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Tips & Traps
Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
- TipA place or a move worth it
- TrapWhat to avoid, and how
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Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
Join RALF to share your own tips and traps
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The Jaipur Virasat Foundation runs the RRAP Music Museum and Hub in C-Scheme, a space that combines a music museum, a soundscape garden and a recording studio focused on Rajasthan folk and regional music. It has hosted performances and residencies in the past, so check its online events calendar or write to the team…
Sanganer, a small town adjoining Jaipur on the Banganga River, has long been a centre of hand block printing, with workshops where cloth is bleached, dyed and printed on long tables. A local printer in Sanganer hosts a three-hour session where you choose wooden blocks and colours and print a scarf, dupatta or tote to…
Masala Chowk is an open-air food court inside Ram Niwas Garden, across the road from Albert Hall Museum, where well-known Jaipur street-food vendors share one courtyard. Go on a weekday evening, when the atmosphere is lively but seats are easier to find, since weekends get crowded. Walk the stalls first, then pick one…
On arrival, a taxi or rickshaw driver may claim your booked hotel is full, closed or unsafe and offer to take you to another one that pays him a commission. Before you get in, write down the address and phone number of your hotel and call it yourself to check. Insist on going to your chosen address, and if the driver…
Alsisar Haveli was built in 1892 as the Jaipur residence of the Thakur of Alsisar and is still run by the family. It stands in the Sindhi Camp area on Sansar Chandra Road, away from the old city noise, with courtyards, arches and period details. Staying here gives you a taste of a noble family's town house rather than…
In the monsoon, usually July or August, Jaipur celebrates Teej with a procession that carries the Teej Mata idol out through Tripolia Gate and along Tripolia Bazaar, Chhoti Chaupar and Gangauri Bazaar. Expect decorated camels, horses, palanquins, bands and folk performers, with many women in leheriya outfits. Confirm…
Maniharon ka Rasta, a narrow lane off Tripolia Bazaar, is where the Manihar community has shaped lac bangles by hand over coal for generations. Watch the shaping, then ask for a set sized to your wrist or matched to an outfit, since bridal sets are made to order. Shops run by the community's women often carry the name…
Panna Meena ka Kund, the geometric stepwell below Amer Fort, is free to visit, but the classic photos of people on its stairs are no longer possible. Visitors are not allowed down the steps and a guard turns people back. Shoot the pattern from the top in soft early light, ideally on a weekday, and keep your feet off…
Patrika Gate at Jawahar Circle is a painted archway covered in scenes from across Rajasthan, free to enter and open around the clock. The arches are emptiest around sunrise, and by about eight it fills with joggers, photographers and tour groups. Arrive early, wait your turn for the frame, and linger for the fountain…
The Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing occupies a restored haveli in Amer, about a kilometre from the fort, and shows how block-printed textiles are carved, dyed and stamped, with tools and fabrics on display. Combine it with Amer Fort on foot rather than a second taxi. Block-carving and printing workshops are arranged on…
A friendly driver or stranger may invite you for tea at a relative's place, which turns out to be a gem or carpet shop, with a promise that stones can be resold abroad at a big profit. The stones are often overpriced or worthless and the foreign buyer does not exist. Decline any stop you did not choose, never buy or…
Jhalana Leopard Reserve sits on Jaipur's southern edge, about thirty minutes from the centre, and holds a notable population of leopards among the Aravalli scrub. Two open-jeep drives run daily, at dawn and late afternoon. Book through the official forest-department system well ahead, because weekends and holidays…
For a cold, spoon-thick lassi in a clay cup, look for the original Lassiwala on MI Road near Panch Batti, a curd-and-ice recipe served since the 1940s. Check for shop number 312, because several neighbouring stalls borrow the name. Go in the morning, since the curd is made fresh and the supply tends to run out by…
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