Landmark · Jodhpur

Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park

In 60 seconds

Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park is a restored volcanic-rock desert below Mehrangarh in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India — a hillside stripped of invasive mesquite by hand and replanted with the plants that belong on it. Entry is ₹100. It opens 08:00–17:30 from October to March and 07:00–18:30 from April to September, which means that through the whole cool season it shuts before the sun goes down. Come for the geology and the birds in the morning, not for a sunset you cannot legally stay for.

Fees & timings

CHECKED AGAINST OFFICIAL SOURCES · AUGUST 2026

Entry	₹100
Hours	Oct – Mar 08:00 – 17:30 · Apr – Sep 07:00 – 18:30
The catch	It closes before sunset every month of the Oct – Mar season
Terrain	Rhyolite rock, loose underfoot — real shoes
Allow	1 – 2 hours on the marked trails

Spot a change on the ground? Tell us — we fix it in days.

A desert put back by hand

The hillside was choked with Prosopis juliflora, a South American mesquite planted a century ago and impossible to dig out of volcanic rock. Stonemasons — not gardeners — were trained to chase the roots through the cracks and lever them out one at a time. What grew back is what was here before.

The India Unfolded edit

Three things to look at, that nobody points out

The rock itself

Rhyolite, 750 million years old, welded in sheets. The park exists partly to show you the stone Mehrangarh is standing on and cut from.

The Ranisar and Padamsar tanks

Visible from the trail — Ranisar dug in 1459 for Rao Jodha's queen, Padamsar in the early 1500s for Rao Ganga's. Not twins, whatever you are told.

The wall

The city's sixteenth-century wall runs through the park. You can walk beside a fortification most visitors only see from a car window.

What isn’t true

“Watch the sun set over the city from the ridge.”

You cannot. The gate shuts first.

Sunset at Jodhpur falls between 17:45 and 18:50 across the October-to-March season. The park's winter close is 17:30. Every itinerary that ends a day here is describing something that has not been possible since the park set its hours.

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