Places to VisitNear Bikaner

The Karni Mata temple, where some twenty-five thousand rats live under protection and are fed as part of the worship. Forty minutes from Bikaner and genuinely unlike anywhere else — shoes come off at the gate.

A former royal shooting lodge on a lake in the middle of scrub desert, now a heritage hotel, with a small wildlife sanctuary attached. Chinkara and nilgai at dusk, and the lake brings migratory birds in winter.

A desert oasis with a sacred lake and a cluster of temples and ghats devoted to the sage Kapil. The Kartik Purnima fair here is substantial and almost entirely local.

The Ahhichatragarh fort has been restored carefully and sees very few visitors. The cattle fair in January and February is one of the largest in the country.

The painted havelis of Shekhawati — merchant houses from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries covered inside and out in frescoes. Four hours each way makes this an overnight.

Five hours south. Mehrangarh is one of the great forts of India and the blue city beneath it needs a full day on foot. An overnight at minimum.

Six hours through open desert. The living fort, the havelis and the dunes at Sam need two nights to do properly, and the drive itself is part of the experience.