Christmas & New Year Rajasthan Special

Trip overview

This is our once-a-year special departure: a Rajasthan circuit built specifically around spending New Year's Eve in Udaipur, the most romantic of all Rajasthan's cities. We move at a gentler pace than our standard Rajasthan circuit, with extra time built in at each stop — Jaipur's Pink City, the holy lake town of Pushkar, and three full nights in Udaipur, where the City Palace and Lake Palace Hotel glow against the water and the whole city seems to lean toward the lake at dusk. The trip is timed so that December 31st is spent entirely in Udaipur: a relaxed day by the lake, then a festive rooftop dinner with live Rajasthani music as midnight approaches and fireworks reflect off Lake Pichola. It's a small-group, personally hosted way to spend the turn of the year somewhere genuinely beautiful, without the crowds of Goa or the cold of home.

Trip highlights

• New Year's Eve rooftop dinner over Lake Pichola, with fireworks reflected on the water
• Three full nights in Udaipur — enough time to actually settle into the City of Lakes
• Camel ride into the Pushkar dunes at sunset
• Amber Fort & the City Palace, Jaipur — Rajput grandeur to open the trip
• Lake Pichola boat ride past the Lake Palace Hotel and Jag Mandir island
• Festive seasonal touches throughout — heritage hotels decorated for the season, special dinners

Day-by-day itinerary

1. 1

   Delhi → Jaipur — Arrival & festive welcome dinner

   Drive or train to Jaipur (approx. 4.5–5 hours) and check into your heritage haveli hotel, decorated for the season. A festive welcome dinner in the courtyard sets the tone for the trip ahead — warm, unhurried, and a long way from a typical New Year's package tour.

   🏠 Heritage haveli hotel, Jaipur✨ Festive welcome dinner in a candle-lit haveli courtyard
2. 2

   Jaipur full day — Amber Fort, City Palace & Hawa Mahal

   Morning at Amber Fort, the Rajput palace-fortress above Maota Lake. After lunch, the City Palace — still partly home to Jaipur's royal family — and the Hawa Mahal. End the day at Jantar Mantar before an evening stroll through Johari Bazaar.

   🏠 Heritage haveli hotel, Jaipur✨ Amber Fort at morning light
3. 3

   Jaipur → Pushkar — Camel ride at sunset

   Drive to Pushkar (approx. 3 hours), a holy lake town built around 52 bathing ghats. Visit the Brahma Temple, walk the ghats at dusk, and take a short camel ride into the dunes outside town as the sun drops over the Aravalli hills.

   🏠 Heritage guesthouse, Pushkar✨ Sunset camel ride over the Pushkar dunes
4. 4

   Pushkar → Udaipur — Arrival in the City of Lakes

   Drive to Udaipur (approximately 6–6.5 hours), arriving by evening. Check into your lakeside heritage hotel for the next three nights and watch the City Palace catch its first evening light from your terrace.

   🏠 Lakeside heritage hotel, Udaipur✨ First view of Lake Pichola lit up at night
5. 5

   Udaipur full day — City Palace, Jagdish Temple & Lake Pichola

   Morning at the City Palace complex, built over four centuries on the eastern shore of Lake Pichola. Visit Jagdish Temple, then an afternoon boat ride past the Lake Palace Hotel and Jag Mandir island as the light turns gold.

   🏠 Lakeside heritage hotel, Udaipur✨ Boat ride on Lake Pichola at golden hour
6. 6

   Udaipur — New Year's Eve

   A deliberately slow day: sleep in, wander Saheliyon Ki Bari's fountains and lotus pools, browse the old city's miniature painting studios. In the evening, a festive New Year's Eve dinner on a rooftop overlooking Lake Pichola — live Rajasthani folk music, a multi-course celebration menu, and a clear view of the fireworks over the water as midnight arrives.

   🏠 Lakeside heritage hotel, Udaipur✨ Midnight fireworks over Lake Pichola from your rooftop table
7. 7

   Udaipur — New Year's Day, at leisure

   A slow, deliberately unstructured New Year's Day. Late breakfast, a walk through the quiet old-city lanes, optional boat ride or simply time by the lake. Evening at leisure — many travelers choose a quiet dinner reflecting on the year ahead.

   🏠 Lakeside heritage hotel, Udaipur✨ A proper, unhurried New Year's Day by the lake
8. 8

   Udaipur → Delhi

   Morning flight from Udaipur to Delhi (approximately 1.5 hours). Check into your Delhi hotel for the final night, with a final group dinner to close out the trip together.

   🏠 Hotel, Delhi✨ Final group dinner in Delhi
9. 9

   Delhi — Departure

   Transfer to Delhi airport for your departure flight. Our team confirms your onward connection and sees you off — carrying the start of a new year, and the memory of fireworks over a lake in Rajasthan.

   🏠 —✨ One last look at Delhi before you fly home