A family trip to Jaipur is three trips running at once. The six-year-old wants something to climb, count or press a nose against. The seventy-year-old wants shade, a bench and as few steps as possible. Most lists of places to visit in Jaipur with family rank monuments by fame and stop there. A more useful question is what each place asks of the people walking through it. How many stairs, how much sun, how long at everyone’s pace. Answer that, and the city’s grandest sights sort themselves into a morning plan, an afternoon refuge or an evening stroll. Here are seven that earn their place, and how to fit them around a family.
Places to visit in Jaipur with family, and what each age gets from them
1. The fort at Amer
The hill palace at Amer Fort, about eleven kilometres north of the city, asks the most of older knees. A cobbled path climbs to the Sun Gate in fifteen to twenty minutes; a jeep from the car park below takes the strain, and is the kinder way up for the elephants as much as for anyone’s legs. Inside, a broad stairway rises from the first courtyard into the palace, and many paths are uneven, so grandparents may settle for the courtyards they can reach while the children run ahead to the hall of mirrors. The gates open at eight, which is the hour to arrive.
2. City Palace
Part of the palace is still home to the former royal family, which gives children a real answer to the question every child asks: whether anyone lives here now. The galleries hold royal costumes and weapons, and an inner courtyard has four painted gateways, one for each season, with the peacock gate the clear favourite. It sits in the middle of the old city, an easy first stop on any morning, and one of the most rewarding places to visit in Jaipur with family.
3. Jantar Mantar
Next door, the observatory built by Sawai Jai Singh the Second in the eighteenth century is the one place in the city where children can watch time move. Its biggest instrument, the Samrat Yantra, is a sundial twenty-seven metres tall whose shadow tells the local time to within about two seconds. It is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, flat and open, which makes it easy walking for grandparents and hard work in the midday sun, as there is little shade.
4. Albert Hall Museum
The state’s oldest museum, set in Ram Niwas Garden, has the exhibit no child walks past: an Egyptian mummy more than two thousand years old. Its galleries are indoors and cool, which makes it the natural home for the hottest hours of the afternoon and one of the easiest places to visit in Jaipur with family.
5. The Jal Mahal promenade
On the road to Amer, the palace in the middle of Man Sagar Lake is closed to visitors, but the paved lakeside promenade facing it is free, flat and wide. The obvious question from any child is where the rest of the building went, and the answer is underwater. The palace has five storeys, and when the lake is full, only the top one shows. It makes an easy stop on the way back from Amer.
6. Jawahar Circle and Patrika Gate
Out by the airport in Malviya Nagar, Jawahar Circle claims the title of Asia’s largest circular park, and its entrance, Patrika Gate, is painted corridor after corridor with scenes of Rajasthan. Beyond it are a children’s play area, walking tracks and a musical fountain that starts at seven each evening. Of all seven places, it asks the least of anyone.
7. Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing
Tucked into the old town at Amer, the Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing sits in a small restored haveli where craftsmen demonstrate block carving and printing through the day. Children get to watch a pattern travel from a wooden block to cloth in minutes. Grandparents should know the building has stairs and narrow passages. It closes on Mondays and for part of each early summer. Families who enjoy the Anokhi museum can see the craft on a bigger scale in the village of Bagru, about 30 kilometres from the city, where Bagru block printing has been passed down through generations of printing families.
Pacing a day across three generations
The surest way to wreck a family day here is to plan it around the fittest person in the car. Plan around the slowest walker instead, and around the heat. One big outdoor sight per morning is plenty. Of the seven places to visit in Jaipur with family mentioned above, City Palace and Jantar Mantar stand side by side in the old city, with Hawa Mahal a few minutes’ walk away, so one morning covers all three on foot, and a younger child can be set to counting the 953 windows on Hawa Mahal’s facade. Amer, the Jal Mahal promenade and the Anokhi museum lie along the same road north, which makes a second morning on its own.
From late morning to mid-afternoon, the sun is hard on both ends of the age range, so those hours belong indoors, at Albert Hall, over a long lunch, or asleep. Evenings are for open, level places, the lakeside at Jal Mahal or the fountain at Jawahar Circle, when the air cools, and nobody has to climb anything.
Best time to visit Jaipur with children and grandparents
The best time to visit Jaipur with a mixed-age group, and to enjoy the places to visit in Jaipur with family at an easy pace, runs from October to March, when the days are mild and the light is clear. December and January are the coldest months, with pleasant afternoons but early mornings and evenings cold enough for coats.
From April to June, afternoon temperatures climb past forty degrees, which leaves only the first hours of the morning for sightseeing and makes a midday rest essential, not optional. The monsoon in Jaipur starts from July to September brings green hills and thinner crowds along with heavy, humid air and short, hard showers. November and February sit either side of the coldest weeks, which makes them the gentlest months of all for the eldest and youngest.
Where to stay in Jaipur with a family of all ages
Deciding where to stay in Jaipur with grandparents and children together comes down to a few questions worth asking any hotel before booking. Which floor is the room on, and how many steps lead to it, since older buildings frequently have no lift? Can two rooms connect or sit side by side, so parents are close to both generations at night? Will the kitchen cook mildly for a child who cannot face chilli? And is there somewhere besides the bedroom to rest through the hot middle of the day, a courtyard or a shaded terrace?
A base near the old city keeps the City Palace morning within a short drive or a walk. A heritage haveli in Jaipur can be the most memorable base of all for a family, so long as the questions about stairs are asked before the deposit is paid.
Bring the whole family to stay
Our home sits just beyond Chandpole Gate, within about two kilometres of City Palace, Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal, so the old-city morning above starts close to home. We run it as a small heritage hotel in Jaipur, but it was built as a family home and our family still lives in it. Children can fly kites from our terrace, and anyone of any age can cook alongside us in the family kitchen. No two of our suites are alike, so tell us who is travelling, from the youngest to the eldest, and we will suggest the rooms that fit.
Write to us with your dates and the ages in your party when the plan takes shape.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Jaipur sights are easiest for grandparents?
Of all the places to visit in Jaipur with family, Albert Hall Museum, the Jal Mahal promenade and Jawahar Circle are the gentlest, being largely level and paved. City Palace keeps wheelchairs and a shared golf cart for visitors who need them. Amer is the hardest of the main sights, so treat it as optional for anyone unsteady on their feet.
Is there a combined ticket for Jaipur’s monuments?
Yes. A composite ticket sold at the state-run monuments covers several of them, including Amer, Albert Hall, Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar and Nahargarh, and costs less than buying each separately. City Palace is run by a private trust of the former royal family and is not included.
What can a family do in Jaipur in the evening?
Albert Hall Museum reopens from seven to ten at night, when the building is lit up outside. At Amer, a light and sound show runs after sunset and tells the fort’s history. Both are easier on grandparents than a midday visit, as the heat has gone.
Is Jaipur’s old city pushchair friendly?
Not especially. Pavements in the walled city are narrow, uneven or missing in places, and most monuments involve steps somewhere. A baby carrier is far easier for sightseeing, with the pushchair (stroller) kept for parks and level promenades.
What should children and grandparents wear for sightseeing in Jaipur?
Closed shoes with a good grip matter most, since fort paths are cobbled and old steps are worn smooth. Temples ask for covered shoulders and knees and for shoes to come off at the door, so slip-on shoes save time.
What food in Jaipur suits young children?
Kitchens will usually cook dal, rice, rotis and vegetables with little or no chilli if asked. Dishes such as laal maas, the fiery red mutton curry, are best left to the adults. Fresh lassi and plain rotis are reliable standbys between meals.
How do you get around Jaipur with a family?
A car with a driver for the day is the most comfortable choice for mixed ages, as it waits outside each sight. Auto-rickshaws and e-rickshaws suit short hops in the old city. The Jaipur Metro has a station at Badi Chaupar, a short walk from City Palace and Jantar Mantar. If you’re still deciding where to stay in Jaipur, a base near the old city keeps most journeys short.
How long should a family spend at Amer?
Two to three hours covers the main courtyards, the halls and the hall of mirrors without rushing anyone. Arriving at opening time leaves the hottest part of the day free for something indoors, especially outside the best time to visit Jaipur, when afternoons get very hot.
Is a guide worth it with children?
At Jantar Mantar especially, yes. Without explanation, the instruments look like abstract sculpture, and a guide or an audio guide turns them into giant clocks and star finders that children can follow. At Amer, a guide also keeps a family moving through the courtyards in a sensible order.
What can children do at Dera Mandawa?
At Dera Mandawa, children can spend an afternoon with kites on the terrace, time in the kitchen with whoever is cooking that day, and a turban or saree tied properly by one of us. Everything is arranged through conversation, so tell us the ages in your family/group, and we will suggest what fits.
