Rajasthan, Desert, Forts and Tigers

A road journey of about 600 miles through Rajasthan, with three-night stays in the desert, in leopard country and at the edge of Ranthambhore National Park. Single nights in Jodhpur and Jaipur break the drives and leave time for the forts and the old city.

Length: 11 nights
Pace: Five stays
Style: Desert, forts, leopards, tigers, temples
Route: Jaisalmer to Jodhpur to Jawai to Jaipur to Ranthambhore

JaisalmerThree nights
JodhpurOne night
JawaiThree nights
JaipurOne night
RanthambhoreThree nights

Days 1 to 4 · three nights

Jaisalmer

Three nights at a desert camp outside Jaisalmer. A local historian leads you through the citadel, with its 99 bastions, the families who still live inside its walls and the carved havelis, the small merchant palaces of the old town. Another day goes to the dunes about six miles from the city, for a camel ride, sunset over the sand and dinner out in the desert, with a night spent there before the return to camp.

Where you stay

SUJÁN The Serai

SUJÁN The Serai is a desert camp on a private estate of 100 acres outside Jaisalmer, its design drawn from the old royal caravan halts. Guests sleep in tents, there is a spa set in a garden, and camel rides leave from the camp.

Days 4 to 5 · one night

Jodhpur

A drive of about 155 miles brings you to Jodhpur for one night. The view to take in is from the walls of Mehrangarh, the red sandstone fort above the city, looking down on the blue houses that were once kept for the Brahmin families of high rank.

Where you stay

Umaid Bhawan Palace

Umaid Bhawan Palace is a vast Art Deco building of golden sandstone in 26 acres of gardens, and one of the largest private homes in the world. The royal family still lives in its own wing while Taj runs the rest as a hotel, with rooms looking over the gardens, the city or Mehrangarh Fort, and peacocks on the lawns at breakfast.

Days 5 to 8 · three nights

Jawai

About 94 miles on by road to the steppe country around Bisalpur for three nights. The camp's naturalists take you out for leopards and for birds, with up to 170 species depending on the season, among them flamingos and eagle owls, and you meet the Rabari herdsmen of the area. One day is spent at Ranakpur, at the 15th-century Adinatha temple, with its 29 halls and some 1,400 carved columns. If the dates fall in spring, Holi, the festival of colours, may coincide with your stay.

Where you stay

SUJÁN Jawai

SUJÁN Jawai is a small camp of contemporary design in the leopard country of the Rajasthan steppe. Days here centre on looking for leopards and on time with the Rabari herdsmen who graze this land.

Days 8 to 9 · one night

Jaipur

A longer drive of about 240 miles to Jaipur, laid out on a grid, for one night. You see the Jantar Mantar observatory of 1728, with its 15 great astronomical instruments, the Hawa Mahal of 1799, whose 953 small windows let the women of the court watch the street unseen, and the City Palace. Dinner is at The Sarvato, a rooftop restaurant cooking Rajasthani food under chef Sonu Kumar Singh.

Where you stay

Rambagh Palace

Rambagh Palace was once the home of the Maharaja of Jaipur, and some of its rooms are the former royal chambers. There is a Jiva spa, and drives in vintage cars can be arranged.

A tiger lying in the grass beside water in Ranthambore National Park. — Photo: Rohit Varma / Unsplash

Days 9 to 12 · three nights

Ranthambhore

About 109 miles by road to Ranthambhore for the last three nights. Game drives in the national park look for tigers, of which there are about 70, as well as crocodiles and sambar deer; the park is at its best from October to April. You also climb to Ranthambhore fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, entered through four fortified gates, with a temple to Ganesha inside.

Where you stay

SUJÁN Sher Bagh

SUJÁN Sher Bagh is a small tented camp deep in the jungle beside Ranthambhore National Park, its style drawn from the 1920s. It is well suited to families.

Ways to make it yours

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.