I had visited Jodhpur as a part of my grand trip of Rajasthan covering Jaipur -> Ajmer – Pushkar -> Jaisalmer -> Jodhpur. In my previous blog, I have already shown you the magnificent Mehrangarh Fort so in this blog I will take you to some of the other tourist attractions in the city.
Places to visit around Jodhpur
Jodhpur being a reasonably small town can be easily covered in Auto thus with this suggestion from my homestay owner I managed to visit quite a few hot spots in the city. As for the Auto’s do bargain and fix a price before hopping in else there will be needles hassle at the destination.
Mehrangarh Fort
This is the jewel in the crown when it comes to Jodhpur. This fort is a massive stone structure on top of a small hill, due to its position it can be easily spotted from a distance and the first view will definitely take your breath away. This fort is considered as one of the largest forts in the country and with its history dating back to 1460 AD makes also a landmark in the region’s history.
This fort actually has a long construction history, originally started by Rao Jodha when he decided to move away from Mandore to this much more secure hilltop fort. The fort what we see now was actually mostly constructed by Jaswant Singh during the 17th century.
I have written a detailed blog on Mehrangarh Fort which you can check out for a detailed information.
Jaswant Thada – Jodhpur
The first destination would be Jaswant Thada, this place you can visit along with your trip to Mehrangarh Fort. This place is basically a cenotaph built by Maharaja Sardar Singh in the year 1899 in memory of his father Jaswant Singh II. This area has a huge manmade lake cut into the rocks which act as a reservoir during the summer months. The main mausoleum is built with very thin white marble sheets and due to this, it changes hues as to the position of the sun. There is also a tiered garden at this place from where you can see both Mehrangarh Fort and Umaid Bhawan Palace.
Ghanta Ghar – Jodhpur
Moving on you take the auto next towards Clock Tower (Ghanta Ghar). This place as the name suggest has a huge clock tower built by Maharaja Sardar Singh. This location also is the main market area (Sardar Market) in Jodhpur and is the best place to do some shopping. Do bargain before committing to a price. This place is also famous for its food and the name that first comes to my mind is Mirchi Vada from a shop called Sashi Samosa. Along with this, the other delicacies are Samosas and Lassi. The Lassi out here is very different from what we get anywhere else in the country, it’s actually Shrikhand Lassi and tastes very different.
Sadar Market – Jodhpur
Umaid Bhawan Palace – Jodhpur
The next stop on the map would be Umaid Bhawan Palace, this is actually a rather new palace whose construction started in the year 1929 by Maharaja Umaid Singh. Once the main residence of the Jodhpur royal family this place is also now a star hotel and a museum. If you are not a guest at the hotel then your access is limited to the museum section. This palace has a fantastic collection of vintage cars and visiting its garage should be top of your agenda if you are a vintage car fan.
Mandore Garden – Jodhpur
Next and final stop for the day would be Mandore Garden, Mandore was once the capital of Rathore’s before shifting to Mehrangarh Fort. There are few temples and cenotaphs here, you can spend a leisure evening in the garden enjoying the cool breeze under the shade of the huge trees. The old palace is also located nearby and can be easily visited.
Apart from these there few more places which you can add to your itinerary are Balsamand Lake and Garden, Jain Mahavira Temple & Kaylana Lake. I could not visit these places as my time was limited and it was time for me to move on to my next destination.
Finally, my grand tour of Rajasthan was over but the trip continued, I did not want to return to Kolkata directly so made a short stopover at Agra, the land of the Taj. I hope you have enjoyed going through my blog see you next at The Taj.