Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is a breathtaking heritage city that lies in the heart of the Thar Desert. Surrounded by sand dunes, the city has the spectacular golden Jaisalmer Fort towering over it and apparently rising out of the desert haze. Made of yellow sandstone, Jaisalmer Fort, Havelis, Palace of the Maharawal, several Hindu temples, exquisitely sculpted trio of Jain temples and Gadsisar Lake are the places that are not to be missed out on your trip to this beautiful city.
The most famous havelis are Nathmalji ki Haveli, Salim Singh ki Haveli and the Patwon ki Haveli. The Desert Culture Centre and Museum is a place which gives visitors an inside view of Jaisalmer, with its extensive collection of old coins, textile, weaponry, traditional Rajasthani musical instruments and fossils found in the desert. The Gadsisar Lake is an artificial water body that stores rainwater. In the harsh desert landscape, it becomes a major attraction and a favourite picnic spot. Including a desert safari during a visit here would also prove to be an unforgettable experience. The city is well connected by air, road and railways.
Best time to visit: October to February
Languages spoken: Rajasthani, Hindi, Urdu
Climate: Very hot summers and cold winters
Heritage sites: Jaisalmer Fort, Palace of the Maharawal, Nathmalji ki Haveli, Salim Singh ki Haveli, Patwon ki Haveli.
Holy places: Several Hindu and Jain Temples
Activities: Desert Safari
Places to visit: Desert Culture Centre and Museum, Gadsisar Lake

Jodhpur->Jaisalmer->Bikaner in 5 days : Part-2

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Jaisalmer was our next destination and on our return journey we planned to cover Bikaner. We decided to start after getting fresh in early morning so that we do not end up wasting time in Jaisalmer. We reached Jaisalmer by around 8:30 AM, luckily found a local guide and took some guidance from him and by 10 we were in the Jaisalmer fort. Took a guide (he was just hovering around there) there and started the fort visit. We booked the tickets for the Swiss camp in the Sam sand dunes from the fort only.

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Jodhpur->Jaisalmer->Bikaner in 5 days : Part-1

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Since quite some time I have been thinking “what an amazing experience it will be drive through the Rajasthan deserts and barren lands”. I have only seen those in movies but to do it on my own is something I have always been dreaming for. Unfortunately because of our professional life, it is not always an easy job to plan such kind of trips. But then you get a chance and you have to reap the advantages then and there on. Exactly that is what I did, and made a quick plan of visiting Jodhpur, Jaisalmer during the republic day leave on 2012. Took two additional days leave and planned the whole trip. And as we found out later, it was not a bad decision at all. Here’s a small description on the entire trip that I had and I hope this will be really helpful to those who are actually planning for such trips. Although 5 days is a bit tight for visiting these places, I tried to cover the maximum things that can be visited within this schedule.

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Rail trip to Jaisalmer

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The hour and a half that you spend on the train on that stretch is filled with varying emotions….and then suddenly you enter the Jaisalmer station….it just crops up from nowhere……and I guess that’s the best way to end a journey which has been full of colour, emotions, questions and surprises.

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Jaisalmer – The Golden City

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Jaisalmer had been on my wish list for a very long time. Having seeing beaches, backwaters, historical places, hill stations and mountains, the desert still remained to be explored. Finally the call came from the desert and one fine day we found ourselves on board the train to Jaisalmer – The Golden City of forts, havelis and the magnificent Thar. It was the cold and foggy winter evening of January 22 this year when we took the ‘DLI JSM Express’ from Gurgaon railway station. This is the only train that goes directly to Jaisalmer from Delhi via Gurgaon, Jaipur and Jodhpur. It is a sixteen hour journey.

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Journey To Rajasthan

Journey To Rajasthan

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After a long planning and endless discussions, our much awaited journey to Rajasthan finally started on November the 14th of 2009 (Children’s day). Plan…

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Jaisalmer – The golden city

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Not that this was my first trip to Rajasthan. Having traveled to Jaipur and Udaipur before, I was quite sure of what to expect when we decided to vacation in Jaisalmer. The flight from Mumbai to Jodhpur (the closest airport) took about an hour and thirty minutes. Indian Airlines of course lived up to its expectation of reaching late to any destination but we finally made it to the land of the staunch ‘Marwars’ – Jodhpur.

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