Journal · Rajasthan · India
Rural Rajasthan: camps, forts and leopard country from Jaipur to Jodhpur
Rajasthan’s cities are well known. This route spends most of its nights outside them: a tented camp beside a reservoir, village forts turned into small hotels, and the granite hills of Jawai. Udaipur and Jodhpur are there too, as the two city stops in a trip that is mostly countryside.
What is the point of staying in the countryside?
Time, mostly. A village stay has no list of monuments to get through. The days are a walk through the fields, a drive at dusk to look for birds or leopards, and dinner at the place you are staying. Many of these places are old family forts and manors, run by the families that built them.
- Chhatra Sagar. A tented camp on the bank of a reservoir, with birdwatching at the water and walks through the farms around it.
- Rohet. A fort in a village south of Jodhpur, the usual base for visiting the Bishnoi settlements by jeep or on horseback.
- Chanod. A village fort near a lake and salt pans, with a walk through the village and birdwatching on the water.
How do the drives fit together?
As a loop of short days. From Jaipur the route goes south-west to Chhatra Sagar and Rohet, on through the Aravalli hills to Udaipur, then north again through Jawai and Chanod to Jodhpur. Every leg is by road, and the longest, from Rohet to Udaipur, is broken at the Jain temple of Ranakpur.
A car and driver for the whole route is the practical way to do it. Public transport reaches the cities, but not the camps and village forts in between.
Where do Udaipur and Jodhpur come in?
In the middle and at the end. Udaipur, with its palace and lake, is the pause halfway round. Jodhpur comes last: Mehrangarh Fort on its rock, and the blue houses of the old city below.
What will you see at Jawai?
Leopards, with luck, and a way of life. The hills around the Jawai reservoir are home to leopards that share the land with Rabari herders, known by their red turbans. Safaris go out by jeep early and late in the day, and the reservoir itself is good for birds.
Quick answers
Do you need a car and driver for rural Rajasthan?
In practice, yes. The camps and village forts on this route are away from railways and bus routes, and each move is a drive of a few hours.
What is there to do at a village stay?
Walks through the village and fields, birdwatching, a jeep drive at dusk, and time to rest. That slower pace is the reason to go.
Where does this route start and end?
It starts in Jaipur and ends in Jodhpur. The plan adds a journey back to Jaipur only to close the loop, and it can be changed to any onward journey.
Before you book: check the whole trip at once
Six stays and seven drives make this an easy route to leave a hole in: a night between two forts, or a drive that was arranged with one hotel and never written down.
Trips by Manr.ai puts your hotels and transport on one timeline and checks for gaps, overlaps and missing legs. Type a booking in, drop in the PDF, or paste the confirmation email. With an account and sync switched on, you can also forward confirmations to trips@manr.ai from the address you signed in with. Nothing joins your trip until you have seen it and added it.