Jodhpur

Most Rajasthani cities are built around a fort. Jodhpur is built underneath one. Mehrangarh sits on a sheer cliff a hundred and twenty metres above the rooftops, and from up there the old town below is unmistakably, improbably blue.

Mehrangarh

One of the largest forts in India, and among the best kept. What makes it unusual is that the walls were not built onto the rock but cut out of it: in places you cannot tell where the cliff ends and the fortification begins. Inside are courtyards of carved sandstone so fine it looks like screenwork, and a museum with palanquins, cradles and weapons that is genuinely worth the time.

Allow two to three hours. The audio guide included with the ticket is one of the better ones in India, and the ramparts give the view that most people come for.

The blue city

The old town below the fort, Brahmpuri, is painted in every shade of indigo. The usual explanation is that blue marked the houses of Brahmin families; the more practical one is that the pigment repels insects and keeps the walls cooler. Both are probably true.

It is a working neighbourhood, not a monument: narrow lanes, motorbikes, washing overhead, people going about their day. The best way to see it is on foot with time to get slightly lost, and the best view of it is from the fort ramparts in the late afternoon, when the light turns the blue almost violet.

Jaswant Thada

A short walk from the fort, a cenotaph in white marble built in 1899 for Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. The marble is cut so thin that in bright sun the panels glow from within. It sits above a small lake, it is usually quiet, and it takes twenty minutes.

Most visitors do it straight after the fort, which is the right order: after two hours of red sandstone, the white comes as a relief.

Also worth the time

• Sardar Market and the clock tower — spices, textiles and no concession to visitors. Busy, loud, and the real thing.
• Umaid Bhawan Palace — one of the last great palaces built in India, finished in 1943. Part royal residence, part hotel, part museum; only the museum is open to visitors.
• Toorji ka Jhalra — a restored eighteenth-century stepwell in the middle of the old town, with cafés around it.

When to go

October to March, as everywhere in Rajasthan. Jodhpur sits on the edge of the Thar and summer here is genuinely punishing — if you come between April and June, plan the fort for early morning and keep the middle of the day for something indoors.

Getting there

Jodhpur is around 330 km from Jaipur, roughly five to six hours by road, and about 285 km from Udaipur. It sits naturally between the two on a Rajasthan itinerary, and it is also the usual staging point for the drive west to Jaisalmer and the desert.

Two nights is the right length: one for the fort and the old town, one for the rest without hurrying.