Wanting to get closer to Sheikh Salim Chisti, the Sufi saint whom he worshipped, Emperor Akbar founded a new city on the site of Sikri in 1570. The “Friday mosque” houses the saint’s white marble mausoleum, which is accessed via the Sublime Gate , t..

Fatehpur, the “town of victory”, has a tranquil feel – and for good reason, as this short-lived capital of Emperor Akbar has not been inhabited for four centuries, and the only monument to get at all busy here is a tomb, the mausoleum of Sheikh Salim..

The capital of the Mughal empire is now no more than a ghost town. Although its houses have disappeared, its magnificent red sandstone Mughal- and Rajput-style palaces remain: the Panch Mahal , with its 176 columns; the Palace of Jodha Bai , adorne..

The City Palace, a vast palatial complex founded by Jai Singh II (first half of the 18C), is home to the buildings of the Rajasthan administration, as well as to Jaipur’s main tourist sights: the Palace of the Winds, the observatory, and the palace i..

To finish your visit of Jaipur, it is well worth heading up to the Amber Fort, which stands imperiously above the small Maota Sagar Lake a few miles from the Pink City. Amber was once the capital of Jaipur state. In the late 16C, Man Singh I built hi..

Shekhawati, a semi-desert region in the centre of the Bikaner-Jaipur-Delhi triangle, was prosperous in the 18C during the reign of Sardul Singh thanks to its location on the caravan routes linking the imperial cities of Delhi and Agra. In Nawalgarh..

Built in 1802 by a silk merchant, the Nadine Le Prince haveli is now the property of a French painter who has spent ten years restoring the building. Visiting this haveli provides an interesting insight into other old houses where you will find t..

Since the early 17C, Junagarth Fort has been home to a string of royal palaces behind its impregnable red sandstone walls marked with 30 bastions. Take some time to admire the Anup Mahal, where the maharajas were crowned and which is richly decorated..

Situated in the heart of the Thar desert, Jaisalmer is dominated by its 12C fort, which is surrounded by a long wall fortified with numerous bastions that have unfortunately been damaged by water seepage. The citadel, which is accessed via huge gat..

Jaisalmer was an important staging post on the caravan route between India and Persia, Arabia and the West. It therefore comes as no surprise that the town boasts a number of splendid havelis in pink-ochre sandstone, built by the rich merchants of ..

Since the mid 15C, Jodhpur has been dominated by the impressive Mehrangarh Fort, the “majestic fort” and a masterpiece of Rajput architecture built in ochre-coloured limestone. The building was used as the maharajas’ residence right up to the early 2..

Discover the splendour of the Rajput maharajas in this museum housed in the Mehrangarh Fort . Visit the sumptuous interior of the Takhat Mahal , adorned with mirrors and coloured glass balls; the Phul Mahal , richly gilded and painted in the 19C; ..

The waters of Pichola Lake lap against the whitewashed houses of the old town. As you explore the narrow alleyways of the town, don’t miss the former palace of the Maharaja of Bagore (Bagore ki Haveli), which now houses a museum, or the 17C Jagdish t..

The palace of the Maharaja of Udaipur, or the City Palace, is considered to be the largest palace-fortress in Rajasthan, measuring 500m in length and 30m in height. Showing strong Mughal influence, the palace overlooks Pichola Lake and boasts stunn..

The City Palace museum is a maze of palace buildings, corridors and staircases (visitors follow a signposted linear route). Head up the stairs and enter the museum through the first building on the left. The rooms to the right on the first floor hous..

This splendid Jain temple, one of the largest in Rajasthan, is the work of the famous architect Dipak , who built it in the 15C for the rich merchant Sanghvi Dharnak Shah . Its rooms and courtyards are adorned with an array of exquisite marble scul..

The palace of Jodha Bai was named after a Hindu wife of Akbar, the daughter of a maharaja of Jodhpur. Entrance to the building from the east is via a porch flanked with niches where armed eunuchs once stood, which is overlooked by jharokha (covered..

The Panch Mahal (a five-storey palace), easily recognisable from a distance thanks to its tall triangular silhouette, separates the women’s area from the men’s. Its five hypostyle storeys decrease in size, each placed on top of the other like a pack ..

The Diwan-I Khas, or Hall of Private Audiences, is famous for its magnificent central column carved with scroll-shaped corbels. At the top of the column is a plinth on which the emperor sat to receive his subjects or scholars to discuss philosophical..

The delightful palace of the Turkish Sultana occupies an L-shaped pavilion in the style of a wooden cabin, surrounded by an exquisitely carved veranda. Inside the palace, panels of bas-reliefs depict lions and birds frolicking amid luxuriant vegetati..