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How to Get There:
By Air: The military airport has recently been opened to limited civilian flights. Domestic flights will start from end 2010, with the domestic terminal almost ready.
By Rail: There is a direct train service from Delhi. The Palace on Wheels halts here for 36 hours.
By Road: Jaisalmer is connected by bus or car-taxi from Jodhpur or by bus from Bikaner. A daily bus runs to and from Jaipur.
Getting Around: The walled centre is entirely pedestrian; from the gates you can get other means of transport, mainly camels. Autos are also available. An interesting fact is that as you walk past the shops and restaurants climbing past residential kothis, you will see ornate sandstone windows with mirrors so that residents can see from behind a screen who it is that is coming upwards. The lane becomes more and more narrow and the kothis give way to
strongrooms, making the task of upcoming raiders extremely difficult. |
Where to Stay: Hotel Moonlight; Hotel Jaisal Palace; Thar Vilas; Shanti Residency;Artist Hotel; Hotel Surja Guest House; Hotel Shree Govindam; Mirvana Nature Resort; Moonlight Khuri Resort, 40 km far from Jaisalmer at Khuri village.
What to See: Jaisalmer fort, also known as the “Sonar Quila”. Colourful shades of the setting sun and golden hues of the desert ambience give a fairy tale look to this mega structured fort.
Jain Temples, 7 beautifully carved temples built inside the fort walls. These temples were built in between the 12th and 15th century. All temples are connected by walkways and corridors;
Gadi Sagar, a rainwater lake which supplies water to the city.
What to Eat: Lots of local eateries offer sumptuous lunches and dinners for less than 1 US$, their USP. 8July, just inside the fort walls; Artist Hotel Restaurant; Desert Haveli Guest House;
Desert Roof Top Restaurant; The Jaisal Treat; Lakeview Lounge Restaurant and Seema Restaurant are places to try out.
Miscellaneous: Jain heritage of Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer city has been enriched by its Jain community which has adorned the city with beautiful Jain temples most notably the temples dedicated to 16th Tirthankar Lord Shantinath and 23rd Tirthankar Lord Parshvanath. Jaisalmer boasts some of the oldest libraries of India which contain rarest of the manuscripts & artefacts of Jain tradition. There are many Jain pilgrimage centres around Jaisalmer like Lodarva, Amarsagar, Brahmsar and Pokharan.
Jaisalmer lay on the camel trade route between India and Central Asia, a caravanserai for traders and earned its share of profits without producing anything of its own. But the rise of the shipping trade and development of the Bombay port led to its decline in importance.
Sam Sand Dunes: Sam is about 40 km from the city. Watch the sunset from the Sam sand dunes. The state tourism dept. has limited accommodations (huts) at Sam; or you can chill out at the one of the camps/tents, right in the middle of the desert, organized by many tour operators. You can watch cultural programs and dances organised by many private organisers. It is recommended that visitors spend one night at Sam (early evening to late morning next day).
"Khuri Sand Dunes", about 45 Km from the city is the village of Khuri. It is equally famous for the sand dunes as Sam. Khuri also boasts of numerous private Hut/Tent resorts, available at very reasonable rates with accommodation, food, camel safari to the dunes and folk dance thrown in as accompaniments.
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