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Gadisar Lake

Kartikr.naturephotography, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Attraction · Jaisalmer

Gadisar Lake

The reservoir that kept Jaisalmer alive, ringed by ghats, shrines and pavilions — and the best hour in the city is the first one, here.

BuiltFourteenth century, rebuilt since
Time neededAn hour
Best lightSunrise
From the fortAbout 10 minutes
About

The reason the city existed

Jaisalmer sits in the Thar and had no river. Gadisar is the rainwater tank that supplied it, and for most of the city’s life this was not a beauty spot but the single piece of infrastructure everything else depended on.

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What to See

Around the water

The tank is ringed by the things a working reservoir accumulates over six hundred years — steps, shrines, pavilions and gateways, all in the same yellow stone as the fort above.

The ghats

  • Steps run down to the water on most sides, with small temples and chhatris set among them. In the early morning they are used rather than visited.

The gateway

  • A carved sandstone arch straddles the approach. The story attached to it — that it was built by a courtesan and nearly demolished for it — is told locally in several versions.

The pavilions on the water

  • Domed chhatris stand out in the tank itself and are the picture everyone takes, particularly when there is mist on the water in winter.

The birds

  • In winter the tank pulls in migratory waterbirds, and at first light it is as much a bird hide as a monument.
Getting There

Getting there

It sits just outside the old town on the south-east side and is the easiest thing in Jaisalmer to reach.

From the fort

  • Around ten minutes by road, or a walk of twenty to thirty minutes downhill through the town.

At the lake

  • A path runs around much of the perimeter. Boats are available on the water from the ghats.

Fitting it in

  • It works best as the first stop of the day, before the fort. Doing it at sunset is pleasant and considerably busier.
Best Time

When to go

One hour of the day is clearly better than the rest, and in one season it is better still.

Sunrise

  • This is the answer. The stone takes the first light, the water is still, the birds are up and the coaches are not. It is the best hour Jaisalmer has.

Season

  • November to February. Winter mornings bring mist onto the water, which is when the pavilions look the way they do in every photograph of them.

Water level

  • This is a rainwater tank, so how full it is depends on the monsoon that preceded your visit. After a poor season the level drops noticeably and the ghats stand well clear of the water.
Visitor Intelligence

Worth knowing

Small, easy and a few things to get right.

It is a religious site as well

  • The shrines around the ghats are in use. Behave at the steps as you would at any working temple.

Feeding the fish

  • Feed is sold at the ghats and is a fixture. It is harmless and it is also the main way you will be approached.

Boats

  • Pedal and rowing boats go out from the ghats. The view of the ghats from the water is genuinely better than the reverse.

Combining it

  • Sunrise here, then breakfast, then the fort as it opens up is the best-shaped Jaisalmer morning there is.
Nearby

Nearby

The rest of Jaisalmer.

Jaisalmer
The city guide
Jaisalmer Fort
The living fort · 10 minutes
Patwon ki Haveli
Merchant carving in the town below
Good to Know

Frequently asked

A rainwater harvesting tank. Jaisalmer has no river and sits in the Thar, so the city was supplied by catching and storing monsoon runoff. The tank dates in its present form from the fourteenth century and has been rebuilt and extended repeatedly since. The temples and pavilions accumulated around it because it was the most important place in the city.
Sunrise, without much competition. The sandstone takes the low light, the water is flat, the winter mist sits on it and there is almost nobody there. Sunset is attractive too and considerably busier. The middle of the day is flat, hot and the least rewarding.
An hour is plenty to walk the ghats, look at the gateway and sit for a while. Add half an hour if you take a boat out. It is an easy first stop before the fort rather than a half day of its own.
Not to the same level. It fills from the monsoon, so after a weak rainy season it can be noticeably low and the steps stand well clear of the surface. It is rarely empty, but how it looks depends on a season that happened months before you arrived.
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