Across Rajasthan — Nine Nights from Jaipur to the Hills at Mount Abu

You are met at Jaipur airport and driven to your hotel. The walled quarter is painted pink and the city was laid out on a grid in the eighteenth century. The rest of the day is free.

A full day in Jaipur. Amber Fort stands on a ridge above a lake outside the city, built in pale stone with mirrored halls inside. In the city itself are the City Palace, the Jantar Mantar observatory with its outsized stone instruments, and the Hawa Mahal, the screen of latticed windows built so the women of the court could watch the street unseen.

You travel northwest into the desert to Bikaner, a town built around a red sandstone fort that was never taken by siege. The surrounding country is camel-breeding land. You check in and the rest of the day is free.

You continue southwest deeper into the Thar desert to Jaisalmer, where the sandstone turns gold in low light. The drive crosses genuinely open desert for long stretches. You check in on arrival.

A day in Jaisalmer. The fort here is one of the very few in the world still lived in, with families, shops and temples inside the walls, and the yellow sandstone turns gold in low light. The merchant havelis in the town below are carved in the same stone.

You travel southeast out of the desert to Jodhpur, roughly 300 kilometres, arriving beneath the walls of Mehrangarh fort. The rest of the day is free in the blue old town below.

You travel south to Mount Abu, Rajasthan's only hill station, climbing into the Aravalli range. The Dilwara Jain temples here are carved in white marble to a degree of fineness that is difficult to believe until seen.

You descend from the hills and travel to Udaipur, built around a chain of artificial lakes with the Aravallis behind. The rest of the day is free by the water.

A day in Udaipur. The City Palace runs along the shore of Lake Pichola and is the largest palace complex in Rajasthan, built up by successive rulers over four centuries. Jagdish temple, the Saheliyon ki Bari garden and the old lanes around the lake complete the day.

After breakfast you check out and are driven to Udaipur airport for your onward flight. Your onward flight is not part of this package, so allow the check-in time your airline requires.