Travel in Jodhpur

Jodhpur sits on the eastern edge of the Thar Desert, under a 130-metre rock carrying Mehrangarh Fort. Below it the old town is painted blue — traditionally the colour of the Brahmin caste, and also said to keep mosquitoes down. Looking out over those blue roofs from the fort walls is what our itineraries stop here for.

Four of our fifteen India trips do stop. It is worth saying which ones do not, because Jodhpur is missing from the Rajasthan routes people ask about most: The magic of Rajasthan (10 days, from EUR 1,000), Royal Rajasthan & Varanasi (14 days, from EUR 1,520) and Colourful Rajasthan & Himalayas (12 days, from EUR 1,910) all leave it out, and so do both Golden Triangle trips. If Jodhpur matters to you, check the route before you choose on price.

The four that include it are Rajasthan – The Land of Kings (14 days, from EUR 1,800), On the trails of the Maharajas (15 days, from EUR 1,840), North India – landscapes and culture (21 days, from EUR 2,300) and India's facets & Maldives (15 days, from EUR 3,140). On three of them Jodhpur is a single night. Only the 21-day North India trip gives it two, at the Ranbanka in a Deluxe room, with a full day for the city in between. On India's facets & Maldives you sleep one night at the Ratan Vilas in a Superior courtyard room. The other two itineraries do not name their Jodhpur hotel.

What you see is the same on all four: Mehrangarh Fort, entered through its gates and up the serpentine road built to slow attackers down, and the white marble cenotaph of Jaswant Thada below it. Two of the four — the Maharajas trip and the North India route — add the bazaar around the clock tower, and both say the same thing about it: haggling is part of the visit. That is the whole Jodhpur programme.

What is not in it: Umaid Bhawan Palace does not appear in any of our fifteen India itineraries, and neither does the Bishnoi village jeep safari, Mandore, or the Toorji Ka Jhalra stepwell. There is no camel ride and no desert night at Jodhpur itself. The camel rides on these routes are at Jaisalmer, and the desert camp on the Maharajas trip is at Manvar, out in the Thar well before you reach the city.

How you arrive differs, and it changes the shape of the day. On Rajasthan – The Land of Kings you come in by road from Jaisalmer on day 11, see the fort and Jaswant Thada, sleep once, and leave next morning for the Jain temple at Ranakpur and on to Udaipur. On On the trails of the Maharajas you arrive on day 13 after two nights at the Manvar desert camp — a jeep safari, a camel ride, an evening of regional music and dance — and on day 14 you fly from Jodhpur to Delhi. That is the only flight out of Jodhpur written into any of our itineraries. North India – landscapes and culture arrives the most unusual way: a narrow-gauge mountain train from Kamblighat to Phulad on day 6, then by car into the blue city, two nights, and on to Jaisalmer. On India's facets & Maldives you come from Jaipur on day 6; the itinerary does not describe that road, and it is a long one.

All four also take in Agra and the Taj Mahal, which is closed on Fridays. Every trip is private and built to your own dates, so that closure moves the whole sequence, and the Jodhpur day moves with it. Each of the four includes a German-speaking guide, hotel accommodation with breakfast, a bottle of water when you land and someone reachable 24 hours a day. Rooms are Standard, Deluxe, Superior or Executive — there is no five-star tier in our range. International flights are not included; the Jodhpur to Delhi flight on the Maharajas trip is.