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Jaisalmer Fort

Jaisalmer Fort

heritage site · Rajasthan

Built in 1156 by Rawal Jaisal at a crossroads of trade routes that fed into the old silk roads, and the second-oldest fort in Rajasthan.

State
Rajasthan
Type
Heritage Site

Built in 1156 by Rawal Jaisal at a crossroads of trade routes that fed into the old silk roads, and the second-oldest fort in Rajasthan. It is one of the very few living forts left anywhere: around a quarter of the old city still lives inside the walls, alongside shops, guesthouses and the Jain temples in the middle. The yellow sandstone reads tawny at midday and honey at sunset, which is where the golden fort name comes from.

Jaisalmer Fort is known for

One of the world's few "living forts"UNESCO Hill Forts of RajasthanJain temples inside the walls

A short history

Founded in 1156 by Rawal Jaisal. One of the six forts inscribed by UNESCO in 2013 as "Hill Forts of Rajasthan." [Source: UNESCO WHC, whc.unesco.org/en/list/247]

Why Jaisalmer Fort matters

One of the few "living forts" in the world, with roughly a quarter of the old city still inhabited inside its walls — and one of the six UNESCO Hill Forts of Rajasthan.

When to go

October to March

Why visit

One of the world's few surviving "living forts" — thousands of people still live, trade, and worship inside its golden sandstone walls.

How to reach

Jaisalmer has a small airport with seasonal flights from Delhi and Mumbai, and a railway station with direct trains from Delhi, Jodhpur, and Jaipur. By road, it's roughly 285 km west of Jodhpur.

Jaisalmer Fort guide & itineraries

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Jaisalmer is built from the same yellow sandstone it stands on, which is why at six in the evening the whole fort looks lit from inside — and why at midday it looks like nothing much at all. Time your first look for the last hour of light. The fort is one of very few in the world still lived in: several thousand people, with shops, homes, temples and plumbing inside the walls. That is what makes it extraordinary and also what is slowly destroying it, because the drainage was never built for modern water use and the bastions are being undermined. Conservationists ask visitors to sleep outside the walls rather than in the fort hotels. It is worth honouring. Patwon ki Haveli is the finest carved stone in the city. The Jain temples inside the fort are quieter and, to my eye, better. For the desert, the choice matters. Sam dunes at sunset is a full circus of camels, jeeps and loudspeakers. Khuri is further out, plainer, and gives you the silence people actually come to the Thar for. November to February. Nights in the desert get genuinely cold — bring more than you think.

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