Popularly known as “pink city” of India, the capital of Rajasthan, Jaipur is one of the most amazing cities of India. Founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh in 1727, Jaipur is the first planned city of India. If you visit the old city area in Jaipur and look carefully you can find out how the lanes, houses, markets are well planned and conveniently connected thorough grid/block layout.
Bustling with sounds, colours and royalty – Jaipur is a city like none other. The colourful markets to hustling streets, the mesmerizing palaces to awe-inspiring forts – this city is a confluence of art, history and heritage.
While you may rightly feel discovering Jaipur is nearly impossible in just one day, let us help you with that. Though we agree, you can’t see each and everything Jaipur has in one single day. You need at least 2 full days or ideally 3 days to finish everything at a slow pace.
In our case, we couldn’t allocate more than one full day to Jaipur as we were set to cover all major places in Rajasthan within 2 weeks.
Also, if you are like us who want to avoid crowd to get that perfect instagrammable frame, then crafting this one-day plan can become really challenging since places can get really crowded. Trust us when we say, we spent the most amount of time before the trip to curate this day as efficiently as possible – and glad we did.
This one day in Jaipur itinerary is going to be super hectic, so have a good night sleep, carry water, wear comfortable clothing and try to stick to the time we are going to share below.
Before we jump in, one final disclaimer!!
Don’t try this itinerary during summer months (April to July) as you will surely get a heatstroke in the scorching sun of Rajasthan. One must have 2-3 days for seeing Jaipur during non-winter months to keep it slow and comfortable.
Table of Contents
Plan your day before you start:
As we follow the order of places, you may feel there is some amount of extra moving around but as you read, you will realize this is planned in order to avoid crowd and be at the right place in right time. You should follow this route mentioned below in exact same order
- Patrika Gate
- Amer Fort
- Jal Mahal
- Jantar Mantar
- City Palace
- Hawa Mahal
- Nahargarh Fort
- Wind view Café
- Johri bajar/Bapu Bajar
We will miss places like Jaigarh Fort, Albert Hall, Galtaji Temple (Monkey temple) and Birla Mandir – which obviously can’t be covered in the same day. If you want to visit any of them, you may need to replace with some from the above list (though we don’t recommend that)
Entry tickets and moving around:
You should buy entry tickets online the night before. You should buy your tickets from here. If you are following this itinerary and have one day only in Jaipur, we suggest you not to buy Composite ticket instead get Normal Ticket (as shown below). The composite ticket will give you access to all the 8 places listed in below image and cost you INR 400 for Indian Citizen and INR 1100 for foreign citizens. However, if you are only visiting 4 places out of the eight (as per this itinerary) then you can choose them only individually which will cost you INR 250 for Indian citizen and INR 1000 for foreign citizen.
Hence unless you are a foreign citizen, it makes sense to normal tickets of the four-place shown below if you have only 1 day in Jaipur. If you are not from India, you can buy composite ticket as that will work out cheaper
For City Palace (and if you want to visit Jaigarh fort) you should buy your tickets from here
Once your tickets are sorted, we suggest you book a cab for whole day. We had booked our entire Rajasthan trip with Rajasthan Leafes cab services owned by Mr. Rajendra Singh (Mobile: – + 91 9799141704) and just can’t recommend them enough.
We and our parents (senior citizens) had such amazing experience for 2 weeks we were on the roads across Rajasthan. Rajendra also got us very good guides in Jaipur and helped me in planning the entire trip to a large extent.
Where we stayed in Jaipur:
We stayed in this AirBnb which is midway between the airport and old city area. The place is in a proper residential area with good restaurants nearby. You can consider it for you stay as the place is comfortable and has all basic functionalities.
Let’s start your best one day in Jaipur itinerary:
Patrika Gate:
Start your day at 6 am in the morning and head straight to Patrika Gate. As this place is near airport which is away from city center and can get really crowded, early morning is your best bet to get some Instagram worthy shot in this amazing place.
Opening Hours: Always Open and no entry fee
Suggested time spend: 30 to 45 mins
Guide Needed: No
The gate is based on seven original historic gates that were used to provide access to the walled city of Jaipur, but the gate is a relatively new attraction. Patrika Gate is named after a local news company called “Patrika”. It was completed and opened to the public in 2016.
Looking at the architecture of the Patrika Gate, it’s clear that the architects spent a lot of time reaching the final design. Rajasthani images and elements come to life at Patrika Gate through hand-painted walls and ceilings. Each pillar and archways represent a scene from a different region of Rajasthan. Get a glimpse of the state’s rich architectural and cultural heritage. The wall panels and ceiling are beautifully painted with intricate motifs and colours.
You will easily realize why this place is one of the most photographed locations in Jaipur and what will you miss if this place gets crowded.
Amer Fort:
Once you done with Patrika Gate, grab a quick breakfast on your way to Amer. We don’t want you to spend lot of time in breakfast as you should reach Amer by 8 am sharp. Amer fort is one of the best palaces in Jaipur and naturally pulls a lot of crowds as day progresses.
Opening Hours: 8 am to 5:30 pm
Suggested time spend: 2.5 hours
Guide Needed: Yes
This UNESCO World Heritage Site is located 11 km from Jaipur city. Located on Aravalli Hill. It was originally built by the Meenas (a tribe found mainly in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh) and later by Maharaja Man Singh I, a trusted general of Mughal Emperor Akbar. Constructed of red stone and marble, the fort was the residence of Rajput kings until Maharaja Jai Singh II moved his court to Jaipur in the early 18th century. Mughal architecture has greatly influenced many of the buildings within the fort.
As soon as you enter, you feel transported to an era of royalty!! The palace has four floors, each with its own courtyard. It consists of Diwan-E-Aam, Diwan-E-Khas, Sheesh Mahal, Jai Mandir and Suk Niwas Palace. This fort is by far the most impressive of all the architecture we have visited in Jaipur. At the base of the fort, there is a huge lake, and winding paths lead visitors to the main courtyard.
If time permits, we recommend you climb the fort walls of Amer and you will be rewarded with a breathtaking view.
Jal Mahal:
Our next stop after Amer fort should be a quick one for Jal Mahal. It will be on the way back from Amer to the old city area where City Palace, Hawa Mahal and Jantar Mantar are.
Jal Mahal is more than just a structure on Man Sagar Lake. It is one of Jaipur’s most unique architectural designs. Four of the palace’s five floors are underwater. You can only see this from the side of the lake or can do a boating in the lake. Entry to the palace is not allowed
Opening Hours: 24 hours
Suggested time spend: 15 min
Guide Needed: No
Jantar Mantar:
After taking few photos of Jal Mahal, it is time to head to the old city area of Jaipur. You should start from Jantar Mantar which we think the most interesting place you will see in Jaipur. Try to be there before 12 pm and be amazed at this place when the sun is top of your head.
Opening Hours: 9 am to 4:30 pm
Suggested time spend: 1 hr
Guide Needed: Yes, yes, yes!!
It is the largest of the five observatories built by Maharajah Sawai Jai Singh II and has 19 architectural observatories. In addition, it has the world’s largest sundial.
This place has instruments that operate in each of the three classical celestial coordinate systems. These instruments are designed to observe the position of celestial bodies with the naked eye. They are excellent evidence of the rich scientific and technical knowledge of medieval India.
If you want to understand how these instruments work, you need a guide. Trust me; you will be amazed at how precise and accurate these instruments are.
Once you are out of Jantar Mantar grab a quick lunch. You can also visit Lassiwala shop or Rawat Mishthan Bhandar for lunch but ensure you are back to City Palace entrance by 1:30 pm to start the next phase of exploring Jaipur
City Palace:
Post lunch, let’s walk into the royal highness!! Some part of the city palace is not accessible unless you purchase a special ticket
Opening Hours: 10 am to 6 pm
Suggested time spend: 2 hr
Guide Needed: Yes
City Palace was built when Maharajah Sawai Jai Singh when he moved his court from Amber to Jaipur in 1727. From then until 1949, City Palace was the administrative headquarters of the Maharajah of Jaipur.
The buildings within the palace are a mix of Rajput, Mughal and European architectural styles. The City Palace today is a unique and large complex with several courtyards, buildings, pavilions, gardens, temples, museums and restaurants.The most famous and most visited structures within the palace are Chandra Mahal, Mubarak Mahal, Shri Govind Dev Ji Temple, Pritam Niwas Chowk and Sabha Niwas (Church Hall), Textile A gallery, a gallery of weapons and armor, a gallery of paintings and museums. However, some of these are only accessible with the special ticket.
The most interesting fact is that the current royal family of Jaipur still lives in this city palace and hence some parts of the palace is inaccessible to you and me.
Hawa Mahal:
Once you come out of city palace, take a quick stop at Hawa Mahal. Get some photo and if you want you can enter and see it from inside. However, we find it very average from inside.
Opening Hours: 9 am to 4:30 pm
Suggested time spend: 30 min
Guide Needed: Yes
“Palace of winds” or Hawa Mahal, made with red and pink sandstone is a landmark of Jaipur. It was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, the second grandson of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, the founder of the city of Jaipur.
Hawa Mahal was built in the form of lord Krishna’s crown. The five-story palace was built for royal women and allowed them to watch parades and processions unnoticed by the public.
There are 935 small windows adorn the exterior of this honeycomb like building. When we first saw the Hawa Mahal from front, we were amazed by its majestic design
Nahargarh Fort:
As soon as you are done with Hawa Mahal, you should drive again outside the city for the last destination of Jaipur sightseeing. An epic sunset from Nahargarh fort is the perfect way to take a pause and relax yourself with a view. You should reach Naharagrh fort latest by 5 pm, explore the fort by yourself for 30 mins and then go for the sunset viewpoint (if you walk straight from the entrance, towards the end of the road, you will find an elevated place built to see sunset over the fort wall)
Opening Hours: 9 am to 5 pm (however you can stay back if you are seeing sunset or having food at one of the restaurants till as late as 10 pm)
Suggested time spend: 90 min
Guide Needed: No
This fort stands on the edge of the Aravalli hill overlooking the city of Jaipur. It was also built by Maharajah Sawai Jai Singh.
“Nahar” means tiger. “Gar” means fortress. In English, this magnificent fortress means “Tiger Fort”. Nahargarh was also the hunting residence of the Maharajas of Jaipur. Rising above Jaipur’s hills, the walls of Nahargarh Fort meander along a ridge with a view of the whole pink city of Jaipur.
Once you enjoy the sunset and roam around Nahargarh fort, you can come back to the city again.
For the evening we suggest head to Windview Café or The Tattoo Café opposite to Hawa Mahal and admire the beauty of Hawa Mahal. Both these cafes provide the best view of Hawa Mahal and it looks magical when the lights are on!!
You can also walk to nearby Johri Bazaar (for gem, jewellery, handicraft items) or Bapu Bazaar (footwear, home décor, fabric materials etc.) to do some shopping (in case you still have energy left inside you !!)
End your super hectic day with an amazing dinner. After a full day of running around and eating on the go, treat yourself in the famous Laxmi Misthan Bhandar – you deserve it !!
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