Viewing the Jodphur’s Blue City from the spectacular Mehrangarh Fort

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wilder-beast migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
3
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
8
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
6
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling food market
5
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
5
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
9
Overall Score
The highest score of nature or culture, + fun factor, + avoid the crowds, + the highest score of world famous or unique. Then turned into a score out of 100. More details at the bottom of the page
70 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
continent
Asia
country
India
Length of time
1 day or less
Rough cost
Obviously people have different tastes, so this will depend on those tastes, but this is a rough idea of price of the whole experience based on 2 people able to split the accommodation costs and excluding travel there and back
$ 40
Time of year visited
November
Primary Tags
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All Tags
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site
123rd/372 This travel experience's ranking compared to all the other experiences on this site
Top 40% SUMMARY RATING: Superb

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

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