Amer Fort – UNESCO World Heritage Site of Jaipur – Complete Guide

Wearing Pink Bandhni saree in Pink City Jaipur 🙂

Amber Fort or as more popularly known as Amer Fort is one of the most visited places in Jaipur and one must not – I repeat “must not miss” this amazing place while in Jaipur. Before I visited in February 2022 I only heard about the beauty of this place, saw the pictures on the internet and wanted to see (if I had a time machine) how royal families of those days had spent their days in such an magnificient incredible fort which is architecturally “awesome”! Of course I am history-lover (can I be called historiphile?) but seeing Amer Fort for the first time with my own eyes in front of me I was literally silent for sometime, I felt all the noises of the crowd who were witnessing the marvellous creation just like me had gone silent! I was transferred to hundreds years back!

Brief History of Amer Fort:

Amer Fort is located little far from main Jaipur town (approx. 11kms distance). Amer town was originally ruled by the Meenas (tribe mainly settled in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh). Later it came under rule of Kachhwaha. Amer Fort was developed by Rajput Raja Man Singh (construction started in 1592) and later improved by Sawai Jai Singh (Jaipur city is named in his honour). The fort design is very much influenced by Mughal architecture mixed with Rajputana style. In 2013 this fort was declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of group of 6 hill forts of Rajasthan (Chittorgarh Fort, Kumbhalgarh Fort, Ranthambore Fort, Jaisalmer Fort, Gagron Fort and Amer Fort).

Tips:

Opening time: 8am to 6pm. But try to be an early bird 🙂 Amer Fort light and sound show starts at 6.30pm (English)/ 7.30pm (Hindi) from October to February, from March to April at 7pm (English) /8pm (Hindi), from May to Sepetmber 7.30pm (English) / 8.30pm (Hindi). This one thing was left out in our trip which is one reason to visit next time.

Best time to visit: Winter season (November to February) is the best time to visit Amer Fort. Try to reach in the morning as it gets more crowded and hot later. We visited in second week of February and it was hot.

How to reach: You can visit by bus, autorickshaw. We visited Amer Fort by booking Ola cab. We booked the cab for 10 hours and it costs Rs.1600/- (usually it ranges between 1500-Rs.1800/- if riding mini car, for prime sedan to larger car it may cost upto Rs.3500/-). Booking cab through Ola or Uber at hourly rental is much cheaper and comfortable than visiting through autorickshaw.

Dress: There is no specific dress code but try to cover as much as possible to avoid sunburn and also to respect ancient history and traditions. Wear flat and comfortable shoes. Use sun-protective gears like sunglass, umbrella, sunscreen etc.

Ticket cost: We booked composite ticket online (www.bookrajmonuments.in) which saved money and time. Composite ticket covers 8 historical place (Jantar Mantar, Nahargarh Fort, Hawa Mahal, Amber Palace, Isarlat, Sisodia Rani Garden, Vidhyadhar Garden, Albert Hall Museum), price Rs.400/- per person for Indians and one thousand rupees for foreigners, valid for two days, need to upload one ID proof document while filling up for tickets online (for students discount is there but student ID need to be uploaded and produced before entry of each monument), upto 7 years children are free to enter, if there is any holiday ticket will be valid on next working day and during holi monuments remain closed. If you wish you can buy offline also from ticket counter at Amer Fort.

Time required to complete Amer Fort trip: Spend atleast 3-4 hours inside the fort to see all the parts comfortably. We completed our trip in 2 hours but later found out we could not see many parts in details due to rush from one spot to another.

Our Trip

As our car reached somewhere nearby foothill of Amer Fort someone asked ” do you need a guide?” I said “no” as I thought there will be official guides at the entry of the fort. After some hesitation I asked “do you have license?”, he showed me one which was hanging on his neck, I read it, it was signed by authority of Rajastan Tourism. Then I said “yes”. His charge was two hundred Indian rupees. After completion of Amer Fort visit I felt for first timers guide is very much essential. You’ll get to know so much about history of this fort and most importantly your tour will be completed within time perfectly and systematically without getting lost and wandering which part of the fort to be followed by which one 🙂

At my back Ganesh Pol/Ganesh Gate, can you believe natural colors were used for coloring the interior extracting from vegetables, flower petals etc?

Surrounded by Aravalli Hills range, Amer Fort is a stunning piece of architecture. As you reach you’ll notice that far from the fort at various locations watch towers are there. Have you seen the movie, Jodha Akbar? Jodhabai was born at a palace nearby main Amer Fort. I was already very much excited to see the main fort as I continued my journey listening to beautiful Rajasthani musical instrument “Ravan Hatha” played by one local artist. Inside there is a temple of Shila Devi established by Raja Man Singh and no photography inside the temple.

The complex has been divided into six sections or courtyards. At first you’ll enter through Suraj Pol or Sun Gate facing East. First courtyard starts from Ganesh Pol or Ganesh Gate through which you’ll be led to Shila Devi Temple. Then Diwan-i-Aam, Sukh Mandir or Diwan-i-Khas, Sheesh Mahal are amazing parts of Amer Fort.

Through the mesmerizing glass works own reflection tells you royal stories – Sheesh Mahal

Sheesh Mahal… glass pieces were brought from Belgium

Instead of riding elephants (as they are kept away from their babies for whole day) may be feeding them at their place where their babies are there is the best thing to be a responsible traveller! My opinion 🙂 p.s. Kesar or Saffron garden can be seen both from the road as well as from upper level of Amer Fort

The fort overlooks Maota Lake – the main source of water of Amer Palace. It is amazing to see that surrounded by dry hills this lake retains rainwater throughout the year. King of Amer Fort so much loved the fragrance of saffron that he built a garden on the lake which is called saffron or Kesar Garden.

Hammam is luxuriously built. Water is heated through copper wires. Then both warm and cold water are mixed. Queens took luxurious bath with the help of four maids.

Marbles of the roof are cut in diamond shape which maintain room temperature balance.

In Sheesh Mahal glass pieces are artistically placed in such a way that if you lit light in one corner you can see enlightened Sheesh Mahal. Now though the glass are somewhat faded I can imagine how beautiful the palace would have been in earlier days!

Without any joining from one marble piece such lovely pictures are curved. Can you see scorpion, snake pairs, lion tail, banana leaf, elephant trunk, butterfly, snail, ant in the photo posted above? I could not if the guide hadn’t told me this 🙂

Amer Fort is divided into complexes based on seasons – summer and winter. Famous Hindi movie Jodha Akbar was shot inside Amer Fort.

Queens threw flowers from this window to welcome their king. Also a nice place to see outer world.

Ivory door

**Door of Ladies apartments –** Raja Man Singh had 12 wives and the rooms of the queens were built in such a way that no one could tell king was with which queen. If there was any issue/problem king used to sit at Baradari (in the middle of the courtyard) to solve it. In ladies apartments complex no male was allowed – only female and transgenders.

Baradari – where Maharaja had meetings with his queens in case of any dispute

Picture of Lord Krishna can be seen at many parts of ladies apartment

Description about secret tunnels of Amer Fort (at present not accessible to the public)

Inside Amer Fort there are shops of jewellery, shoes, paintings but photography of the market is not allowed (reason I could not understand – why? Are these kept secret as there will be no documentary evidence that there are shops inside UNESCO World Heritage Site? Or there are other reasons?) Anyway I bought Rajasthani chappal (shoe at Rs.500/-) from the market which was comfortable to walk. Later bought 3 earrings set at Rs.100/- from outside and from the exit gate 4 thread bangles at Rs.10/- each (which you can see me wearing in Panna Meena Kund photos).