India Guide
Rajasthan
Hawa Mahal
Address: East of the City Palace, Pink City
Price: Rs5, camera Rs30, video Rs70
Opening time: Daily 9am–4.30pm
Jaipur's most acclaimed landmark, the tapering Hawa Mahal, or "Palace of Winds", is best appreciated from the outside as the sun rises, when it exudes an orangey-pink glow. Built in 1799 to enable the women of the court to watch street processions while remaining in purdah, its five-storey facade, decked with hundreds of finely screened windows and balconies, makes the building seem far larger than it really is; in fact, it's little more than a facade.
To get inside the palace itself you'll need to walk for five minutes around the rear of the building, following the lane which runs north from Tripolia Bazaar. Once inside, you can climb up the back of the facade to the screened niches from which the ladies of the court would once have looked down, and which still offer unparalleled views over the mayhem of Jaipur below.