I would not call this much of a Palace. I think it was less of a palace and more of a museum. I would recommend you take a guide to help you navigate this city palace. There are 7 or 8 sections of the city palace which the guide will take you through. The Chandra Mahal where the current king lives, is not open to tourists. There is a proposal to open up two stories of the same with an entry ticket of the Rs.2000 or so which is expensive by any means.
The artillery section can be avoided as there are too may weapons and I got bored watching them while my wife went through the details reading every plaque. The central exhibits with the Clothes work by the various kings and queens are very boring again unless you are interested in textile history. I am more of the stories guy and what fascinated me was the story of the 2 huge urns kept in the courtyard which the king took to England full of Gangajal. Since the Jaipur City Palace is much more recent as compared to Udaipur City Palace and Amer Fort there are very few ancient stories associated with it which makes it boring. However I did manage to spend two and a half hours walking around out here.
There is a restaurant in the city palace which is very shady and the quality is also very poor. Jantar Mantar is very closeby and you can cover both Jantar Mantar and the Hawa Mahal on the same day as the Jaipur City Palace. Your guides are most likely to recommend some Rajai shopping places after the tour, on the outskirts of the City Palace. Please do not go to these places, you will get better deals in the Government approved shops in Jaipur City. Some of these shops also demonstrate the Vegetable Block Prining Technique which is interesting, so do go for the same and politely excuse yourself when they try to sell you stuff.
Hawa Mahal has nothing much to offer other than lots of air and walls where every inch is defaced by young Indian Tourists. I felt more embarrassed than happy at visiting the Hawa Mahal. Jantar Mantar is good fun if you are mathematically and astronomically inclined. Spend maximum of 1 hour at Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal, however a guide is a must at Jantar Mantar.
The Jaipur city palace is not as beautiful as the Udaipur City palace, which has much more to offer in terms of history. It is more a collection of photographs, clothes and weaponry of the Jaipur Royal family. However it just may be because we did not pick the right guide.
The artillery section can be avoided as there are too may weapons and I got bored watching them while my wife went through the details reading every plaque. The central exhibits with the Clothes work by the various kings and queens are very boring again unless you are interested in textile history. I am more of the stories guy and what fascinated me was the story of the 2 huge urns kept in the courtyard which the king took to England full of Gangajal. Since the Jaipur City Palace is much more recent as compared to Udaipur City Palace and Amer Fort there are very few ancient stories associated with it which makes it boring. However I did manage to spend two and a half hours walking around out here.
There is a restaurant in the city palace which is very shady and the quality is also very poor. Jantar Mantar is very closeby and you can cover both Jantar Mantar and the Hawa Mahal on the same day as the Jaipur City Palace. Your guides are most likely to recommend some Rajai shopping places after the tour, on the outskirts of the City Palace. Please do not go to these places, you will get better deals in the Government approved shops in Jaipur City. Some of these shops also demonstrate the Vegetable Block Prining Technique which is interesting, so do go for the same and politely excuse yourself when they try to sell you stuff.
Hawa Mahal has nothing much to offer other than lots of air and walls where every inch is defaced by young Indian Tourists. I felt more embarrassed than happy at visiting the Hawa Mahal. Jantar Mantar is good fun if you are mathematically and astronomically inclined. Spend maximum of 1 hour at Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal, however a guide is a must at Jantar Mantar.
The Jaipur city palace is not as beautiful as the Udaipur City palace, which has much more to offer in terms of history. It is more a collection of photographs, clothes and weaponry of the Jaipur Royal family. However it just may be because we did not pick the right guide.
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