Amber Fort, Jaipur: Timings, Tickets and Getting Up the Hill

Timings, tickets and how long

Composite tickets covering Amber, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal and Nahargarh exist and are usually better value if you are seeing three or more. Ask at the first gate you reach.

The fort is large and almost entirely on steps and ramps. Two hours is a brisk visit; three lets you take in Jaleb Chowk, the palaces and the walk up to the Sheesh Mahal without hurrying.

The elephant rides — the honest answer

We do not book them, and we will tell you why if you ask. The elephants that carry visitors up the ramp to Amber work long days in heat on hard surfaces, and the welfare concerns around them have been documented repeatedly by Indian and international organisations. Conditions have improved under regulation and they remain a long way from good.

The jeep covers the same climb in a few minutes and costs less. Walking up takes about fifteen minutes on a cobbled ramp and gives you the approach the fort was designed to be seen from — which is, genuinely, the best way to arrive.

This is your decision rather than ours and we will not lecture you at the gate. But you asked a tour operator, and the honest answer is that there is a better option in every respect including the view.

What to see inside

Raja Man Singh I began the fort in 1592 and it was extended over the next century and a half. It is built in pale yellow and pink sandstone with marble detailing, in four courtyards rising up the hillside, and it is one of the six Hill Forts of Rajasthan inscribed by UNESCO in 2013.

• Jaleb Chowk — the first courtyard, where the army assembled and returning cavalry paraded
• Ganesh Pol — the painted gateway into the private palaces, and the most photographed thing in the fort
• Sheesh Mahal — the mirror palace, its ceiling set with thousands of convex mirror pieces so that a single candle once lit the whole room
• Sukh Niwas — the pleasure palace, cooled by water channels running through the floor, which is Mughal air conditioning
• Diwan-i-Am — the hall of public audience, open on three sides
• The stepwell at Panna Meena ka Kund, ten minutes away and free, which almost no tour stops at

Getting there and fitting it in

It is eleven kilometres north of Jaipur, half an hour by road, and every Jaipur itinerary starts here. Go first thing and do the city palaces afterwards — the reverse order puts you at Amber in the middle of the day with every coach in Rajasthan.

Maota Lake sits below the fort and the view of the walls reflected in it, from the road on the approach, is the photograph people remember. Ask the driver to stop; most will not think to.

Jaigarh Fort sits on the ridge above and is connected by a fortified passage. It holds Jaivana, once the largest wheeled cannon in the world, and takes another hour if you have it.