Fairytale palace of Amber. Amber Fort in Jaipur. Jaigarh Fort. Jal Mahal is a palace surrounded by thousands of churches. We visit in one day in Jaipur the Amber Palace, one of the most picturesque
Opening hours: 8:00 – 17:30
Entrance: 500 rupees.
How to get there: from Chandpole station by taxi or auto-rickshaw. You get out of the subway and say “Hawa mahal.” And for a hundred rupees they take you to the Palace of the Winds. By the way, two metro stations are currently under construction, and soon the exit will be right at Hawa Mahal. Once you get to the Palace of the Winds, you need to go up to it and catch bus 29, which you can stop right at the Palace and go north (direction from the square with the metro under construction outside the city). You will see a pond and the walls of Amber Fort, get out. Locals are also actively suggesting that it’s time.
Amber Fort is built in the style of romantic Rajasthani architecture and is located 11 km from Jaipur. The fort is surrounded on all sides by hills, along the tops of which there is a fortress wall with watchtowers.
Tip from the tourist: At the box office you can buy a complex ticket for 1000 rupees for several attractions, which is valid for 2 or 3 days, with it you can definitely get into the Hawa Mahal Palace, the Albert Hall cultural and historical museum, the ancient Jantar Mantar observatory and two more palaces complex.
One of the biggest impressions is made by the wall surrounding the Ford. Its length is about 20 km, and it is akin to the Great Chinese wall, there is room for the eye to expand.
The Ford itself is shabby, unkempt, unattractive, I would say, because... the government is not engaged in its restoration. Therefore, to get more pleasure you need to step away from current state fort, and looking at the openwork patterns of the buildings, imagine what it looked like before.
The mirrored walls will be especially memorable. IN hall of mirrors On one of the marble columns there is a magical flower carved in which about 20 animals are hidden.
If you don't make it to the Elefantastic Nature Reserve, here you can catch up and ride an elephant to the top of the fort. Such a walk costs 1000-1300 rupees. During the trip, locals will actively photograph you and then try to sell the album for money. The price starts from 1000 rupees, at the end of the bargaining near the bus you can negotiate for 200 rupees - it all depends on your talent as a negotiator.
The fort is located on the slope of a hill, and its walls are reflected in the waters of the lake. This place is historical, so in order for the trip to be worthwhile, you need to either take a guide or prepare in advance.
The territory of the fort is divided into three main parts: the first is the service courtyard, the second part is courtyards with personal apartments, the treasury and chapels, the third part is women's apartments with small terraces.
The interior decoration of the fort is exquisite and rich in terms of architecture. Balconies, stone lattices, columns, arches, gazebos.
Inside the fort, in the first courtyard, there are many souvenir shops. A little further is the Shila Devi temple, dedicated to the warlike goddess Kali. Wild monkeys can often be seen on the huge open terraces. If you move deeper into the temple, you find yourself in the Hall of Pleasure, not far from which there is a canal that was previously used as a water storage facility. From the Jai Mandir temple next to the Maharaja's chambers there is a wonderful view of the entire complex and the lake below.
Here you will get acquainted with the local color and see Indian women in traditional dresses. The palace in its architecture resembles a labyrinth, from room to room, along a long corridor to the hammam, from the hammam to the sofa, from the sofa to the harem and again room-room-room.
Plan 2 hours to visit this place. It's better to come early in the morning, before it's too hot and there are no tourists. Don't forget to take water with you and wear comfortable shoes, because... You'll have to climb a lot and then descend, and it's very stuffy and hot outside.
Tourist tip: At Amber Fort you can visit the light and sound show, which is held every day in the evening. A ticket to the show in English costs 200 rupees, in Hindi - 100. You will hear a story about the history of the fort and significant events in the life of the state, accompanied by the multi-colored illumination of the fort. The show lasts about 1 hour. In addition, after 6 pm you can walk around the fort at night. The cost of this entertainment is 100 rupees, while during the daytime it is 500.
If you have time and energy left at the end of the journey, visit the art gallery, very interesting paintings.
The only thing that can spoil the impression a little is the intrusive sellers of unnecessary junk. But it’s better to get used to it - this is India.
Tip from a tourist: If you are traveling alone, do not take annoying guides at the entrance. There are many policemen on the territory of the palace who will be happy to give you directions, and if you give one of them 100 rupees, they will show you even closed places.
Another fort, Jaigarh, is located above the Amber fort.
Jaigarh Fort.
Opening hours: 9:00 – 16:30.
Entrance: 200 rupees.
It was built by Jai Singh in 1726. Well preserved observation towers of this fort, and it is here that the world's largest wheeled cannon is located.
There is a park in the palace, where a film with James Bond was filmed. The monkeys here are not scared, but be careful with them and stay away just in case - there are quite large specimens.
Tourist tip: The fortress is located above the Amber fortress. They are often confused. You can climb through an underground-ground passage directly from Amber, or you can drive straight from the city along a beautiful mountain road. The fort itself is dirty and uninteresting, but the views of the mountains and the open space are probably the most impressive in Rajasthan.
If after this fort there is free time, then you can walk or take a tuk-tuk to Nahargarh Fort. If you go on foot, the walk is about 4 km,
Inside the Ambar complex is the Jal Mahal, a palace surrounded by thousands of churches.
Jal Mahal
Here, the ceilings and walls in all the rooms of this small room are decorated with small mirrors. They say that thanks to this it becomes light even from one candle. And on one of the columns of the palace there is a “Magic Flower” carved from marble. This is a special attraction. There are a lot of animals hidden in this flower: fish tail, lotus, cobra hood, elephant, scorpion and others, each of which is visible in a special way, partially hiding individual elements with hands.
Like a mirage in the sultry desert, the Jal Mahal Palace appears before your eyes, standing on the surface of the water. How and why he ended up in the middle of the lake, where the road leading to him is - many questions arise, and, it turns out, there is a completely reasonable answer to each of them.
The Jal Mahal Palace in India was originally built on land as an architectural complex intended for summer holiday rulers of India. The palace is located among low green mountains, in a beautiful valley that amazes everyone with its picturesqueness. But when a terrible drought began in India, threatening people with starvation, the ruler decided to install a dam, thus blocking the valley where Jal Mahal was located. Over time, the resulting basin was filled with water, which people began to use to irrigate fields. The famine subsided, the residents were saved, and the first floors of the building were forever submerged in the water. That’s why there is no gap between the palace and the surface of the water, and that’s why there are no roads leading to the palace.
The palace building is a typical building for hot countries - four walls limit the space of the courtyard, and in the corners there are dome turrets. Unfortunately, you can only admire all this beauty from a distance - the palace is closed to visitors. But a look from the outside is enough to appreciate the unusualness and originality of this place.
The decoration of the building is inlaid with local semi-precious stones and mirrors from Belgium. The lower part of the mirrors was replaced with new ones (unfortunately, the original ones were destroyed by people, not by time), but this does not spoil the overall impression. And even more so, how nice it is to look at old pieces of mirrors with the patina of time, comparing them with their ideal new “brothers”. It’s a pity that you can’t get inside, but you can spend a lot of time outside admiring this beauty.
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Are you ready to go to India again and wander with us through the unexplored passages of the ancient fort? To be honest, Mishutka and I were not ready ourselves, but it so happened that quite by accident we taxied into the closed area of the Amber Fort, where only maharajas now dine. This is all me in my search for somewhere to stick my nose, where it might be more interesting =)) But they not only didn’t drive us away, but on the contrary, they gave us a rather warm welcome, mistaking us for foreign journalists. Me and a three-year-old child... Well, what a strange bunch for journalists)) Well, okay, we fulfilled our duty as bloggers - we looked into every corner, filmed everything, and didn’t pay for anything. What else is needed for a good report? ;)
We drove up to the ancient walls of the Amber fortress ourselves as maharajas - in a taxi, and rented for the whole day. This was the first and only time in our lives that we even drove around India by car)
But a day earlier, we honestly tried, as usual, to move around Jaipur on our own and it was wildly expensive (Jaipur rickshaws are the only way to get money), wildly tiring (noise and exhaust fumes are everywhere), and wildly long (it turned out that the city is so big, that there is no way to walk at all). In general, when one driver offered to take us for 8 hours in a brand new car with air conditioning to all the popular attractions for only 1000 rupees (then it was ~550 rubles), I immediately agreed. In general, feeling at least like millionaires, we importantly drove up to the gates of the fort) You can enter them absolutely free. Inside, Amber Fort is a large area surrounded by walls.
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Amber (or Amer in some sources) - the fortified residence of Raja Man Singh in the suburb of Jaipur of the same name, on the ridge of a rocky hill behind Lake Maota. Despite the formidable appearance, the interior chambers of the fortress amaze with the sophistication of the lush decoration, made simultaneously in Indian and Muslim styles. Amber Fort is deservedly the main attraction of the Indian state of Rajasthan...
You can climb to the fort on elephants, either on foot or by car. Moreover, all three ascent options are 3 different roads, so if you are an athlete who does not like animals, then don’t worry - you won’t have to dodge cars or step over elephant waste products...
View of the elephant's dashboard, elephant's mahout's turban... 
Motorists can drive up to the fortress from the back side and enter through the entrance formerly used for women's entry ( warriors and aunts could not use the same gates). Pedestrians will climb the stairs leading from the Amber Gardens located near Lake Maota ( in winter it dries out a little more than completely). The elephant drivers use the main, once front, road to the palace, so I recommend taking a ride on an elephant... 
Man Singh, who began the construction of a fortress-palace here in 1592, was one of the first military leaders of Emperor Akbar the Great, the ruler of the Great Mughals, whose mausoleum I talked about last time. For many years, the administration of the Jundhara principality was carried out from here, and only in the early 1700s the capital of the principality was moved to the newly founded Jaipur, just 11 km from here... 
Initially, the fortress, now known as Amber Fort, was only palace complex, an appendage of the military fortress now known as "Jaigarh Fort". Jaigarh and Amber were ( yes to this day) are connected by protected transition walls and underground tunnels... 
Between Amber and Jaigarh lies a whole block of ancient houses and buildings, only a small part of which is inhabited. The rest are picturesque ruins scattered on the slopes of the hill... 
If you come to Jaipur for more than one day, then you can safely devote a couple of days to a pedestrian exploration of the old walls and towers of the neighboring rocky ridges. The views that you will see from there will be 100% unique, which will not be available to any “organized” tourist. By the way, about the name of the fort, and indeed the city in general - there are at least 2 versions of the origin of the name, which the guides will stuff you with: (1) They will show you in the direction of the town, that somewhere there ( the guide's finger makes a circle covering an area twice as large as the several thousand people of Amber) stood great temple in which there was a statue ( I don't remember who, sorry) from a single piece of amber ( Amber in English is amber, just in case anyone doesn’t know); (2) You will come across a very stupid guide who will say that amber is yellow and the palace is made of yellow sandstone, which is why the type was named amber. You can only believe in these versions if you believe in Santa Claus... 
Main entrance to Amber ( in the photo the gate is on the right) - Surajpol takes you to the palace square of Jaleb Chowk. In ancient times, the square was the site of a parade of troops returning victoriously from campaigns and battles. If you nevertheless arrive on an elephant, the driver will lead the elephant almost along the perimeter of the square and, before parking at a special ramp, will definitely tell a heart-warming story about what the animal needs to eat. At the same time, the elephant begins to sniffle and stagger ( because the bastard driver imperceptibly stabs him with a lance), the pale-skinned tourist becomes even pale-skinned, gives the driver a tip and, as if by magic, the elephant calms down and parks at the ramp... But this is not necessary, you don’t have to give anything and let your conscience bite you that the elephant will go to bed hungry... 
In theory there should be beautiful lake, surrounding an equally beautiful garden on an artificial island. However, it is now January and everything is dry. And it looks something like this ( photo not mine, opens in a new window) ...
All the ridges of the hills as far as the eye can see are covered with battlements of fortifications and towers... 
One of the inner chambers of the palace is called the "Room of a Thousand Mirrors". Its walls and ceiling are lined with a mosaic of mirrors. Just one candle was enough to brightly illuminate the entire hall... Also on the photo card you can notice that a white woman with a slightly open back is almost porn for local youth ( and not only young people), they will quietly take pictures on their mobile phones and follow on their heels... 
All military power and defensive potential were held, as you already understood, not by Amber Fort, but by Jaigarh. In addition, the treasury of the principality was kept here. I will tell you a little about Jaigarh, I will show you in one of the following stories... 
Harem courtyard. Of course, before it was not so dull and scorched by the sun. There were a lot of fabrics used as awnings and walls. Children were playing on the veranda in the middle. The balcony in front on the left is the Shah's room. Small balconies around the perimeter are his wives' apartments. A network of complex passages, corridors and doors along the perimeter of the courtyard allowed the Shah to get to one of his wives without anyone else knowing about it and without them being offended... 
To view the fortress from space, click
The city was founded during the reign of Maharaja Bhagwan Dash as the seat of his second son Mado Singh and was a very prosperous Indian city for quite some time. Gradually its influence declined and after the famine of 1783 it became uninhabited.
According to one legend, the city was cursed by a magician named Bala Nath. Initially, he blessed the construction of the city on the condition that the shadows of the palaces being built in it should not touch the place of his meditation, otherwise the city would be destroyed. But neither the Raja nor his son listened to him and as a result the city began to collapse. Since then, when new houses were built, their roofs were destroyed.
Today it is a deserted, ruined place that can only be visited during the daytime. This is regulated almost at the level of law: at the entrance to the city there is a sign from the Archaeological Survey of India, which states that staying in the city after sunset is prohibited.
Coordinates: 27.09470100,76.29060400
Amber Fort
Amber Fort, built in 1592, is considered one of the finest fortified structures in India. It is located on a hillside, and its walls are reflected in the waters of Lake Moata. Delivery of tourists to the fort is carried out in different ways - amateurs hiking can climb up on their own, lovers of comfort can go on one of the tourist roads, and exotic lovers can go to the fort riding an elephant. Inside the fort, in the first courtyard, there are many souvenir shops. A little further is the Shila Devi temple, dedicated to the warlike goddess Kali. Wild monkeys can often be seen on the huge open terraces. If you move deeper into the temple, you find yourself in the Hall of Pleasure, not far from which there is a canal that was previously used as a water storage facility. Their Jai Mandir temple next to the Maharaja's chambers offers a wonderful view of the entire complex and the lake below.
Another fort, Jaigarh, is located above the Amber fort. It was built by Jai Singh in 1726. The observation towers of this fort are well preserved and it is here that the world's largest wheeled cannon is located.
Coordinates: 26.98430900,75.85119700
Indians/foreigners 25/200 rupees,
guide 200 rupees,
audio guide Hindi/English/other European languages/Asian languages 100/150/200/250 rupees;
8.00-18.00, last group at 17.30
Amber was built by the Kachwakh Rajputs, who were originally from Gwalior, now Madhya Pradesh, and ruled there for over 800 years. Using the loot from the wars, they financed the construction of the Amber castle-fortress, which was begun in 1592 by Maharaja Man Singh, a Rajput and commander-in-chief of Akbar's army. Amber was later enlarged and completed by the Jai Singhs before they moved to Jaipur, to the plain below. Dominating the gorge, the fort provided a military advantage, but was not suitable for the direction of development of the capital intended for it by Jai Singh.
The road to Amber runs through the typical landscapes of Rajasthan, with sun-scorched hills around Lake Maota, where buffaloes lazily lie on the shore near the water. You might see a camel pulling a loaded cart.
This magnificent fortress is more like a city: built of pale yellow and pink sandstone and white marble, it is divided into four main sections, each with its own courtyard. Amber Fort is also an exquisite example of the wealth of the Maharajas: artists sent by Emperor Aurangzeb worked on the columns and arches, and also decorated the gallery around the Public Audience Hall building.
You can trudge to the fortress from the road in about 10 minutes (soft drinks will only be available upstairs). Getting to the fortress by jeep costs 200 rupees. Riding on the back of an elephant is very popular (900 rupees for two passengers; 8.00-11.00 and 15.30-17.30).
On foot or on an elephant you will reach the fortress through Surazh Pol (Sun Gate) that lead to Jaleb Chowk (main courtyard), where the army returning from a campaign demonstrated its booty to the public - women could watch this through the curtained windows of the palace. The ticket office is located across the courtyard from the Sun Gate. If you come by car, you will get inside through Chand Pol (Moon Gate) on the opposite side of Jaleb Chowk. We highly recommend hiring a tour guide or taking an audio guide, as there are few explanations and many hidden passages.
From Jaleb Chowk there is a massive staircase up to the main palace of the Amber Fort, but first turn right along the steps that lead to the small Siladevi temple (Ciladevi Temple; photography is prohibited; 6.00-12.00 and 16.00-20.00). This temple is dedicated to Goddess Sila, the incarnation of the bloodthirsty goddess Kali. On the silver doors of the temple she is depicted riding various animals. Her statue was brought here from Bengal, where the cult of Kali is especially popular. Every day from the 16th century to 1980 (when the government banned this practice) A goat was sacrificed here.
Returning to the main staircase will take you to the second courtyard and Divan-i-Am (Public Audience Hall) with a double row of columns, each of which is crowned by an elephant, and on them are lattice galleries.
In the third courtyard of the Amber fort there are apartments of the maharadoka - entrance through Ganesh Pol (Ganesh Pol), decorated with mosaics and sculptures. Jai Mandir (Hall of Victories) famous for its Indian paneling and ceiling made of many mirrors. There are carved marble panels throughout the hall, depicting amazingly elegant patterns in the form of insects and floral motifs.
Opposite Jai Mandir is Sukh Niwas. (Pleasure Hall) with sandalwood doors inlaid with ivory and a channel that once brought water inside. The Jai Mandir offers a wonderful view of the bastion and the picturesque Maota Lake.
Zenana (women's quarters) surrounds the fourth courtyard of Amber. The rooms were designed so that the Maharaja could visit the rooms of one of his wives and concubines without the others knowing about it; The chambers of each are not interconnected, but open onto a common corridor.
Anokhi Hand Printing Museum
Anokhi Haveli, Kheri Gate;
children/adults 15/30 rupees,
photo/video 50/150 rupees;
10.30-16.30 Tue-Sat, 11.00-16.30 Sun,
closed from May 1 to July 15
This interesting museum contains works of textiles with woodblock prints self made, on display, is located just behind the Amber Fort, in the city of Amber.
Road to Amber Fort and back
There are frequent (crowded) buses to Amber from Jaipur, near Hawa Mahal (Hawa Mahal; 10 rupees, 25 minutes). Autorickshaw or taxi costs from 150/550 rupees for a return trip. Amber Fort is included in RTDC city tours.