Every day of our stay in Jaisalmer was a great experience, for the food, for the people and for the chance to discover always something new and exciting in this beautiful city. But the most exciting experience of all was spending the night in the silence of the desert, under a sky full of stars.

We joined a tour organized by the hotel where we did our third Workaway volunteer project, Hotel Fifu, together with two other travelers. The tour also included visiting some of the important landmarks around Jaisalmer.

Historical places around Jaisalmer

We started our tour early, after breakfast at the hotel, when a jeep picked us up from the reception. We drove for some time through the tall dunes covered by vegetation (yes, the Thar Desert is mostly a green desert) arriving at our first stop, the cenotaphs of Bada Bagh. None of the places that we visited that day felt touristy and we were left to explore the areas undisturbed.

 

Other stops on our route included the Amar Sagar Jain Temple and the abandoned town of Kuldhara, arriving in the end at a local village.

 

The locals weren’t surprised by our visit, as they probably see tourists quite often around, but their children (their many children) came running to play with us. The most exciting thing to play with was the camera and they happily took a few pictures with it.

The golden dunes

It was shortly before sunset when the villagers finished preparing the necessary things for the trip and we left on camel’s back into the wilderness of the desert.

 

The camels were owned by our guide from the village and were good taken care of and treated well. The camels are part of the life of the people in the desert, in the same way, goats and cows are. But yes, there are also camels used mainly for tourism, that probably don’t enjoy a good treatment like the ones owned by local families.

We left the village behind and rode for almost one hour through sand dunes and agricultural fields until we could see only sand around us, little vegetation and no people. At this point, the desert looked more like the one we were used with from our previous destinations: Morocco and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula.

 

Some of our guides cooked dinner and boiled tea for us, while we helped the others prepare the camp for the night. We opted for the tour that included wild camping, which meant sleeping on a simple bed right under the stars. Of course, you can choose a tour with a tent and even entertainment, but we were more excited about experiencing the desert as locals did for centuries.

 

After witnessing a perfect sunset we could enjoy a delicious dinner while the sky got filled with starts. There was silence and beauty in the darkness that surrounded us.

 

We woke up the next day partially covered in sand, as the wind blew quite strong during the night and, after the breakfast, we left the guide walk back with the camels to the village while we drove back to the city with the jeep.

We arrived back at the hotel sweaty and dusty but overwhelmed with excitement and happiness for experiencing something so beautiful.

Discover more about Jaisalmer or visit our gallery.

What makes India truly special is its incredible diversity. From the seaside to the high Himalayan Mountains the landscape and the people change dramatically, leaving place for an endless number of experiences. But the best of our experiences was the one we had in the Great Thar Desert, the most populous desert in the world.

Trying to choose from different transportation methods that would bring us from Mumbai to Jaisalmer, we decided to fly to the desert, via Jaipur, as the price for the flight felt more convincing than the less expensive, but also extremely long train ride.

We were picked up from the airport and transferred to the reception of the hotel, where we planned to stay for the following 10 days and where we also did our third Workaway project. Read more about it here.

Jaisalmer – a World Heritage Site

The most pleasant thing to notice about “The Golden City” is the respect for traditions and the efforts to preserve the authenticity of the place. As technology and building methods evolved, the local community in Jaisalmer used them to recreate and use easier the same architectural style and motifs inherited from their ancestors, which resulted in extending the inhabited part of the city without creating much contrast between the old and the new.

 

Located close to the border with Pakistan, Jaisalmer is the gateway to a series of experiences in the desert. We went there for the beautiful city but, obviously, we also wanted to venture out in the desert.

Home to 78000 people, Jaisalmer has a glorious past and a rich history. The name “Golden City” comes from the golden color of its sandstone walls and of the dunes in the surrounding desert.

 

The main attraction is the fort, the most important remembrance of the city’s glorious history, where nowadays people still live and practice different commercial and touristic activities. Around 4000 people live inside the walls. Unfortunately, the fort wasn’t built to sustain the modern life of its inhabitants and the intense use of water, in the absence of a proper drainage system is damaging the construction, putting it at risk of collapsing. Although local people are aware of this danger, mass tourism continues to add to the damage. Therefore we recommend looking for accommodations outside the fort.

Things to do

The old architecture impresses with its many details and the meticulousness of the workers that built the city. A guided tour could help you understand more of the secrets hidden behind the old walls. Travelers can visit Jain temples, beautiful Havelis and a royal palace, although just losing yourself in the streets of the fortress is already a rewarding experience, which you can end with a traditional meal or a refreshing drink on one of the many terraces in the city, that offer beautiful views of the fort.

 

Another option is walking to Gadisar Lake, where visitors can rent a boat or just chill on the lakeside.

 

If the fortress and the city are not enough to satisfy the curious explorer inside of you, there is more to discover outside the city. Book a tour that will bring you to the Bada Bagh (8KM from Jaisalmer) where you can admire beautiful cenotaphs and a great landscape overlooking the nearby river.

 

Continue your trip to the Amar Sagar Jain Temple (6KM from Jaisalmer) whose design reflects the typical Rajasthan architecture, with an advanced level of details.

 

20 Km away from Jaisalmer you can visit the village of Kuldhara. Built around the 13th century, it was completely abandoned by the early 19th century, the village being nowadays shrouded in legend and mystery and many say it is haunted.

 

If you are less interested in history and architecture, but on the look for more adventurous things to do, we warmly recommend exploring the desert, by booking one of the many available tours. If you don’t know which one to choose, maybe you will find inspiration in our article about spending a night out in the desert.

Jaisalmer was the highlight of our journey in India, but just one of the places that make the Thar Desert such an interesting destination. As we wanted to explore more of the desert, at the end of our 10 days stay in the city we took the train towards the “Blue City”, Jodhpur.

More impressions about Jaisalmer you will find in our gallery.