Jaipur is designed in accordance with Shilpa Shastra, an ancient treatise on architecture. Jaipur follows a grid system and its largely pink palaces and monuments have earned it the sobriquet of 'Pink City'. Today, the city has spread beyond the walls of the old city and continues to grow. It is set for an exponential growth, with the Mumbai-Delhi industrial and freight corridor running along the outskirts of the city planned for a huge expansion. However, a government decree ensures that the walled city maintains its pink look. Beautiful gardens and parks and attractive monuments, once the haunts of the royalty, are still to be found everywhere. Traditional craft like jewelry, metal work, enameling, tie and dye, pottery, leather work, stone carving, and miniature painting, patronized by the rulers in the 18th century, continues to thrive to this day. The city is today a unique synthesis of the traditional and modern. Besides being the capital of the State of Rajasthan, Jaipur is also a bustling trading center. The new city has spacious roads dotted with upmarket luxury showrooms and the old city abounds with congested streets, bazaars and artisan's quarters. Providing a stunning backdrop to the city are the ancient forts and palaces which create a dramatic picture of a bygone era.
Jaipur has the ancient downtown areas of the Badi and Choti Chowpar, and the Johari Bazaar, that were the mainstay of local jewelers, who account for a large part of Jaipur's economy. These markets retain the old-city feel with their crowded streets, narrow bylanes and crimson buildings from the time when the town was literally painted pink. Today, of course, there are a lot of new areas that have come up conforming to contemporary tastes of living with their modern architecture.
The choicest place for shopping with locals and tourists alike is the Hawa Mahal market neighboring the two Chowpars for block printed fabrics, accessories, silver ware, puppets and other traditional souvenirs. Eating and outing is as much a custom with the Jaipurias as with their other north Indian counterparts.
Jaipur has an international airport that is just 7 km from the city. It is 260 km from Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. Jaipur is also well connected by rail and road. There are trains from Delhi and other parts of the country. The Shatabdi Express from Delhi (under 5 hours) is an excellent rail option. Other rail connections to Jaipur are from Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur, hmedabad, Secunderabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai. There are regular bus services from Delhi and other north Indian cities including those in Rajasthan.
Places to see:
Hawa Mahal:
A multi-storey imposing red wall of over 140 latticed windows and balconies was built in 1799 by the poet-king Sawai Pratap Singh to enable the queens to view the city processions and revelries in privacy from this airy viewing gallery.
City Palace & Sawai Madho Singh II Museum:
Covering about one-seventh of the old city, this exemplary blend of Rajput and Mughal architecture houses the seven-storey Chandra Mahal (Moon Palace). The complex has a museum which displays jewelry, costumes, arms, chariots, howdahs, palanquins, shawls, carpets, rare manuscripts, miniature paintings and several other items from the royal collection. A very special exhibit worth seeing is the stately outfit of Sawai Madho Singh I, who was 2 meters tall, 1.2 meters wide, and weighed 250 kg.
Jantar Mantar:
This is the largest of the five observatories built y Jai Singh II in norther India in the 18th century.
Amer Fort Complex:
The original capital of Jaipur State, then called Amer. The famous Sheesh Mahal or the scintillating 'Mansion of Mirrors', Sukh Niwas or 'Palace of Pleasure', frescoed facades of Ganesh Pol, the 'Auspicious Entrance', carved marble columns and arcaded corridors of the halls of public and private audience. These were the stuff that the royal dreams were made of and inspired generations of Mughal emperors to send their artisans to imitate.
For photos of Jaipur, click here
Jaipur has an international airport that is just 7 km from the city. It is 260 km from Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. Jaipur is also well connected by rail and road. There are trains from Delhi and other parts of the country. The Shatabdi Express from Delhi (under 5 hours) is an excellent rail option. Other rail connections to Jaipur are from Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur, hmedabad, Secunderabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai. There are regular bus services from Delhi and other north Indian cities including those in Rajasthan.
Places to see:
Hawa Mahal:
A multi-storey imposing red wall of over 140 latticed windows and balconies was built in 1799 by the poet-king Sawai Pratap Singh to enable the queens to view the city processions and revelries in privacy from this airy viewing gallery.
City Palace & Sawai Madho Singh II Museum:
Covering about one-seventh of the old city, this exemplary blend of Rajput and Mughal architecture houses the seven-storey Chandra Mahal (Moon Palace). The complex has a museum which displays jewelry, costumes, arms, chariots, howdahs, palanquins, shawls, carpets, rare manuscripts, miniature paintings and several other items from the royal collection. A very special exhibit worth seeing is the stately outfit of Sawai Madho Singh I, who was 2 meters tall, 1.2 meters wide, and weighed 250 kg.
Jantar Mantar:
This is the largest of the five observatories built y Jai Singh II in norther India in the 18th century.
Amer Fort Complex:
The original capital of Jaipur State, then called Amer. The famous Sheesh Mahal or the scintillating 'Mansion of Mirrors', Sukh Niwas or 'Palace of Pleasure', frescoed facades of Ganesh Pol, the 'Auspicious Entrance', carved marble columns and arcaded corridors of the halls of public and private audience. These were the stuff that the royal dreams were made of and inspired generations of Mughal emperors to send their artisans to imitate.
For photos of Jaipur, click here
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