Flying Scots Girl

The Amber Fort is Jaipur’s fabulous gem and the most visited place in the city with thousands of domestic and international tourists passing through its arches. There’s plenty to know before you visit this UNESCO World Heritage Site and to help you make the most of your trip. We made some mistakes and that was even after a fair amount of research so don’t miss all of these things you should know before you visit!

Top Tip – Booking Activities & Tours

My favourite app for booking tours, adventures and plenty of fun is Get Your Guide. There are so many epic memories that you can choose to make from food tours to entry tickets, laidback wine tasting to adrenaline filled adventures. Make sure you use my discount code CATTHOMSON5 for 5% off your first booking when you download the app as a new user 👇

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1. Where to buy tickets

There are three different ways that you’re most likely to purchase tickets. Either, you’ll be visiting as part of a guided tour and you may have booked an option which includes the ticket price. Or, if you haven’t included tickets in your tour option or you’r’e visiting without a guide then you will be buying them yourself. You can buy your tickets online on the Rajasthan Government Tourist website. This is best if you know what day you’re planning to visit and if you want to save your cash / notes. If you’re happy with how much INR you still have on you, then you can also purchase your ticket at the ticket office but make sure you have the right amount as you’re unlikely to get change. The composite ticket allows access to nine different places over two days so if you know that you’ll be visiting more than just the Amber Fort, this is a good option.

2. How to get there

In Jaipur I was struggling to decide what the best way to get around and explore was. Whether to book a tour, a driver or just use Uber. In the end, I booked one of the days with Sightseeing Cab in Jaipur which was perfect. We decided just to have a driver rather than a guide as well so that we could have more freedom with where to go and include cafes / bars that we wanted rather than being taken ‘shopping’ and on someone else’s timing. This company was brilliant. No pressure to book extras or getting taken to places not on the agenda, we could set it ourselves.

A big benefit of having a driver for the day was that when we were finished, we didn’t have to haggle or get ripped off for transport back to the city and we didn’t have to wait ages to see if we’d get connected to a driver. We could just send him a message and he came to pick us right up!

In general we found that booking rickshaws on Uber in Jaipur was easy and cheap, a convenient way to get around so I’m sure that this would be an option to get to the Fort as well. And then to book one on the way back as well, but because we didn’t use this option I couldn’t tell you how hard or straightforward it would be at the end of your visit.

There are two gates to enter the Fort. If you walk, up the steep hill then you’ll arrive by the Suraj Pol (Victory Gate) and if you’ve been driven then you’ll enter at Chand Pol (Moon Gate). The Chand Pol is beside the ticket office whereas Suraj Pol is opposite.

3. When to visit

There are two elements to this section. First time of year and second time of day. When it comes to the time of year, October to March is the best season as the monsoon rains of June to September should have subsided and the winter temperatures are more bearable for monument sightseeing than the hot, hot summer months of March to June where the mercury can hit 40C plus on repeat. Of course the downside to visiting in the high season is that is exactly that, the high season with high footfall.

Now, I’m fairly certain that both Google Maps and the Rajasthan gov website said that the Fort opens at 8am when I visited at the start of November 2025. However, reviewing as I write today (mid November) both sources appear to say 7am 🤷‍♀️ I had set an alarm such that we would arrive for opening time and it did not go off!! This meant we didn’t arrive at the fort until past 9:30am and whilst it wasn’t heaving there were plenty of people around.

Honestly, if you want to enjoy the Amber Fort with the morning quiet and also the soft morning light then come for opening time. I know I regret not being able to!

4. Learning about the fort – tour guides

There is so much to see in the Amber Fort that it is quite overwhelming. There is also a serious lack of signage as to what you’re seeing which makes it hard to appreciate the history and work that sit within its walls. We chose not to have a guide because we wanted the option to just go at our own pace. Our overall trip was quite hectic and we were keen to be able to collapse at a coffee shop or back at the hotel earlier than planned if we wanted to.

So there are two routes to get yourself a guide. The first is if you’ve booked a tour which includes a driver and a guide and the Amber Fort is likely forming one part of a whole day of sightseeing. The second option is if you have a driver only or you have taken public transport to get here then you are able to hire a guide on arrival. There are many government accredited guides at the ticket area. Slightly annoying if you’ve decided you don’t want a guide! But if you do, then they have a set fee of 400 INR for 1-4 people (which increases for larger groups).

5. Wedding season means wedding photos

November to February is the wedding season in India and wedding photos are somewhat of a trend. Particularly wedding photos at Instagrammable locations and the Amber Fort certainly is one in Jaipur. A problem you’ll come across is that these wedding shoots take up a lot of space, the photographers can be quite shouty and (not quite) aggressive and it can feel like they’re taking ages in the best spots. Not only for getting a quick snap yourself but also for being able to admire the architecture. Personally, I ignored quite a lot of them because there were so many that it would take you ages to get round if you stopped and waited for them all. Ultimately they haven’t book exclusive rights, they haven’t come early (if it’s past 10am) and you’ve also paid to be there. Really this is just a heads up of what to expect!

6. Think twice before you ride the elephants

For some, there is an excitement and novelty about riding an elephant up to the Amber Fort from the bottom of the hill. However, I would advise you to truly think about this experience and whether it is one that is sensible and kind. The hill is very steep, the sun is very hot and the tourist day is very long. When researching the fort, many people said that these animals are mistreated and whilst I don’t necessarily have evidence that they are badly looked after I also can’t say that they’re looked after well and this is not cruel. I did see one being hit by its driver which of course didn’t sit well with me and it was not something I had to think hard about to decide this is not something I would do at the Fort.

7. Don’t miss Panna Meena ka Kund

Panna Meena ka Kund is beautiful, ancient stepwell near to the Amber Fort. When you’ve ventured all this way out of the city, make sure you don’t miss it. Unfortunately (although realistically it’s much safer), you can’t walk down the steps as there’s a guard there, to get a fabulous photo, but you can still admire it from the top. These stepwells were incredibly important for collecting water, especially in hot summer months with limited rain. It’s easiest to visit on the drive to Amber Fort if you’re with a guide / driver because you’ll pass by anyway. If you’re visiting on foot then the best way to see Panna Meena ka Kund is probably to walk to it because there is a one way system in place up to and then down from the fort and you may end up just wasting quite a lot of time sitting in the traffic. Just be careful walking as the streets are very narrow and congested.

8. Don’t get scammed

Hmm yes this seems like an obvious or easy one but lo and behold we fell for one. Unfortunately, India is somewhere that whilst many people are friendly and genuine, many also are not and it is very difficult to distinguish between the two. I’m not sure if this is a common scam at the Amber Fort but we were guided by a ‘security guard’ to a quieter photo location. Except we kept going up. And away from everyone else. Really we should have known and turned back but we ended up on the roof. Whilst there are some very nice photos (see above) it wasn’t particularly pleasant being asked for money, especially when I was already giving him some. So the moral is, don’t follow anyone. Even if they’re dressed seemingly like security. Stay amongst the crowds if they do and keep your eyes open. Despite being in the area that’s paid, there are still chancers around. Since this is an incredibly popular tourist place there are a greater number of scammers than there may be elsewhere.

9. The fort is in need of some TLC

Whilst the Amber Fort really is stunning and there are places that will certainly take your breath away, there are other areas which may leave you feeling a little underwhelmed and aware of the amount of TLC that really needs to go into the fort to somewhat return it to its former glory. You will sadly find chipped plaster, peeling paintwork and stained stones. It would be nice to see some restoration work taking place so that the Fort gets the care that it needs and its place in Rajasthan’s history and story can be preserved for generations to come.

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