Landmark · Jaipur

Hawa Mahal

In 60 seconds

Hawa Mahal is a five-storey screen wall in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India — built in 1799 for Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh by the architect Lal Chand Ustad, so the women of the court could watch the street without being seen. It is one room deep, has no grand entrance at the front, and you go in from behind. Entry is ≈ ₹600 for foreign visitors, 09:00–18:30. Twenty minutes inside is enough; the photograph everyone wants is taken from the café opposite, at dawn.

Fees & timings

CHECKED AGAINST OFFICIAL SOURCES · AUGUST 2026

Entry — foreign visitors	≈ ₹600 (revised January 2026, was ₹300)
Entry — Indian visitors	≈ ₹100 (was ₹50)
Hours	09:00 – 18:30, daily
Allow	20–30 minutes inside; longer if you climb to the top floor
Getting in	The entrance is at the back, on Hawa Mahal Road — not on the façade side
On the composite	Yes — one of the nine sites on the state's Jaipur composite ticket

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The building is a façade in the literal sense: a screen attached to the zenana of the City Palace, not a palace in its own right. That is why it is one room deep and why the front has no door — there was never anything behind it to enter.

How many windows? Nobody agrees

You will be told 953, confidently, by almost every guide in the city. The Government of Rajasthan's own monument page says 365 — one for each day of the year. Both figures circulate widely, neither is sourced, and nobody reconciles them. Count a section yourself and multiply if you want; that is as close as anyone has got.

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