Pushkar Camel Fair 2026 Tour: 9 Days with Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur

Arrive in Jaipur

Your driver meets you at Jaipur airport and takes you to your hotel. If you are arriving in Delhi from abroad, a short connecting flight to Jaipur is easier than the five-hour drive. Check in, rest and adjust to the time change; nothing is planned until the early evening.

Then take a gentle walk with your guide through the old city's bazaars as the lights come on, past sweet shops, bangle sellers and the pink façades of the walled city founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. The city was painted its famous terracotta pink to welcome the Prince of Wales in 1876, and the colour has been kept ever since.

Johari Bazaar is the street for jewellery and Bapu Bazaar for textiles and embroidered slippers, but tonight is for looking rather than buying. Stop for a hot pyaaz kachori, Jaipur's spiced onion pastry, or a glass of sweet lassi. November evenings are pleasantly cool, so bring a light layer.

• ArrivalMeet and greet at Jaipur airport
• AfternoonRest at the hotel
• EveningWalk through the old city bazaars

OvernightJaipur, 2 nights, in a heritage haveli or palace hotel.

Forts and palaces of the Pink City

Stop on the way out of town to photograph Jal Mahal, the water palace in Man Sagar Lake, then ride a jeep up to Amber Fort early in the morning, before the tour buses. Explore its courtyards, the painted Ganesh Pol gateway and the Sheesh Mahal, the Hall of Mirrors, part of the UNESCO-listed Hill Forts of Rajasthan. Below the fort, Panna Meena ka Kund is a 16th-century stepwell with a striking zigzag pattern of steps.

After a Rajasthani lunch, perhaps dal baati churma, baked wheat balls with lentils and sweet crumble, visit the City Palace, still partly home to Jaipur's royal family, and the Jantar Mantar observatory with its giant stone sundial, built in the 1720s and still accurate. Finish at the honeycomb façade of the Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds, built in 1799 so that royal women could watch street life unseen.

The evening is free. Your guide can suggest a rooftop restaurant with views of the old city.

• MorningJal Mahal, Amber Fort and the Panna Meena stepwell
• AfternoonCity Palace, Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal
• EveningFree

OvernightJaipur.

To Pushkar before the crowds

Drive south-west to Pushkar on a good highway past Kishangarh, a town of marble yards, and Ajmer. If you would like, stop at Ajmer's dargah, the shrine of the Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, before the road climbs over the Nag Pahar, the Snake Mountain, and drops into Pushkar's valley. Herders and camel traders start arriving days before the official opening, so the dunes are already filling with animals, tents and cooking fires.

Check in to your tented camp near the fairground. Tents have proper beds and private bathrooms, and meals are served in a dining tent. The grounds are sandy and dusty, so closed shoes and a cotton scarf help, and a small torch is useful at night.

At sunset, walk out to the edge of the grounds to watch the camel herds arrive across the sand, silhouetted against the sky. It is one of the best photographs of the trip. Remember that Pushkar is a holy town, where meat, eggs and alcohol are not allowed.

• MorningDrive to Pushkar, with an optional stop at the Ajmer dargah
• AfternoonCheck in at your tented camp
• SunsetWatch the camel herds arrive on the dunes

OvernightPushkar, 3 nights, in a tented camp near the fairground. Dinners included.

Opening day of the fair

Walk the trading grounds at dawn with your guide, when bargaining is at its liveliest, smoke drifts over the herds and the low light turns the sand gold. Watch traders inspect camels' teeth and haggle over prices while women in bright skirts cook breakfast over open fires. Look for camels dressed for sale, with beaded necklaces, bells, woollen pompoms and patterns clipped into their coats. Always ask before photographing people, and expect to give a small tip if a herder poses for you.

Later in the morning, watch the opening procession with musicians, dancers and decorated camels. Livestock trading is strongest in these first days.

Spend the afternoon resting at the camp, out of the midday sun and dust, then return to the grounds in the evening, when folk musicians play around the fires. The fair has a carnival side too, with Ferris wheels and stalls selling bangles, saddles, embroidered harnesses and leather goods. Try hot malpua, the sweet fried pancake Pushkar is known for, from a stall that is cooking fresh.

• DawnGuided walk on the trading grounds
• MorningThe opening procession
• AfternoonRest at the camp
• EveningFolk music, stalls and the fairground

OvernightPushkar.

The lake, the ghats and the contests

Return to the trading grounds early for more photographs, then walk into town to the Brahma Temple, one of the very few temples in India dedicated to the creator god, with its red spire and carved swans. Shoes and leather items are left outside. Continue to the 52 ghats around Pushkar Lake, where pilgrims are already arriving for the full moon. Do not photograph people bathing, and if a priest offers you flowers for a blessing, it is a paid puja; a polite no is fine.

Afternoon events usually include camel races, camel decoration contests, turban-tying and the famous moustache competition, along with folk music and dance. Hot-air balloon flights run on some mornings, weather permitting, and can be booked locally.

At sunset, join the evening aarti on the ghats, when lamps are waved over the water to the sound of bells and chanting. It is a calm end to your last night at the fair. For a quieter view, take the ropeway up to the hilltop Savitri Temple in the late afternoon.

• DawnTrading grounds
• MorningBrahma Temple and the ghats
• AfternoonFair contests, folk music and dance
• SunsetEvening aarti on the ghats

OvernightPushkar.

To the Blue City

Leave Pushkar after breakfast and drive west to Jodhpur, as the land flattens into the open scrub and farmland of Marwar. Your driver will stop for chai at a roadside dhaba. Check in to your hotel and rest; after three early mornings at the fair, you will be glad of it.

Spend the late afternoon at Mehrangarh Fort, founded in 1459 on a cliff high above the city. Explore its palace rooms and museum: the gilded Phool Mahal, the mirrored Sheesh Mahal and galleries of royal palanquins, howdahs and miniature paintings. Beside the Loha Pol gate, look for the small handprints left by royal women of the past. Then look down from the ramparts at the blue-washed houses of the old city as the sun sets.

In the evening, ask your guide to take you down to the Clock Tower market for Jodhpur's two famous snacks: mirchi vada, a large stuffed chilli fritter, and makhaniya lassi, thick, creamy and scented with saffron.

• DayDrive to Jodhpur
• Late afternoonMehrangarh Fort and sunset from the ramparts
• EveningOptional Clock Tower market and street food

OvernightJodhpur, 1 night, in a heritage or palace hotel.

Ranakpur and on to Udaipur

Drive south into the forested Aravalli hills to Ranakpur, home to one of the most beautiful temples in India. The road gets greener and hillier as you go, and you may see langur monkeys along the way. The 15th-century Jain temple, dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankara, has 1,444 carved marble pillars, no two alike, and light falls through its domes in shifting patterns. Look for the marble panel of Parshvanath, carved with a canopy of many-headed snakes.

Non-Jain visitors may enter from noon to 5 pm; leather items are not allowed inside. Cover shoulders and knees, and leave shoes at the entrance. Have a simple vegetarian lunch nearby before you go in.

Continue through the hills to Udaipur, arriving by early evening at your lakeside hotel. Udaipur, founded in 1559, is the greenest of Rajasthan's cities, and after the desert its lakes are a welcome change. Have dinner on a rooftop overlooking Lake Pichola.

• MorningDrive through the Aravalli hills
• AfternoonRanakpur Jain temple
• EveningArrive in Udaipur

OvernightUdaipur, 2 nights, at a lakeside heritage hotel.

Udaipur's palaces and lakes

Explore the City Palace in the morning, the largest palace complex in Rajasthan, built by the Maharanas of Mewar over four centuries, with views over Lake Pichola from its terraces. Look for the Mor Chowk, a courtyard decorated with glass-mosaic peacocks, and the Crystal Gallery, full of crystal furniture ordered from England in 1877 and never used.

In the afternoon, visit Saheliyon ki Bari, the Garden of the Maidens, with its fountains and lotus pools, and the Jagdish Temple in the old city, built in 1651, its walls covered in carved dancers and elephants. The lanes around it are full of miniature painting workshops, a good place to buy a small piece of Mewar art.

End the trip with a late-afternoon boat ride on Lake Pichola, past the Lake Palace and the island of Jag Mandir, as the city turns gold in the setting sun. If you still have energy, the folk dance show at Bagore ki Haveli on Gangaur Ghat is a cheerful last evening.

• MorningCity Palace
• AfternoonSaheliyon ki Bari and the Jagdish Temple
• SunsetBoat ride on Lake Pichola
• EveningOptional folk dance show at Bagore ki Haveli

OvernightUdaipur.

Fly home from Udaipur

If your flight is not too early, take a last walk along the lake at sunrise, when the ghats are quiet and the City Palace catches the first light.

Transfer to Udaipur airport and fly to Delhi or Mumbai to connect with your international flight home. Allow at least four hours between flights, as domestic delays are common and you may need to change terminals. Keep your passport and tickets handy; both are checked at the terminal entrance.

• MorningTransfer to Udaipur airport