For a very special visit, Indagare members can contact our Bookings Team and ask them to arrange an after-hours visit with a curator tour, Champagne on the ramparts at sunset and dinner in the gardens. Having Jodhpur’s most treasured site all to yourself is already an incredible experience, but going with a local expert who can put it all into perspective makes it truly unforgettable.

Jodhpur is a magnet for interior decorators and designers who come to buy antique and reproduction furniture. There are warehouses of antiques and curios and for those on a real mission, we recommend working with a trusted local expert who knows the best sources and can help with negotiating and shipping. Indagare members can contact our Bookings Team to be connected with a trusted personal shopper.

The colossal fort that was home to generations of royalty is a place of history and mystery. It looms more than 400 feet over the city like a gigantic cliff top castle. Parts of it were built in the 15th century and succeeding maharajas continued to add on wings until the 19th century. Among the highlights of a visit are the incredible stone-latticed courtyards, the ramparts with their city views and the galleries of miniature paintings. The royal family of Jodhpur still owns and manages the fort and many of their heirlooms remain in the rooms, including antique cradles and glass Christmas ornaments. Tip: Don’t miss a visit to the museum shop, which has a great collection of local crafts.

If you visit Jodhpur during polo season (December), you must see a game in the place where polo was born. The grounds are not far from the Umaid Bhawan Palace.

Come late February, Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Fort, along with Ahhichatragarh Fort, in nearby Nagaur, are the site of the World Sufi Spirit Festival. Sufism is considered the mystical arm of Islam, and followers, express their inner, spiritual search through dance, song, poetry, and chanting. Though the festival continues to evolve and grow each year, the performers can range from dancers from Lucknow to female singers from Kazakhstan to the whirling dervishes of Turkey. The stunning fort backdrops, with their lantern-lit courtyards come evening also add to the magic.

A novel approach to sightseeing and a way to avoid traffic and dusty streets is to zip line for aerial views from the ramparts of the Mehrangarh Fort. The Swiss-designed, British-run adventure company Flying Fox has strung zip lines up to 300 meters long from the fort to six stations across the valleys beneath the fort. In the journey, which lasts about an hour-and-a-half, you cross over lakes and desert terrain with an expert guide accompanying each group. The outfit is run to European safety standards and operates from an office in the Mehrangarh Fort. Tours depart hourly between 8am and 5pm.