Should I stay inside Jaisalmer Fort?

It is a remarkable thing to do and the rooftop views are unmatched, but rooms are small, vehicles cannot reach the door, and the fort has a long-standing drainage and water-pressure problem that heavy visitor use makes worse. A night inside and a night below is a good compromise. Staying just outside gets you the fort in the view and a larger room.

How many nights do I need in Jaisalmer?

Two. One day covers the fort, the Jain temples inside it and the Patwon-ki-Haveli group, with an evening at Gadisar Lake. The second gives you the dunes at Sam or Khuri for sunset, roughly 45 km out, which most people do as an afternoon and evening trip.

How do I get to Jaisalmer?

By road it is about five and a half hours from Jodhpur, which is the usual approach. The overnight trains from Delhi and Jaipur arrive in the morning and save a day, and there is a small airport with seasonal flights. It is the furthest west of the Rajasthan cities, so it works best as the end of a run rather than a detour.

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India · 6 hand-picked stays

Boutique hotels
in Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is one of the very few forts in the world that people still live in, and the first decision here is whether you sleep inside its walls or look at them from outside.

Inside the living fort, the buildings are honey sandstone and the lanes are too narrow for a car. Killa Bhawan is an eight-room heritage house built into the bastions themselves. Garh Jaisal Haveli sits at Kotari Para with a rooftop over the fort's rooftops. Rooms are small, luggage is carried the last stretch, and the position is exceptional. It is worth knowing that water use inside the fort is a live conservation question, which is part of why some visitors choose otherwise.

Below and outside the fort, the havelis are larger and the plumbing is easier. Gulaal is a sandstone haveli built the traditional way around two open courtyards. Himmatgarh Palace has Bhurj tower rooms, a garden pool and views across to the fort, which is the compromise a lot of people want: the fort in the window rather than under your feet. Jaisalmer Resort adds lawns and a pool a short walk from the fort.

Out in the dunes, SUJÁN The Serai is a palace of canvas in the Thar, on its own land well beyond the city. This is a separate kind of night rather than a base for seeing the town.

Jaisalmer is a long way west: about five and a half hours by road from Jodhpur, and the overnight train from Delhi and Jaipur is a genuinely good way to arrive. October to March is the season. Sam and Khuri, the dune areas, are 40 to 45 km out for sunset.

Planning the rest of the trip? Read our Jaisalmer travel guide.

Where they are

4 of the 6 stays in Jaisalmer; the rest are not pinned yet. Tap a pin for the stay.

A Serai tent and its veranda on the edge of the Thar

Jaisalmer · desert camp

SUJÁN The Serai

Twenty-one tents on the golden edge of the Thar: private plunge pools, Manganiyar bards by firelight, and dunes running to the horizon. Jaisalmer's living fortress is up the road.