Planning · routes compared
The best route through Rajasthan
The short answer
Run the line, not the loop: Jaipur → Jodhpur → (Jaisalmer) → Udaipur, flying out of Udaipur rather than driving back to Delhi. The loop exists because tour operators like round trips, not because it is better. The line saves you a full day and ends the trip in the best place to end it.
The line — Jaipur to Udaipur
Fly into Delhi or Jaipur, work south-west, fly out of Udaipur. Every drive moves you forward and nothing is repeated.
Jaipur → Jodhpur 335 km · Jodhpur → Udaipur 250 km. Add Jaisalmer and it becomes Jodhpur → Jaisalmer 285 km, then the long one back down to Udaipur, which is worth flying.
This is the right route for most people, and it is the one both the seven- and ten-day plans use.
The loop — back to Delhi
Only worth it if you are tied to a Delhi departure and cannot change it, or if you want Shekhawati's painted havelis on the way back up, which genuinely are worth a stop.
The cost is a day: Udaipur to Delhi is a flight or a very long drive, and the loop routes you through country you have already seen.
The desert loop — for a second trip
Jodhpur → Jaisalmer → Bikaner → back east. Three desert cities, almost no other foreign visitors, and the best food in the state at Bikaner.
It is not a first Rajasthan trip. It is a very good second one.
How to decide in one question
Can you fly out of a different airport than you flew into? If yes, run the line. If no, do the shortest loop you can and accept losing a day to the return.
Everything else — which cities, how long in each — follows from that, not the other way round.
ROUTE REVIEWED · AUGUST 2026Drive times are realistic, not optimistic. Distances are by road.
Keep reading
The Rajasthan Edition
Every city on this route, in one book — the stories in acts, the checklist itineraries, Look Closer and the Shot Lists. Designed to read at home, print, and carry with you.
The Rajasthan Edition — $29.99