A visit to Amber Fort outside of Jaipur, Rajasthan

What is the difference between a fortress and a palace? At Amber Fort, it’s hard to tell. A fortress has defensive walls, and is often set in a place that is easy to defend, like high on a hill. A palace is beautiful and elegant for the very wealthy and important people who live there.

Amber Fort is both a fortress and a palace. It looks like a fort from a distance, set on a hill with crenelated walls. Inside, though, it is a graceful palace with beautifully-decorated, opulent rooms and courtyards. Also called Amer Fort, it covers the top of a low hill, and the higher hill behind it carries another fortress, called Jaigarh Fort. The forts are connected by a tunnel and fortified pathway to allow the royal household to flee, if necessary, to the better-defended upper fort. A chain of crenelated walls and guard towers climbs up and down all the hills that surround the two forts, looking like a small version of the Great Wall of China.

Amber Fort dates to the 1590s, when it was built by Raja Man Singh as a residence for his family. Man Singh ruled the kingdom of Amber and was an ally of the Mughal emperor, Akbar, serving in the emperor’s army. One of his successors was his great-nephew, Jai Singh I, who built more of the fort in the 1600s. It was added to by subsequent rulers.

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Arriving at Amber Fort

Whether you arrive by taxi or tuk-tuk, the two forts on adjacent hills make a grand impression as you approach. You can either take a jeep up to the entrance or walk. (There also seem to be elephant rides in the mornings, but I don’t recommend that. The elephants are treated cruelly when they are trained to carry people.) We – my husband Albert and I – walked.

Try this guided tour of Amber Fort including admission tickets, or go in the evening for the sound and light show at the fort, with dinner and a dance performance.

Climbing the sloping road to the entrance, we kept stopping to take pictures from all different angles. Vendors tried to sell us souvenirs – a firm “no” works well – and a monkey appeared briefly, looking rather threatening. (Don’t feed or even make eye contact with monkeys!) Goats grazed next to the path. Below the fort is a small lake, with some interesting formal-looking gardens next to it.

Stepping into the fort, we arrived in a very large outer courtyard. Around its walls were various commercial enterprises: golfcart rides up to Jaigarh Fort, drone photos, elephant rides, etc. The ticket window is directly ahead across the courtyard.

On the left is a large staircase up to the Lion Gate leading into the palace grounds, and also a small entrance to the Sila Devi temple. We saw the temple first. Unfortunately no photos are allowed within the temple. I say “unfortunately” because it is absolutely gorgeous. Its walls and columns are all of marble, finely carved in detailed floral patterns.

Entering the palace

The Lion Gate took us into an inner courtyard. Ahead of us we saw the Diwan-i-Aam, which was the Hall of Public Audience. It’s several steps up, open sided, with long rows of columns.

What really stole our attention, though, was the large gateway to the right, called the Ganesh Gate. It has a carved figure of the god Ganesh above it, which we’d already noticed on many buildings in India. Apparently Ganesh “removes obstructions likely to come in the way of human beings in their every-day life,” according to a sign next to the gate. The entire gateway is covered with colorful frescoes and carving.

The next courtyard, after passing through the Ganesh Gate, is the beginning of the palace proper – the living quarters of the Maharaja and his family. One of the buildings here is called the Jai Mandir, and it’s covered with glass and mirror inlays all over the walls and ceilings. It’s stunning. It would have been particularly beautiful at night, when candles were used to light it.

Another small building with marble inlays is the so-called “Hall of Pleasure.” The royal family would have spent hot days here, since piped water flowed through an open cut in a wall and across the floor to cool the space. The garden outside – set up in four squares in Mughal style – might have helped as well to cool the outdoor space. It had a pool and fountain at its center and water channels flowed through it.

Latrines

Speaking of water, all of this cooling water was pumped by hand by servants using a system of levers and gears. A security person showed us how servants cranked a mechanism for lifting water from the lake below.

The water also serviced the latrines, some of which we could view. They squatted to “do their business” but the royal family also enjoyed tubs of water for washing and even used a deep marble bath inside.

Book accommodations in Jaipur.

The Palace of Man Singh I

The oldest part of the palace is what visitors see last, in a courtyard with a small pavilion in its center. The pavilion would have been a place for the queens to meet. He had many queens and consorts, apparently – his Wikipedia page lists ten wives – and a single hallway that led to their quarters, so he could choose who he wanted to visit. The thing we noticed here particularly was the paintwork between the rooms of the living quarters. It was simple and pretty.

The path to Jaigarh Fort

We thought we’d seen the whole fort, but then noticed a sign for a tunnel to Jaigarh Fort. Apparently the escape route starts underground, but then emerges outside, fortified on both sides. We decided to see if it still would get us there, so down a flight or two of stairs we went.

The tunnel is rather dimly lit at first, but eventually rises out into the light. It is neatly cobbled – presumably it’s been renovated recently – and has high walls on both sides. Further up the hill, it meets a wider road, still cobbled and still with walls on both sides. At this point, as I huffed and puffed along, I regretted not hiring a golf cart to take me up here, and when I saw how far away Jaigarh Fort still was, I decided to stop. Albert went ahead to the fort.

Jaigarh Fort

Albert reported back that there’s much less to see at Jaigarh Fort. The fort was much more focused on military use, so the gateways, the audience hall, and so on are just simpler, with less decoration. It seems the fort was used for building cannons, and some of them are on display. There’s a tall watchtower, and while it’s not open for visitors, the views are wonderful from its base.

There are lots of tours in and around Jaipur that are worth checking out.

The Amer Wall, a.k.a the Jaipur Wall.

The walls we spotted from Amber Fort, climbing up and down the ridgelines of neighboring hills, apparently extend for 20 kilometers, or over 12 miles. They are walkable, and free to walk, but we did not attempt them. I know that one of the entrances is right near the place where your tuk-tuk will drop you off below the fort. I’m sure the views from the guard towers are great.

Be warned, though: judging from photos I’ve seen online, these stairs are not modified in any way for safety. There are no railings, and in many places there’s just a wall on one side and a steep potential fall on the other. The same goes for the watchtowers along the wall, which have no guard rails. And I do not recommend walking along the top of the crenellations – that is an accident waiting to happen!

Tips for visiting Amber Fort

Amber Fort isn’t far outside Jaipur, so you can take a tuk-tuk or taxi. Negotiate a price ahead of getting in, and make it a round-trip, so the driver will wait for you.

Use this link to book accommodations in Jaipur, or click on the map below:

Bring water. Even if you’re in much better shape than I am, you’ll be doing a lot of walking both uphill and down, and you need to be careful not to get dehydrated, especially on hot, sunny days. We visited in January and I still worked up a sweat.

Wear good shoes, preferably ones that support your ankles. The cobblestones are not even in many places and it would be easy to turn an ankle.

If you want to hire a guide, make sure to check for a guiding permit, and to negotiate a price ahead of time. Then, if the tour is good, tip a bit on top of the agreed price. However, if you don’t want a guide, just say no firmly.

Unless you’re in quite good physical shape, take the golf cart up to Jaighar Fort. I wished I had. Don’t take an elephant.

If a security guard approaches you and offers to show you something that is not open to the public, just know that he will expect a small tip afterwards.

The best time to visit is quite early in the morning or in the second half of the afternoon. We got there at about 11:00 or 11:30 and it was quite crowded. Earlier or later would be better. On the other hand, Jaighar Fort was practically empty.

Amber Fort: 11 kilometers (7 miles) north of Jaipur near the town of Amer. Depending on traffic and whether you travel by car or tuk-tuk, the trip will take a half-hour or more. Open daily 8:00-17:30, with sound and light shows in English at 19:30.

Is Amber Fort a place you’d like to visit?