Golden City of Rajasthan – Jaisalmer

After our 2 nights stay in Shekhawati Region we headed towards biggest district of Rajasthan, The Golden City – Jaisalmer.

Most of us know it is situated in the heart of Thar Desert. It got its name Golden City due to the yellow color sandstone architecture.

It’s around 9 hrs drive, 522 KM from Mandawa via NH 11.

We stopped @ Motel Haveli Resort for b/f and total bill was Rs 200 for veg sandwich, poha and tea. It’s a big place with stay options as well, washroom were clean and place was also clean. Food was ‘Ok’ took some time to come.

There are very less places to stop on this route so come prepared with snacks. For lunch we could not find any good place on the map then suddenly we came across a place called Hotel Shiv Villas. We asked them to pack some aloo pyaz parathas for lunch as we don’t want to waste time rather eat it while driving.

After this we directly stopped in Jaisalmer. We reached I think late afternoon.

We had planned 3 nights in Jaisalmer, I feel 3 nights are good if you want to see everything and visit Longewala.

On the first day we didn’t do much as we were little tired driving 522 KM, so we checked in into this small beautiful Boutique hotel – Garh Meera.

It’s new property, still work pending due to Covid they couldn’t complete the work. Their kitchen was also closed at that time.

It has a wonderful view of Jaisalmer Fort from the roof, which was obstructed (little bit) by a construction on the building in the front.

On this day after some relaxation we went to visit the nearby local market. We booked this place only for 1 day and rest 2 days @ Jaisalmer Marriot. After b/f we left to check in to Marriot. But our room was not ready, so we went to see original Handicraft place.

For Jaisalmer sightseeing we had booked one very experienced guide Mr. Harish Giri Ji. He is really informative and very good human being.

Mr. Harish helped us in doing all the bookings i.e.  city tour, desert safari package, taxi service etc.

So, on our second day of Golden city tour, Harish Ji took us to one genuine place to see some of most beautiful Rajasthani handicraft items.

We can definitely see the price difference as we have visited few shops before coming to this place and this place as huge price difference (it was way cheaper).

Harish ji is working as a volunteer in the co-operative place which provides ways to earn to the  women living in desert area and keep the real hand craft art alive in this machine era.

You can check the place on Instagram with name Jaisalmerhandicrafts. This shop has amazing products. This was the first time ever we did shop on our trip/holiday. Usually we buy some fridge magnets only.

After this we had some lunch/snacks at a local shop and then headed towards – Kuldhara.

Kuldhara is a haunted village which is 50 min drive i.e. 27 Km around from the main city. Roads are good, there is a diversion which is a single road but in decent condition which takes you to the village.

This village and some adjacent villages were abandoned over night for unknown reasons. As per local stories some say it was due to the persecution of Salim Singh minister of Jaisalmer state.

Before abandon Kuldhara was inhabited by ‘Paliwal Brahmins’ and it is said that they were very prosperous.

It is very fascinating to visit this village and listen to all the stories, now we can only see few feet walls of all the houses and nothing else.

Converted into a tourist spot and there is an entry fee which is Rs 20 pp and Rs 50 per vehicle.

After spending some time here max 30 min as it was hot and there is not much to see, we left for desert safari.

Ours booking was done by Harish Ji and it’s called – Desert Safari Camp Sam Sand Dunes, you can find it on Instagram as well – @desertsafarisamsanddunes

One thing I would suggest to everyone is either stay in the camp or reach little early to properly enjoy the desert.

We reached just on time to have enough time to enjoy the dune bashing by open Mahindra Thar and enjoy sun set in the desert.

After taking lot of pics we headed back to the camp on camels. It was quite thrilling going up and down on a camel. Few times I thought we will fall ?

Back at the camp we had High tea with some snacks post high tea. There was a live folk music and dance performance. We really liked the performance all the talented artists.

After all the enjoyment and fun filled day. We ended the day with a good dinner at the camp and then drive back to the city.

While driving back had amazing experience, watching clear sky full of stars & cold breeze.

This ends our 2^nd day in Golden City Jaisalmer. Stay tuned for our last day in Jaisalmer.

click here to know full details of this 10 day Rajasthan road trip .

Harish Ji’s contact details –

Company name – Jaisalmer Tour Guide

Website – http://www.jaisalmertourguide.com/#services

Instagram – @jaisalmertourguide

Cell # 9414761153 & 7014396051