal Mahal at the summit is about forty minutes, on a paved but steep path. It is manageable for most people at a slow pace, and there is shade in stretches. If somebody in the group cannot manage it, the lower palace area and the wall near the entrance still give you the scale of the thing. There is a sound-and-light show most evenings, which means an overnight stay or a very late return.
Ranakpur timings
The temple is a living place of worship and non-Jain visitors are admitted only during a set window, typically from around noon until about five. This is not negotiable and it is the reason our itinerary does the fort first. Shoes and leather items are left outside, and there is a camera ticket. Photography inside is permitted but the point of the building is better appreciated standing still for a while.
Turning it into an onward journey
Both sites are on the road from Udaipur to Jodhpur, so the most efficient version of this trip is to do them as a long drive day with a drop at Jodhpur in the evening rather than returning to Udaipur. It saves a full day of the trip and costs roughly the same. We run it often and recommend it whenever the itinerary allows.
Enquiry
Book the Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur day
Tell us the date and whether you are returning to Udaipur or carrying on to Jodhpur. We will set the departure time accordingly.
- 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.
Eighty-four kilometres, about two hours through the Aravallis on the Gogunda road. Ranakpur is a further forty-five minutes down the Desuri ghat, making the full round trip roughly 220 km.
Yes, and it is the right way to do them — out at eight, back around seven. Trying to add a third major site to the same day is where people come unstuck.
₹3,600 in a sedan and ₹4,200 in an Innova Crysta for both sites, including car, chauffeur, fuel, tolls and parking. A seventeen-seat tempo traveller is ₹7,500. Entry tickets are paid at the gate.
Non-Jain visitors are usually admitted from around midday until late afternoon. It is a working temple, the window is fixed, and it is precisely why we schedule the fort for the morning.
About forty minutes uphill from the ticket gate to Badal Mahal at the summit, on a paved but steep path. The lower palace area and the wall near the entrance still convey the scale if someone in the group cannot manage the climb.
Highly recommended. Both sites sit on the Udaipur–Jodhpur road, so doing them as a drive day with an evening drop at Jodhpur saves an entire day of your trip for roughly the same money.
Related services