The Rajasthan grand circuit by car:ten days, six cities, one car
Ten days is the shortest honest Rajasthan trip that reaches Jaisalmer and still gives Udaipur more than an afternoon. The loop runs anticlockwise from Delhi — Jaipur, Pushkar, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Udaipur, Chittorgarh and home — about 2,400 km in all, with six driving days and four local ones. Going anticlockwise matters: it puts the two longest desert legs early while you are fresh, and leaves the short, pretty Udaipur-to-Chittorgarh-to-Delhi run for the end. A sedan bills ₹33,000 for the ten days on the 300 km per day minimum; an Innova Crysta ₹54,000.
Updated · Fares from the published rate card, Sedan ₹11/km to Tempo ₹23/km
- The loop
- 10 days · ~2,400 km
- Driving days
- 6 of 10
- Longest single leg
- Jodhpur → Jaisalmer, 285 km
- Sedan, 10 days
- ₹33,000
Rajasthan rewards a car more than almost anywhere in India, because the distances between its cities are real but the roads between them are good, and the things worth stopping for — a step well, a fort on a ridge, a village of painted houses — are not on any train line. The circuit below is the one our drivers run most often, and it is built around two constraints that catch first-time planners out: Jaisalmer is a long way from everything, and Udaipur deserves two nights rather than one.
Distances are from the site’s own corridor data. Fares follow the published rate card — sedan ₹11/km, Ertiga or SUV ₹15/km, Innova Crysta ₹18/km, 12-seater Tempo Traveller ₹23/km — on a 300 km per day minimum, with tolls, parking and state entry at actual. The ten-day figure is a flat one rather than the sum of the legs, because the local days bill the minimum.
One thing to settle before booking anything: October to March. This is desert and desert-edge country and from April to June daytime temperatures pass 45 degrees on the Bikaner and Jaisalmer stretches, with long open roads and no shade. The circuit is not worth doing in that window.
The loop
The circuit, day by day and kilometre by kilometre
Kilometre marks are cumulative from Delhi. Anticlockwise: the long desert legs early, the short pretty ones at the end.
- km0
NH-48Day 1: Delhi to Jaipur
5 hrs · 280 kmNH-48 through Gurgaon, Behror and Shahpura, six-lane the whole way. Leave early and you have the afternoon in the walled city. Neemrana makes a good lunch stop if you want one, 110 km out.
Halt: Night: Jaipur
- km280
LocalDay 2: Jaipur
Local day · 60 kmAmber Fort at eight when the ramp is quiet, the City Palace and Jantar Mantar in the walled city, the Panna Meena stepwell, and Nahargarh on the ridge for the evening. This is the one city on the circuit where arriving early at a single monument genuinely changes the day.
Halt: Night: Jaipur
- km340
NH-58Day 3: Jaipur to Pushkar via Ajmer
3 hrs · 145 kmA short day on purpose, after two long ones. Ajmer for the Dargah and Ana Sagar on the way in, then over the Nag Pahar to Pushkar for the lake and the fifty-two ghats in the late afternoon. Pushkar is walked, not driven — the car stops at the edge of town.
Halt: Night: Pushkar
- km485
NH-25Day 4: Pushkar to Jodhpur
3.5 hrs · 185 kmWest into Marwar on NH-58 and NH-25. Arrive by lunch, walk the old city and the restored Toorji stepwell as it cools, and keep Mehrangarh for the following morning when it opens — the audio guide there is one of the best in the country and deserves an unhurried three hours.
Halt: Night: Jodhpur
- km670
NH-125Day 5: Jodhpur to Jaisalmer
5 hrs · 285 kmMehrangarh from opening, then the long run west across the Thar on NH-125. Osian makes a stop 65 km out if you want the Jain temples. Reach Jaisalmer by late afternoon and go straight out to the Sam dunes for sunset; the fort can wait for morning.
Halt: Night: Jaisalmer
- km955
LocalDay 6: Jaisalmer
Local day · 90 kmThe fort walls at sunrise, which is the single best hour of the whole circuit — several thousand people still live inside the walls and the sandstone turns at first light. Then the Patwon ki Haveli, the Gadisar tank, and Kuldhara on the Khuri road in the afternoon.
Halt: Night: Jaisalmer
- km1045
Longest legDay 7: Jaisalmer to Udaipur
8 hrs · 495 kmThe longest day of the circuit and the one worth knowing about in advance. Eight hours south-east through Barmer and Pali, and the landscape changes completely — sand to Aravalli hills. Leave at six. Those who would rather not do it in one push break at Jodhpur or Mount Abu, which adds a night.
Halt: Night: Udaipur
- km1540
LocalDay 8: Udaipur
Local day · 40 kmThe City Palace at opening before the boats fill, Jagdish temple and the old town, the Monsoon Palace on the ridge for sunset, and the courtyard performance at Bagore ki Haveli in the evening. Two nights here is the single best decision on the itinerary.
Halt: Night: Udaipur
- km1580
NH-48Day 9: Udaipur to Chittorgarh
2 hrs · 115 kmA deliberately short drive to the largest fort in India by area — thirteen square kilometres on a hill, with seven gates climbing to it. The car goes up and around inside with you, which is how the fort is actually seen. The Vijay Stambh, the Rana Kumbha palace and the Gaumukh reservoir fill the afternoon; the sound-and-light show fills the evening.
Halt: Night: Chittorgarh
- km1695NH-48
Day 10: Chittorgarh to Delhi
9-10 hrs · 575 kmNorth on NH-48 through Bhilwara, Ajmer and Jaipur. A long final day, and the one most people underestimate — leave by six. Those with an extra day break it at Jaipur instead and arrive in Delhi fresh on day eleven.
Halt: Home
- km2270
Delhi
Evening of day 10About 2,270 km on the loop with the local days counted, 2,400 with the detours most people add. Ten days at the rate card, tolls and state entry at actual.
The ten-day Rajasthan circuit at a glance
Distances from the site’s corridor data. The four local days bill the 300 km per day minimum, which is why the ten-day fare is a flat figure rather than the sum of the legs.
| Day | From → to | Km | Hours | Night | What you see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delhi → Jaipur | 280 | 5 | Jaipur | NH-48, the walled city |
| 2 | Jaipur local | 60 | 2 driving | Jaipur | Amber, City Palace, Nahargarh |
| 3 | Jaipur → Ajmer → Pushkar | 145 | 3 | Pushkar | Dargah, Ana Sagar, Pushkar ghats |
| 4 | Pushkar → Jodhpur | 185 | 3.5 | Jodhpur | Marwar road, old city, Toorji stepwell |
| 5 | Jodhpur → Jaisalmer | 285 | 5 | Jaisalmer | Mehrangarh, the Thar, Sam dunes |
| 6 | Jaisalmer local | 90 | 3 driving | Jaisalmer | Fort at sunrise, Patwon ki Haveli, Kuldhara |
| 7 | Jaisalmer → Udaipur | 495 | 8 | Udaipur | Barmer, Pali, the Aravalli change |
| 8 | Udaipur local | 40 | 1.5 driving | Udaipur | City Palace, Jagdish, Monsoon Palace |
| 9 | Udaipur → Chittorgarh | 115 | 2 | Chittorgarh | India’s largest fort by area |
| 10 | Chittorgarh → Delhi | 575 | 9–10 | Home | Bhilwara, Ajmer, Jaipur, NH-48 |
| Total | The loop | ~2,270 | ~42 driving | 9 nights | Six cities, one car |
Fares for the ten days: Sedan ₹33,000, Ertiga ₹45,000, Innova Crysta ₹54,000, 12-seater Tempo Traveller ₹69,000. Tolls, parking and state entry at actual. October to March only — the Jaisalmer and Barmer stretches are severe from April to June.
The order
Why anticlockwise, and why Jaisalmer on day five rather than day two
Because the two hardest driving days are Jodhpur to Jaisalmer and Jaisalmer to Udaipur, and you want them in the middle of the trip rather than at either end. Going clockwise — Udaipur first, Jaisalmer late — puts the 495 km desert crossing on day eight, when everyone is tired of the car, and then asks for a 560 km run home on day nine. Anticlockwise front-loads the distance while the trip still feels new and finishes with two short, scenic days.
The second reason is light. Jaisalmer fort at sunrise and the Sam dunes at sunset are the two fixed points of the whole circuit, and reaching Jaisalmer in the late afternoon of day five gives you the dunes that evening and the fort the next morning. Arriving at midday, which is what a clockwise run tends to produce, loses both.
JodhpurThe hard day
Jaisalmer to Udaipur is eight hours. Should I break it?
If you have an eleventh day, yes, and Mount Abu is the place to do it — 490 km from Jaisalmer with a 27 km hairpin climb at the end, Rajasthan’s only hill station, and a genuine change of air after four days of desert. From there Udaipur is a further 165 km and three and a half hours, which makes day eight an easy morning.
If you have exactly ten days, do it in one push but start at six. The road through Barmer and Pali is good and the traffic is light; what makes it tiring is the sameness of the landscape for the first four hours. Our drivers on this leg plan two proper stops rather than one, which helps more than it sounds.
What does not work is attempting it after a late morning at Jaisalmer fort. Either take the fort at sunrise and leave by eight, or accept that you will arrive in Udaipur after dark and lose the evening.
The variations
What to cut if you have seven days, and what to add if you have fourteen
At seven days, cut Jaisalmer. That sounds like heresy and it is the right call: Jaisalmer costs you two driving days and a local day — nearly half a seven-day trip — and without it the circuit becomes Delhi, Jaipur, Pushkar, Jodhpur, Udaipur and home, which is 1,500 km and far more relaxed. Keep Jaisalmer for a trip where it is the point rather than a detour.
At fourteen days, add three things in this order. Bikaner, between Jaipur and Jodhpur, for Junagarh and the Deshnoke temple. Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur between Jodhpur and Udaipur — a 36 km fort wall and 1,444 carved marble pillars, and the single best half-day in Rajasthan that most itineraries skip. And Ranthambore on the way home from Chittorgarh, built around two safari slots rather than one.
What not to add is more cities. The commonest mistake on a Rajasthan itinerary is treating it as a list of places rather than a sequence of drives, and a fourteen-day circuit with nine cities is a fortnight of packing.
Places to visit near Jodhpur, including Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur
The car
Which vehicle for a ten-day Rajasthan circuit?
For two people, a sedan. The roads on this circuit are good — NH-48, NH-25 and NH-125 are four-lane or better for almost all of it — and the only rough stretches are the approach roads to a few desert camps. A sedan at ₹11 per km is the sensible choice and bills ₹33,000 for the ten days.
For a family of four with luggage, an Ertiga or an Innova Crysta. Ten days means real luggage, and the difference between arriving comfortable and arriving cramped over 2,400 km is worth the ₹12,000 to ₹21,000. The Innova is what most of our ten-day Rajasthan bookings take.
For six or more, the 12-seater Tempo Traveller at ₹23 per km. It is the only vehicle that carries that group with luggage, and at ₹69,000 split six ways it is cheaper per head than two sedans.
Three things the drivers would tell you
Book Ranthambore and the camps first
Safari permits and the better desert camps are sold by slot and go weeks ahead in the October to March season. Fix those, then build the car around them — not the other way round.
Two nights in Udaipur, one everywhere else
Udaipur is the one city on this circuit where a single night means seeing the lake and missing the city. Everywhere else, one night and an early start is enough.
The fort hours are the itinerary
Amber at eight, Jaisalmer fort at sunrise, Mehrangarh at opening, Ranakpur after noon. Four of the ten days are shaped by when a monument is best rather than by distance.
Carry cash for the small stops
Step wells, village temples and the smaller forts along the way often take cash only, and card acceptance on the Barmer and Pali stretch is patchy.
Avoid the Pushkar fair unless it is the point
The camel fair around Kartik Purnima in November fills every room in Pushkar and Ajmer months ahead and closes roads. Either plan the circuit around it deliberately or keep well clear.
Questions people ask
Frequently asked questions
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