The Ultimate 3 Day Jaipur Sightseeing Itinerary

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Jaipur, very aptly named the “Pink City,” is one of the most exciting places I have been to. From the hustling and bustling streets filled with street vendors, locals, tourists, rickshaws, motorcyles, cars, and even cows, you’ll find your senses in full overload. But, in the best way possible. The city is loud, vibrant, and if you blink for just a second, you might miss something incredible. Jaipur boasts some of the most beautiful palaces and intricate architectures, but is also filled with stunning temples, cenotaphs, and historic forts. Here is my Ultimate 3 Day Jaipur Sightseeing Itinerary— perfect for any lovers of culture, exploration, and photography!

couple at Tattoo Cafe, Hawa Mahel viewpoint in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Booking a Guide: If you are a photography lover and looking for someone to help you take photos around Jaipur, while also giving you cultural and historical context, I highly recommend booking with Puneet Yadav (His Airbnb Experience Listing | His Instagram). We hired him as our guide for 2 days, and he knew exactly which spots to go and when to go for optimal photography lighting. On top of that, he has been living in Jaipur for over 20+ years, and knows all the in’s and outs of the city. We had the best time exploring with him and our Jaipur Itinerary and experience just wouldn’t be the same without his expertise.

India Entry Requirements: You’ll need to apply for a tourist visa upon flying to India. The application process takes 3-5 days, but I highly recommend applying at least a week beforehand, and do it directly with the Indian Government Website. That way, if there is anything wrong with your application, you’ll have time to fix it.

Getting Around & Transportation: We had a full day driver the first day, and then once we hired Puneet as our guide, he drove us around last two. You can always hire a driver to take you from place to place, but rickshaws, taxis, and ubers are also commonly used!

Airport: We did the Golden Triangle drive, flying into Delhi and driving to Agra and then Jaipur. However, Jaipur does have their own international airport JAI.

Weather: We went to India at the end of November going into December, which is their winter time. The weather was PERFECT. Comfortable all throughout the day time, and just a little chilly at night and in the early mornings. A light sweater is all you need.

Best Time to Visit: We highly advise visiting during the winter. Spring & summer months (April, May, June) are unbearably hot, while July, August, & September are monsoon season. December to March is ideal!

Currency: Indian Rupees

Language: Hindi is most commonly spoken in Jaipur. In most tourist attractions and hotels/restaurants, you’ll find people who speak enough English to answer simple questions like directions or hours.

WHERE TO STAY

Because Jaipur is quite large and the attractions are all spread out, there is not one perfectly central location that would make sightseeing most convenient. We opted to stay outside of the Old City to avoid all of the crazy traffic on a day to day basis. Instead, we stayed North of the city by Man Sagar Lake.

Book Our Hotel Here

Our hotel, without traffic, was located perfectly 10 minutes South of Amer Fort & 10 minutes North of Hawa Mahel. (Two destinations that were highest on my Jaipur bucketlist). With excellent wifi, clean, spacious, and modern rooms, I would highly recommend staying here. My only blip in the hotel was the downstairs restaurant gave me the runs 🥲 but pick your own battles, you know? Our hotel was only $50/night!

OTHER HOTELS I RECOMMEND

WHAT TO EAT

Pyaz Kachori — deep fried puff pastry with onions and spices, served with a dipping sauce
Lassi — yoghurt beverage with cured cream/yoghurt on top (my favorite!)
Kulfi — frozen dairy dessert, sometimes made with condensed milk for a thicker texture. We had ours with pistachio and saffron!
Ghevar– a disc shaped sweet cake
Laal Maans — mutton curry cooked in red spices & yoghurt
Cold Coffee — like a frappucino!

Now that we’ve got all of the nitty gritty out of the way, here is my Ultimate Guide to Jaipur.

3 DAY JAIPUR ITINERARY

This itinerary is JAM PACKED, but created in the best order for you to be in the right place at the right time. Again, I would highly recommend hiring Puneet because he knows the EXACT location of the photo spots. It may seem easy to get to these photo spots, but finding the right palace rooms, or the right empty corners, can be a challenge without him!

DAY 1 of 3 JAIPUR ITINERARY OVERVIEW

Sunrise at Albert Hall
8:00AM — Opening Hours for Amer Fort
Lunch at Tattoo Cafe with views of Hawa Mahel
Monkey Temple
Sunset at Nahargarh Fort

ALBERT HALL MUSEUM

Albert Hall Museum is the oldest museum in Jaipur, and serves as the official museum of Rajasthan. It is filled with jewelry, paintings, artifacts, and sculptures, but what seemingly draws everyone to Albert Hall is the flock of birds in front of the museum. When arriving at sunrise, the light hits just perfectly and the birds are constantly circling the air. People come from all over just to capture a photo of the museum with the birds in the background.

At the foot of Albert Hall are locals selling bird seeds to keep the birds there. You don’t need to buy any seeds though, as there are already thousands on the ground from all the tourists throughout the day. It was a little tricky capturing some flying bird shots, but we managed!

sunrise at Albert Hall Musuem with birds, Jaipur India

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AMBER FORT / AMER FORT

Amber Fort or Amer Fort, is probably my favorite location in all of Jaipur. Unfortunately, since a monsoon accident, you are no longer able to walk the city fort side. (And there’s no way of sneaking on there, as you’re fully visible from every watch tower.) But, Amer Palace itself is very beautiful and absolutely worth going inside.

There are three ways to enter the Amer Palace. The first is the main entrance at the bottom of the hill. Most buses and cars will stop there, and you have to hike about 20 mins to get to the fort. The second (with the help of Puneet), is driving directly to the back and walking right in. And the third is riding an elephant to the top, which we highly condemn. Please do not take photos of, ride, or entertain these gentle giants.

After entering the stunning Ganash Pol entrance, there are beautiful courtyards, palace rooms, and views of the fort. We spent close to 2 hours here.

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Amer Fort is open from 8AM to 7PM, 550INR per person.

HAWA MAHEL

Hawa Mahel is exactly what I think of when I think of Jaipur. Ironically, it’s the backside of a Palace, and most people don’t enter the palace because the facade is the most beautiful part. The street side can get really busy, but we went to Tattoo Cafe across the street, which is on a higher floor and can give you really beautiful views across the way.

couple sitting at Tattoo Cafe, Hawa Mahel viewpoint in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

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Don’t just stop in for photos but support their business by ordering some drinks and snacks!! They also actually do tattoos there for any adventurous and spontaneous people out there!

Tattoo Cafe Jaipur Hours: 8AM to 11PM

GALTAJI TEMPLE / MONKEY TEMPLE

The Monkey Temple is a Hindu pilgrimage, often visited by people all over the country. With a natural spring flowing from the top of the hills, you can often times find the pilgrims bathing behind in it. You’ll also see a ton of animals at this temple, from cows to monkeys, goats, and dogs. Be careful with your belongings and don’t bring any food or drinks inside.

Online it says there are no entrance fees, but upon arrival, we were charged 200 for admission and 100 rupees per every camera and phone brought in. Hours are 5AM to 9PM.

NAHARGARH FORT

Ever since the Amer Fort walls closed, a second alternative to climbing the fort became Nahargarh Fort. If there are too many people there, the guards might call you down from climbing up, but it tends to be pretty quiet on weekdays and a couple hours before sunset.

Nahargarh Fort is open every day from 10:00AM to 5:30PM, with the cost of 200 rupees for foreign tourists.

DAY 2 of 3 JAIPUR ITINERARY OVERVIEW

Sunrise at Patrika Gate
City Palace
City Palace Royal Tour
Maharaniyo Ki Chatri Cenotaphs
Gaitore Cenotaphs

PATRIKA GATE

Patrika Gate is located 30 minutes outside the City Center of Jaipur. The Patrika Gate is relatively new (2016), and each gate’s pillar is painted to include some historical information on the state of Rajasthan. The gate is actually an entrance to a park, and if you’re looking to take photos here, just keep in mind that there are a lot of locals on their morning walk, as well as couple’s taking wedding and engagement photos.

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CITY PALACE

The City Palace is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Jaipur. To this day, the royal family of Jaipur still reside in the palace. From different courtyards to royal rooms, you’ll find that you can explore the palace for hours. Unfortunately while we were there, they were setting up for a wedding so it was significantly busier and more chaotic with decorations than normal.

You might also recognize the famous Season Gates of the Palace, but due to preservation and restoration, the gates are roped off and you can no longer sit at the entrances of them.

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Hours are 9:30 to 5:00PM and then 7:00PM to 10:00PM. The adult ticket for foreigners is 700 Indian Rupees for the regular admission and 3500 Rupees for the Royal Tour (that includes the infamous blue room).

CITY PALACE ROYAL TOUR

We paid the extra $2800 rupees to enter 3 separate rooms of the Royal Tour. You’ll probably recognize the blue room from Instagram. To be completely honest, I didn’t think it was worth the extra money to come see and found it underwhelming. The room is not as intricate as I thought it would be, and parts of the palace outside of the room have far more beautiful and stunning architecture!

MAHARANIYO KI CHATRI CENOTAPHS

A cenotaph is an empty tomb or monument and the Maharaniyo Ki Chatri are monuments dedicated to the female royal family. These cenotaphs eflect the Indo-Islamic architecture style, with columned pavillions and beautiful domes. Keep in mind to take your shoes off if standing under the domes!

The hours of entry are 9:30PM to 4:00PM and are 100 IDR per entry.

THE GAITORE CENOTAPHS

The Gaitore Cenotaphs are dedicated to the men of the Royal family. These cenotaphs are a bit more elaborate and colorful, with beautiful bougainvillea backdrops.

Day 3 of 3 DAY JAIPUR ITINERARY OVERVIEW

Samode Palace
Shiromina Temple
Stepwell
Sunset at Jaigart Fort

SAMODE PALACE

Take a break from sunrise and sleep in a bit if you’re exhausted by the schedule so far, and head over to Samode Palace at your leisure. It’s an hour drive from Jaipur!

Bad timing for us again, but when we arrived to Samode Palace, someone else had booked it out for a wedding so we were given a short tour of the palace and had to leave. Had we gone any other day, the admission to enter as a non-guest of the hotel property, is 1500INR, and comes with lunch.

Because of the wedding, there were a lot of areas we weren’t allowed to explore, including the pool and cafe area, but the halls itself look incredible, and I would love to return one day and explore more of it! They are also no longer allowing professional photography inside Samode Palace, so iPhone only photos!

SHRI JAGAT SHIROMINI TEMPLE

Shiromini Temple is a stunning Hindu Temple located in Amer. It’s quite small but has a grand entrance and definitely worth visiting to see! We were charged 25 INR per person upon entry.

PANNA MEENA KA KUND STEPWELL

We headed to the infamous Panna Meena Stepwell after. Due to preservation, you can no longer step down on the Stepwell and only take photos from above. It definitely doesn’t look as exciting from the top angle, and I would consider cutting it out of the Jaipur Itinerary if you are short on time. Many women, dating back to the 16th century, would fill their waterpots here for household work, or use it for the many nearby temples (including Shiromini).

SUNSET AT JAIGART FORT

I don’t think Jaigart Fort is super high on many people’s list, but it was actually one of my favorite forts. Because it seems pretty low key and left off of many people’s Jaipur Itinerary, it was really quiet and we got to fully enjoy sunset. There were also a lot of monkeys here so just be careful!! And we had no issues climbing the walls, just be careful!