South Asia
Colour, chaos, ancient wonders and food like nowhere else.
India overwhelms and enchants in equal measure — a vast, ancient subcontinent of snow peaks and deserts, palaces and temples, 1.4 billion people and a thousand languages, where every sense is assaulted and every day astonishes. Jaipur, the 'Pink City' of Rajasthan, is one of its most dazzling front doors: a walled old city of rose-coloured bazaars, hilltop forts and lavish maharaja's palaces, gateway to the deserts and the romance of royal India. Intense, colourful and unforgettable.
What things cost: India is wonderfully cheap — a superb thali costs a euro or two, a rickshaw across town little more, and even converted palace-hotels are affordable by Western standards. Haggling is expected in the bazaars, and a modest tip goes a long way. When a zone below says 'low', that means very low indeed.
Sometimes the event picks the city for you.
The 'festival of lights' — and Jaipur celebrates like nowhere else, the whole Pink City and its bazaars ablaze with lights, lamps and decorations, with a famous market-lighting competition, fireworks and crackers. Magical (if noisy and smoky); one of the most beautiful times to see the city glowing.
Jaipur · The bazaars & citywide
The world's largest free literary festival — five days of authors, thinkers and Nobel laureates in conversation, plus music and a heady, buzzing atmosphere, in the grounds of a heritage hotel. A wonderful, intellectual time to visit, drawing a global crowd to the Pink City; free but very popular.
Jaipur · Hotel Clarks Amer & venues
The joyous 'festival of colours' welcoming spring — the streets erupt in a riot of thrown coloured powder and water, music and dancing, as everyone, strangers included, is doused in bright pigment. Exuberant and unforgettable; wear old clothes you don't mind ruining, and dive in with a smile.
Jaipur · Citywide
A colourful Rajasthani monsoon festival celebrating women and the rains — a grand procession of a bedecked idol of the goddess Parvati through the old city on elephants and palanquins, with women in green and red, henna, swings and sweets. A vivid, joyful glimpse of Rajasthani tradition.
Jaipur · The old city
