Getting Around Rajasthan

Getting around the state is rarely problematic, though there’s no avoiding some tedious long hauls. The state-run bus company, RSTDC, has regular services between cities, but since it hiked its prices by fifty percent in 1997, private operators have become a more popular option, offering cheaper fares and greater comfort.

For those who don’t want to subject themselves to sleepless nights on buses, trains connect all major cities and many smaller towns - always book ahead for night journeys. The most luxurious way to travel in Rajasthan, however, has to be the Palace On Wheels, a rolling five-star hotel that takes in the state’s highlights over a week-long whistle-stop tour.

Jaipur’s Sanganer airport, 15km south of the centre, is served by domestic Indian Airlines and Jet Airways flights from Delhi and Mumbai. An airport bus into town costs Rs.30/-, taxis charge more like Rs.250/-

The railway station is 1km west of the Pink City, very close to the main concentration of hotels, while state buses from all over Rajasthan and further a field pull in at the more central Inter-state Bus Terminal on Station Road. Arriving from Delhi, you skirt the south side of the city, stopping briefly at an intersection called Narayan Singh Circle, where rickshaw-wallahs frequently board the bus saying it’s the end of the line (”bus going to yard”); it isn’t, only a ploy to get you on to their rickshaws and into a hotel that pays generous commis sion. Rackets like this thrive in Jaipur, so brace yourself for a barrage of auto-rickshaw drivers wherever you arrive.

Rajasthan’s climate reaches the extremes common to desert regions. Temperatures can rise unbearably to over 45°C between May and June, before the heavy skies over central and east Rajasthan break with a fierce monsoon that revitalizes the arid land and fills empty- river beds. The fierce summer heat lingers until mid-September or October, when night temperatures drop considerably.

The best time to visit is between November and February, when daytime temperatures rarely exceed 30°C; in midwinter, you’ll need a shawl or thick jumper if you’re outdoors, and a thin sleeping bag for night journeys and hotels that don’t provide blankets.