2 days in Jaipur: a realistic itinerary for a weekend

Most 2-day Jaipur plans fail the same way. They list eight monuments a day, ignore closing times and send you from Amer to the old city and back again. Jaipur is spread out. Amer is about 11 km from the city, and Nahargarh sits on the ridge above the old city, so the order you see things in matters more than how many you fit in.

This plan groups the sights by area. Day one is the hills outside the old city: Amer Fort, the stepwell next to it, a stop at Jal Mahal and sunset at Nahargarh. Day two is the walled old city: City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal and the bazaars, with time to eat. It assumes you arrive from Delhi the night before, or on the first train.

Times on site are rough and assume a December crowd. Opening hours below come from the state's official ticket portal and the City Palace site, checked in October 2026. Other listings still give different hours for some monuments, so check on the day.

Getting to Jaipur from Delhi

By train. The Ajmer Shatabdi (12015) leaves New Delhi at 6:10 am and reaches Jaipur at 10:35 am, every day. The return (12016) leaves Jaipur at 5:35 pm and gets into New Delhi at 10:30 pm, which fits the end of day two.

If you'd rather arrive the night before, the Vande Bharat 20978 leaves Delhi Cantt at 6:28 pm, stops at Gurgaon and reaches Jaipur at 10:05 pm. It runs six days a week and doesn't run on Wednesdays. Its morning counterpart, 20977, leaves Jaipur at 7:47 am and reaches Delhi Cantt at 11:30 am. Train times change, so check them on IRCTC or NTES before you book.

By road. Jaipur is about 270 km from Delhi. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway doesn't run into Jaipur itself, but since July 2025 a 67 km spur has linked it to the city, from Bandikui on the expressway to Bagrana on Jaipur's eastern edge. Reports when it opened put the drive at 3 to 3.5 hours, down from about 4.5.

Getting around Jaipur

The metro won't take you to most sights. The Pink Line runs about 12 km from Mansarovar to Badi Chaupar, with stops at the Railway Station, Sindhi Camp, Chandpole and Chhoti Chaupar. That's useful on day two: Badi Chaupar is a couple of minutes' walk from Hawa Mahal, and it's the nearest station to City Palace. Amer and Nahargarh are off the line, so for day one, book a cab or hire an auto for the day. Ask your stay what a fair day rate is before you set off.

Tickets: the composite ticket and 2026 prices

Rajasthan's Department of Archaeology and Museums raised entry fees at its monuments from 1 January 2026. These are the rates on the state's official ticket portal, OBMS, when we checked in October 2026:

• Amer Fort: ₹200 for Indians, ₹100 for Indian students, ₹1,000 for foreigners and ₹500 for foreign students.
• Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, Nahargarh Fort and Albert Hall Museum: ₹100 for Indians, ₹50 for Indian students, ₹600 for foreigners and ₹300 for foreign students.
• Jaipur composite ticket: ₹550 for Indians, ₹180 for Indian students, ₹1,700 for foreigners and ₹800 for foreign students. It's listed for Amer, Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, Nahargarh and Albert Hall.
• Children under 7 get in free at all of these.

Guides have long described the composite as a two-day ticket, which is enough for this plan. A December 2025 report said its validity was being extended to 10 days, so check the dates printed on yours. The same month, reports also described a 10-day pass for all of the department's monuments and museums across Rajasthan, at ₹1,300 for Indians and ₹5,500 for foreigners.

Do the maths before you buy. If you're Indian and you'll see Amer, Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar and Nahargarh but skip Albert Hall, separate tickets come to ₹500, less than the composite. Add Albert Hall and the composite comes out ₹50 cheaper. Indian students save ₹70 with the composite on the same four sites, and foreign visitors save ₹1,100 or more.

City Palace is not on the composite. It sells its own tickets: ₹400 for the museum (courtyards and galleries), or ₹500 for a composite that adds Jaigarh Fort and the royal cenotaphs. For international visitors the same tickets are ₹1,200 and ₹1,700. There are concessions for students and children under 12.

Day 1: Amer, Jal Mahal and Nahargarh at sunset

Morning: Amer Fort and Panna Meena ka Kund

Go to Amer first, and go early. On 29 December 2025 it had 18,203 visitors in a single day, the most of any Jaipur monument, according to a PTI report. The state's ticket portal lists it as open from 7 am to 8 pm, while Incredible India and several guides give later opening times, so check the portal the day before. Either way, the first hour is the quietest.

Raja Man Singh I began the fort in 1592, and it's built of red sandstone and white marble above Maota Lake. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Give it two to three hours. The courtyards and halls go on longer than you'd expect.

Panna Meena ka Kund, a stepwell, is a short walk or auto ride from the fort. Entry is free. Guides note that walking down the steps is often not allowed now, but you can see the whole pattern from the top.

Afternoon: Jal Mahal and a slow lunch

On the way back toward the city, stop at Man Sagar Lake for Jal Mahal, the palace that sits in the middle of the water, right beside the Amer road. You can't go inside, so this is a 20-minute stop on the lakeside path, not a visit. There's no ticket.

Then eat and rest. You'll want the energy for the evening.

Evening: Nahargarh at sunset

Nahargarh Fort was built in 1734 on a ridge of the Aravallis, and its walls look straight down over the city. It's the best view of Jaipur, and the reason to save it for the end of the day.

The state's ticket portal lists the fort as open from 10 am to 10 pm, and Padao, the RTDC café on the walls, from 11:30 am to 9:30 pm. Padao charges its own entry, ₹100 for Indians and ₹200 for foreigners, with a drink included. Guides say the palace rooms, Madhavendra Bhawan, close earlier, around 5:30 pm, so see them first. Winter sunsets come early, so aim to be up there by about 5 pm. The road up runs through forest, so don't stay too late.

If you take the scenic road, you can drive from Amer to Nahargarh via Jaigarh Fort, about 16 km. Jaigarh is on the City Palace composite ticket, if you bought that.

Day 2: City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal and the bazaars

Morning: City Palace and Jantar Mantar

Start at City Palace when it opens at 9:30 am. Its own site lists hours of 9:30 am to 6:30 pm every day, with the last tickets at 6 pm, and it's closed only on Dhulandi, the second day of Holi. Part of the palace is still the royal family's home. The Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum is in the Mubarak Mahal. Two notes for 2026: the textile gallery in Mubarak Mahal has been closed for restoration since 27 March, and the Museum at Night was still listed as temporarily closed when we checked in October.

Jantar Mantar is next door. City Palace's Gate 1 is near the Jantar Mantar ticket counter, so you can walk between them. Sawai Jai Singh II, who founded Jaipur, built it, and it's the largest of the five observatories he built. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site too. The state's ticket portal lists it as open from 9 am to 7 pm. Go in the morning, before the midday heat and the tour groups.

Afternoon: Hawa Mahal and Johari Bazaar

Go to Hawa Mahal right after lunch. The state's ticket portal lists it as open from 9 am to 6:30 pm, but Incredible India still gives a 4:30 pm close, so don't leave it to the end of the day. It was built in 1799 by Sawai Pratap Singh as a summer retreat for the royal family: five storeys of pink sandstone with latticed windows. You can see the facade from the street at any hour. The view out of those windows needs a ticket.

Then walk the bazaars. Start on Johari Bazaar, home to LMB (see below). Kishanpole Bazaar is another historic market in the old city, and the Museum of Legacies is there.

Evening: back to Delhi

Leave the old city by about 4:30 pm to make the 5:35 pm Shatabdi. If there's time, pick up a pyaaz kachori at Rawat Mishthan Bhandar on Station Road first.

What to eat in Jaipur

• LMB (Laxmi Misthan Bhandar), Johari Bazaar. The sweet shop traces its roots to the halwais who set up in Johari Bazaar when Jaipur was founded in 1727, though the LMB name dates from around 1950. Go for the vegetarian thali or dal baati churma, and the paneer ghewar.
• Rawat Mishthan Bhandar, Station Road, Sindhi Camp. Known for pyaaz kachori, the onion kachori, and for its sweets.
• Masala Chowk, Ram Niwas Garden. An open-air food court near Albert Hall. Rajasthan Tourism lists 21 street-food stalls and suggests going in the evening. Entry is ₹10, and the state's ticket portal lists it as open from 9 am to 10:30 pm.
• Indian Coffee House, Jawahar Kala Kendra. A simple restaurant inside the arts centre, listed by Rajasthan Tourism as popular with locals.

Is 2 days in Jaipur enough?

For the main sights, yes. Two days covers Amer, Nahargarh, City Palace, Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal without rushing, if you group them by area like this and start early. What you lose is slack. There's no time for Albert Hall's galleries, Jaigarh, the Amer light and sound show, or a slow afternoon in the bazaars. Add a third day if you want those, or if you're visiting in late December, when queues stretch everything.

Best time to visit Jaipur

November to February is the most comfortable time. India Meteorological Department averages (1991 to 2020) give January days around 22°C and nights around 8°C, with December close behind at about 25°C and 10°C. Days are good for walking and nights are cold, so pack a proper jacket for the Nahargarh evening.

It's also the busiest season. In the week after Christmas 2025, a PTI report quoted a Jaipur guide saying every tourist site had been overcrowded for days, with hotels across Rajasthan full and room rates up sharply. If you can, go in November or February instead, or book early.

The Jaipur Literature Festival, the city's biggest winter event, runs from 14 to 18 January 2027 at Hotel Clarks Amer. Book a stay well ahead for that week, or avoid it if you're there for the monuments.

On a December or January return, leave slack. Delhi's winter fog can be heavy enough that flights into Delhi are diverted to Jaipur.

Plan your Jaipur weekend with Weekend

You've probably saved a few Jaipur videos already. An Amer sunrise reel, a Nahargarh sunset someone posted, a food walk a friend sent to the group chat. Then the weekend comes and nobody can find them.

That's why we built Weekend. Share an Instagram reel or a YouTube video with the app, and it finds every place the video mentions, checks each one on Google Maps and saves them on your map, with the creator's tips and the moment in the video where each place appears. When you're ready, send the plan to your friends. They vote without installing anything, and you pick a weekend that works. See how it works.

Your Jaipur weekend might already be in your feed. Read why your next weekend might already be in your saved reels, and if you're going as a group, how to plan a group trip with friends.

FAQ

Is 2 days in Jaipur enough?

Yes, for the main sights. Do Amer, Jal Mahal and Nahargarh on one day and the old city on the other. You'll need a third day for museums, Jaigarh or slow shopping.

What should I do with 2 days in Jaipur?

Day one: Amer Fort early, Panna Meena ka Kund, Jal Mahal from the lakeside, then sunset on the Nahargarh walls. Day two: City Palace at 9:30 am, Jantar Mantar next door, Hawa Mahal after lunch, then Johari Bazaar.

How do I plan a Jaipur trip from Delhi?

Jaipur is about 270 km from Delhi. The Ajmer Shatabdi leaves New Delhi at 6:10 am and reaches Jaipur at 10:35 am, and the return leaves Jaipur at 5:35 pm. By road, the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and its spur from Bandikui to Jaipur, open since July 2025, bring the drive down to about 3 to 3.5 hours.

What is Jaipur like in winter?

Mild days and cold nights. IMD averages put January at about 22°C by day and 8°C at night. Late December and the January literature festival are the busiest times, so book early.

Sources

Checked on 21 October 2026.

• Rajasthan Tourism OBMS, official ticket portal (2026 fees for Amer, Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, Nahargarh, Albert Hall and the composite ticket; timings for those monuments, Padao and Masala Chowk; free entry under 7)
• Zee News Hindi, new monument fees from 1 January 2026, 30 Dec 2025 (composite validity extended to 10 days); City of Jaipur news, December 2025 (10-day pass for all department sites)
• City Palace Jaipur, Visit and City Palace home page (Indian and international tickets, hours, Dhulandi closure, gates, nearest metro, textile gallery and Museum at Night notices)
• Incredible India, Amber Fort, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal, Nahargarh Fort (Amer 11 km from the centre; older opening hours)
• Rajasthan Tourism, Jaipur (Amer 1592, Hawa Mahal 1799, Nahargarh 1734, Jantar Mantar, City Palace, Masala Chowk, Indian Coffee House, Kishanpole Bazaar)
• Wikipedia, Nahargarh Fort (Madhavendra Bhawan, forest around the fort) and The Common Wanderer, Nahargarh Fort (the 5:30 pm close applies to the palace rooms)
• Trivenicabs, Nahargarh guide 2026 (Amer to Nahargarh via Jaigarh about 16 km) and Trivenicabs, Amber Fort guide 2026 (8 am opening)
• The Week (PTI), tourist rush in Rajasthan, 30 Dec 2025 (visitor counts, crowds, hotels full)
• UNI India, JLF 2027 and Outlook, JLF turns twenty (14 to 18 January 2027, Hotel Clarks Amer)
• ConfirmTkt, 12015 and 12016 (Shatabdi times, daily); RailMitra, 20978 and 20977 (Vande Bharat times); Wikipedia, Ajmer–Chandigarh Vande Bharat Express (six days a week, not Wednesdays)
• The Tribune, Bandikui to Jaipur link to the expressway opens, July 2025 (Bagrana to Bandikui, about 67 km, 3 to 3.5 hours)
• Wikipedia, Jaipur (IMD 1991 to 2020 climate averages, about 268 km from New Delhi, Delhi fog diversions) and Wikipedia, Pink Line (Jaipur Metro) (stations, 11.97 km)
• Kupi, Hawa Mahal (Badi Chaupar station a couple of minutes' walk) and Kupi, Jal Mahal (on the Amer road)
• Ease India Trip, Panna Meena ka Kund and Explore with Ecokats, Panna Meena ka Kund (free entry, steps often closed)
• Wikipedia, Jal Mahal (interior closed to visitors) and Veena World, Jal Mahal (lakeside path, no ticket)
• Wikipedia, LMB Hotel, Curly Tales, Rawat Mishthan Bhandar, Localiiz, Jaipur street food, Hayden Rue, Masala Chowk