Travel in Shekhawati

Shekhawati is a group of small towns north of Jaipur — Mandawa, Nawalgarh, Alsisar, Fatehpur and their neighbours — where merchants who made money on the old east-west caravan trade built havelis and painted them, walls and courtyards, inside and out. The trade moved to the ports. The paintings stayed. That is the whole reason to come here.

Four of our fifteen India tours reach Shekhawati, and it is worth saying plainly what that means: none of them is a Shekhawati trip. One gives it two nights, two give it one, and the fourth only drives through. Everything either side is Jaipur, the desert cities, Agra and beyond. If you want a week of walking painted streets town by town, we are not the right operator for it.

Colourful Rajasthan & Himalayas, 12 days from EUR 1,910, gives the region the most room. Day two leaves Delhi after a city tour and ends in Alsisar. Day three stays put: the murals in the Alsisar havelis, which tell stories from daily life, mythology and religion, then Mandawa, then a camel ride at sunset followed by dinner. Day four you are in Jaipur. Two nights, two towns, and the only one of the four where Shekhawati is not squeezed into a driving day.

Royal Rajasthan & Varanasi, 14 days from EUR 1,520, is the cheapest way in. Delhi to Mandawa on day two, the painted havelis, the sunset camel ride, one night at Vivaana Culture in a deluxe room or similar. Day three picks up Nawalgarh on the road to Jaipur. One night, two towns.

North India — landscapes and culture, 21 days from EUR 2,300, arrives from the other direction. Day eleven starts in Bikaner with a tuk-tuk through the old town and Junagarh Fort, so Shekhawati gets the second half of the day and one night, at Vivana Heritage in Nawalgarh. Day twelve is Jaipur. One warning on this route: its Jaipur hotel is called Alsisar Haveli. That is a Jaipur property borrowing a Shekhawati village name — it is not a night in Alsisar.

Rajasthan — The Land of Kings, 14 days from EUR 1,800, does not sleep here at all. Day eight drives from Jaipur to Bikaner along the old caravan route with a stop in Fatehpur to see the painted trading houses, and the night is in Bikaner. If Shekhawati is why you are booking, this is not your tour. Two of our other Rajasthan trips skip the region completely: On the trails of the Maharajas and The magic of Rajasthan both run south and east from Jaipur and never go north of it.

What none of them do: no itinerary names Churu, Ramgarh, Mahansar, Bissau, Dundlod or Lakshmangarh, all painted towns in the same district. None names the Podar Haveli museum in Nawalgarh. Nothing is built around the Shekhawati Festival — every trip we sell is private with no fixed dates, so we do not run departures timed to a festival. And our own itineraries say "some interiors" rather than all, which is honest: many havelis are still lived in or locked up, the outside walls and whichever courtyards are open are the dependable part, and we cannot promise in advance which doors you will get through on the day.

You arrive by road. No domestic flight and no overnight train serves Shekhawati; it is a car journey from Delhi, Jaipur or Bikaner with your own guide and driver, which is exactly why it lands as a stop between two larger places on every one of these routes. All four tours also include the Taj Mahal, which is closed on Fridays. Shifting the Agra day to dodge a Friday moves the days before it as well, Shekhawati among them — so give us your dates early and we will build the route around that.