Travel in Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is in two of our fifteen India trips, and both give it the same shape: two nights, one full day, in and out by road. That is the honest frame for this page. It is a stop on a long Rajasthan route, not a place we settle in.

Rajasthan – The Land of Kings runs 14 days from EUR 1800. You reach Jaisalmer on day nine, driving out of Bikaner after Junagarh Fort and, if you want it, the Karni Mata rat temple at Deshnoke. That is around 330 kilometres and five to six hours, so the arrival day is mostly the road. Day ten is the full day. The fort stands on a 75-metre hill and is a living museum in the literal sense: about a quarter of the city still lives inside the walls. You walk the narrow lanes, go inside some of the carved merchant havelis, and take in the view from the city walls, where stone cannonballs still lie from more warlike times. In the afternoon there is a camel ride into the desert outside town and the sun going down over the dunes. On day eleven you drive to Jodhpur, roughly five hours, for a single night.

North India – landscapes and culture runs 21 days from EUR 2300 and comes from the other direction, by road from Jodhpur on day eight. It adds one thing the shorter trip does not have: Bada Bagh, the cremation ground just outside the city, with its rows of memorial chhattris, timed for sunset and the view back over the city. Day nine is the same full day — fort, lanes, havelis, walls, camel ride, dunes — with dinner out in the desert to close it. Day ten leaves for Bikaner and stops at the Ram Deora temple on the way. This is the route that names its hotel: the Gulaal, deluxe room or similar, for both nights.

Now what neither trip does. You do not sleep in the desert. Both ride camels in the late afternoon, watch the sun set and then drive back to a hotel bed in Jaisalmer. If a night under canvas in the Thar is the thing you actually want, the trip that has it is On the trails of the Maharajas — 15 days from EUR 1840, two nights at the Manvar desert camp with a jeep safari, a camel ride and an evening of regional music. That trip does not go to Jaisalmer at all. They are two different holidays and it is worth knowing which one you are buying.

Neither route uses a train or a plane to get here. The overnight sleeper from Delhi is a well-known way into Jaisalmer and it is in neither itinerary — you arrive in your own vehicle both times. Neither names which dunes you ride out to, and neither names which havelis you go inside, so if you have read about a particular haveli or a particular camp, raise it when you enquire rather than assuming it is already booked. Gadisar Lake is not written into either day. Nor is Desert National Park: the only wildlife on these routes is at Ranthambore, on the 14-day trip. The 21-day route has no national park at all.

Everything we sell here is private and tailor-made. Your own guide and driver, a German-speaking guide included, 24-hour contact throughout, a bottle of water on arrival, and no fixed departure dates — which is the useful part, because two nights in Jaisalmer can become three if you say so before the trip is built. Rooms come as Standard, Deluxe, Superior or Executive; there is no five-star or luxury tier. Whether you can sleep inside the fort walls is not settled by either itinerary, so ask. The Land of Kings lists no hotels anywhere on its route, so pin that whole list down on your quote rather than assume it.

One thing decides the rest: this is the Thar Desert. November to February is when the full day works properly. April to June regularly clears 45°C, and at that point the fort walk and the afternoon camel ride stop being pleasant.