Weekend getaways from Jaipur

Twin sacred towns beyond Nag Pahar: Ajmer's Sharif Dargah and Ana Sagar Lake, then Pushkar's holy lake, 52 ghats and rare Brahma temple. The Kartik Purnima camel fair (Oct-Nov) swells crowds and prices - book far ahead.

Best time: October to March

India's most reliable tiger sightings amid dry forest, lakes and a 10th-century UNESCO hill fort inside the park. Core safari zones close for the Jul-Sep monsoon; the fort and some buffer zones stay open year-round.

Best time: October to June

The Taj Mahal at sunrise repays the 4-hour highway run, with Agra Fort and Mehtab Bagh's river-bank view alongside. The Taj is closed on Fridays; the ghost city of Fatehpur Sikri makes a grand stop on the way.

Best time: October to March

Rajasthan's open-air art gallery: merchant towns Mandawa and Nawalgarh packed with fresco-painted havelis from caravan-trade days. Sleep in a restored haveli; summers are harsh in this semi-desert region.

Best time: November to March

A day of the eerie and the exquisite: Chand Baori's 3,500-step, 13-storey stepwell at Abhaneri, then the ruined temples and bazaar street of Bhangarh, India's famously 'haunted' fort. Entry is strictly sunrise to sunset.

Best time: October to March

Tiger safaris in Sariska's Aravalli forests (reserve closed Wednesdays), boating below the 1845 Siliserh Lake Palace, and Alwar's City Palace. Quieter than Ranthambore, with easier weekend safari permits.

Best time: October to June

India's largest inland salt lake: blinding white flats, salt-pan causeways and a colonial-era salt railway, with flamingos wintering on the shallows. A Ramsar wetland with Mahabharata lore; no shade, so carry cover.

Best time: November to February

A blue-washed Hadoti town below Taragarh Fort, famous for the mural-filled Taragarh Palace, 50-plus stepwells led by Raniji ki Baori, and the lakeside Sukh Mahal where Kipling stayed. Wonderfully offbeat for its riches.

Best time: October to March

A 15th-century hill fort reborn as one of India's best-known heritage hotels, tiered up the Aravallis. Come for the overnight stay, the Flying Fox zip line over the ramparts, and the 9-storey Neemrana stepwell nearby.

Best time: October to March

The quickest royal escape from Jaipur: Samode Palace's mirrored Sheesh Mahal and painted Durbar Hall, a 300-step climb to the ruined fort above, the Mughal-style Samode Bagh, and a village known for block printing.

Best time: September to March