Book Jaipur attraction tickets

Rajasthan's capital earns its nickname honestly. The old walled city was painted a distinctive terracotta pink in 1876 to welcome the Prince of Wales, and the colour has never really left, giving Jaipur a warmth that is architectural as much as atmospheric. Founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II on a grid plan drawn from ancient Sanskrit texts on town planning, it was one of the first purpose-built cities in the subcontinent, and that deliberate geometry still shapes how you move through it.

The old city is where most visitors orient themselves first, and for good reason. The Hawa Mahal, that extraordinary five-storey screen of 953 latticed windows built so royal women could observe street life unseen, faces the main bazaar and announces immediately that Jaipur operates on a different visual register from most Indian cities. A short distance away, the City Palace complex remains partly occupied by the royal family while opening its ceremonial courtyards and textile galleries to the public. The Jantar Mantar observatory, also commissioned by Jai Singh II, sits nearby and contains the world's largest stone sundial, a structure so precisely calibrated that it can still tell the time to within two seconds.