Viewing the Jodphur’s Blue City from the spectacular Mehrangarh Fort
Summary
That view of the the bright white memorial of Jaswant Thada, with Mehrangarh Fort and the blue city of Jodphur peering out in the background must be one of the most dramatic in all of India and evokes that immediate reaction of WHERE IS THAT???!!! Once you’ve put it on your must-see-list and actually made the trip to Jodphur, you won’t be disappointed. The stunning views along with that exotic vibe of the Rajasthan desert make this one of the unmissable highlights of India
Top tip #1 – you’ll naturally visit the fort for its beautiful internal architecture and amazing views, but few people make the relatively short (500m / 0.3mile) walk north to the Jaswant Thada memorial. Its far less busy and the views of the fort in the background are sublime
Top tip #2 – similarly, you’ll also naturally stay around the Old Blue City area Makrana Mohalla where most of the hotels and hostels are and the general hustle and bustle, but also make sure to wander around the Navchokiya area of the old town which has the same pleasant vibe, but not quite as busy. You can access it from the fort via walking through the gorgeous Rajput Garden and exiting at the Victory Gate
Top Tip #3 – be sure to book a place to stay with an accessible roof for views of the fort, especially in the evening. There’s something quite magical about looking over the brutal looking fortifications as the sounds of evening kick in and you can see the Old Town wind down in the streets below. The place we stayed at has long closed down, but the Pal Haveli had a wonderful rooftop restaurant which you can enjoy whether a guest or not
highlights
#1 Walking over to the bright white memorial of Jaswant Thada for those magnificent views of Mehrangarh Fort in the background
#2 Heading up to the fort's battlements that stand up to 36m / 120ft tall and give commanding views of the surrounding city
#3 Wandering through the Blue City, especially after seeing just how beautiful it looks from above
#4 Getting that Rajasthan desert vibe as you start to make your way west from the standard Golden Triangle route of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur
#5 Checking out the surprisingly ornate and still-used architecture inside the Mehrangarh Fort, plus the sheer scale of the interior with gateways large enough for war elephants to match through
#6 Making the trip over to the distant hilltop of Umaid Bhawan Palace
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Fortress and Castle Experiences
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone