Visit Rajasthan just once and you will change ever preconceived notion you ever had about a desert. Deserts are supposed to be barren, inhospitable, colourless and forbidding, with vultures circling overhead looking for carrion. Nothing could be further from the reality of India’s great Thar or the Rajasthani Desert. The princely state is in the northwestern India and is a land of unsurpassed physical beauty, hospitality, romance, legend and colour. It is also a home to magnificent forts and palaces. Every grain of sand has its own story to tell.
There is no other place like Rajasthan, so colourful, so vibrant and utterly irresistible. A heavenly destination where an exotic past amalgamates perfectly with the present, Rajasthan offers the visitor enchanting cities, a dynamic culture and spellbinding wildlife.
Colonel James todd, a celebrated writer, after returning from a tour of Rajasthan wrote, “Rajasthan exhibits the sole example in the history of mankind of a people to withstand every outrage barbarity can inflict or human nature sustain, the bent to the Earth, yet rising buoyant from the pressure and making calamity a whetstone to courage.”

Some 80 per cent of Heritage Hotels in India are located in Rajasthan. They remind the world that the maharajas, undaunted by the threat of constant attacks from neighboring states, have left a legacy probably more powerful than their personal bravery in battle, a legacy of creativity in the midst of constant conflict.
While on a tour of Rajasthan, no one can leave Rajasthan without being part of some festival or celebration. Here is a tounge-in-the-cheek reality check: if there are seven days in a week, there are eight festivals in Rajasthan.
A great way to enjoy the mind-boggling diversity of the state, interspersed with shopping, elephant rides, fort tours and gourmet cuisine is to ride the Palace on Wheels, one of the 10 most luxurious trains in the world. For those interested in an action-packed itinerary of Rajasthan, try camel safaris, safari on horses, elephant safaris, jeep safari at India’s oldest hills, the Aravalis. For those more suited to a leisurely day outdoors, head out to the wetlands for a bit of bird watching to spot the many colorful feathered species in the area. And those inclined to indulge in a more relaxed and pampered stay can languish in the hospitality of Rajasthan’s beautiful heritage properties.
Do not overlook the various Rajasthan tour itineraries which take you through the retail therapies of many bazaars where you can pick up fantastic bargains that will keep you coming back for more.