Private Night Tour of Jaipur by Car

We booked a private JAIPUR evening/night tour with Rafik (the driver) and SK (the guide). We were keen to see many of the places we had visited on the many previous trips to JAIPUR but particularly at night/early evening. The gentlemen picked us up from The Rambagh Palace promptly and were both courteous and friendly throughout the evening tour and at each of the many places we either walked to or visited by car (and then got out to view by night) both were extremely charming and informative. This trip was enchanting… and benefitted of course from cooler temperatures and the ac in the car too. Too many places to list out… but the most impressive aspect of this tour was the interest shown in ‘what we wanted to see, given our experiences in JAIPUR previously’. And both Rafik and SK worked hard to illustrate and illuminate not just the obvious but also the lessons many tourists might not have been introduced to. We emphasised on this tour ‘no shopping’ thank you and that was respected. We asked both gentleman to again collect us on our second full day in JAIPUR and revisit those 4 or 5 things that stood out for us. The Royal cenotaphs were in our opinion a highlight of the day today… stunning architecture and a serene place to visit devoid of all the JAIPUR hubbard and constant sellers. A useful and informative visit to the City Palace took longer than anticipated by an unplanned visit to the city place shop (artists)… whilst truly interesting I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to consider buying the three very small paintings I had admired in part because they were nearly £800 and nope I hadn’t planned to spend money that upon waking today. Later we had a busy & loud visit to the Amber Fort and the stunning palace of the mirrors… a site worth seeing even with the masses of people all jostling for your attention. Talking of which… still not in the mind to go ‘shopping today’ the incessant badgering of street market sellers is a serious distraction from what is otherwise a really charming fort accompanied by a hugely knowledge and considerate guide. Imagine our shock when we were approached by a street seller selling ‘copies’ or possibly ‘facsimile’ or even the same (who is to know what is authentic and what isn’t) for originally 5000 rupees for 1 - swiftly reduced to 1000 rupees for 5. In the City Palace I was being charged 80,000 for the original 3 (nearly £260 each as opposed to the ‘new price’ of £2.50 each). If your reading this - I would just say “take your time”… “don’t be pressured”. All is not always what it might seem! That said the guide and driver were helpful and when we found a shop more akin to the quality of items we liked we made some purchases and likely tomorrow may buy some more, thanks to the driver & guide today for their help in making me see sense to not make an impulse purchase. The only slight downside today was when I asked if I could see an elelphant - I’m in my 50s and have never seen a real elephant. A suggestion was made to visit an ‘elephant village’. We weren’t certain before arriving and were clear within minutes of arriving that this, for us, was a huge mistake. Many people may enjoy seeing these beautiful creatures penned and tied and painted and ridden for the pleasure of tourists. But not us. We had to sit down and listen to an uninteresting background facts about elephants (which I could have googled) before the hard sell of the elephant ‘packages’ they could sell us for 4500 rupees (£45) each to see, speak and walk with an elephant for 10 mins. That wasn’t what we wanted to buy. The experience became somewhat combative as I insisted these ‘packages’ were not of interest as we simply wanted to see an elephant. Regrettably it became necessary with the chap from the elephant village to become forceful repeatedly whilst saying no and walking away to our driver, guide and car. I don’t want to blow this out of proportion but sadly it took up time doing something that didn’t appeal to us at all - later we saw elephants walking alongside the road… and that achieved my goal without the hassle at the elephant village incident. This meant we didn’t get to see several of the places we had agreed with the driver and guide to revisit today… and so as that all came about in the last hour of the tour it was a disappointing way to end what had otherwise been an interesting evening last night and most of the day today. TIP: say no to shopping, say no to hassle from street traders and unless elephants in captivity are your thing: think hard about the ‘elephant packages’ on offer and whether they suit. We have another day before moving to our next destination and that is fortunate and I think we shall revisit those places that had to be skipped due to in part the time shopping at the city palace and then again at the elephant village. Thanks go of course to our guide SK and to the driver Rafik.

Rafiq is a nice person. He is always on time and will drop you at your destination on time. I would highly recommend his services.

Excellent driver who I highly recommend. He picked me up at the airport nice and fine . I had a night tour also which was excellent. I felt in very good company