In short
Jaipur was laid out in 1727 on a grid drawn from Hindu architectural treatises — India's first planned city. It was painted pink in 1876 to welcome the Prince of Wales, and the colour remains compulsory in the old town.
Amber Fort, the Hawa Mahal and the Jantar Mantar, an eighteenth-century astronomical observatory and World Heritage site, are the three main pieces.
What it really costs
Jaipur is cheap and well connected: Delhi is five hours away by train or four by motorway, Agra four hours.
Each monument has its own ticket. A Rajasthan composite ticket covers several sites over two days and pays for itself from the third.
What nobody tells you
Elephant rides at Amber Fort are contested by animal welfare organisations, and veterinary inspections have found sick animals. Walking up takes ten minutes.
Gemstone shops offer "bargains" to resell in Europe. It is an old, well-documented scam, and it targets foreign visitors specifically.
Summer is extreme: May and June pass forty-five degrees in the desert. The usable season is short, October to March.
