Bundi

Rao Deva Hada founded Bundi in 1342 in a narrow gorge of the Aravallis, and the Hada Chauhans ruled it until 1947 without ever quite modernising. Taragarh Fort crowns the ridge, and below it the Garh Palace descends the hillside in a series of courtyards that Rudyard Kipling, who stayed at Sukh Mahal on Jait Sagar in 1887, called the work of goblins rather than men. The Chitrashala in the palace's upper terraces is the reason art historians come: eighteenth-century murals of Krishna's raslila, elephant fights, hunts and court scenes in the greens and blues that define the Bundi school of miniatures.

The town below is a warren of blue-washed houses and small temples that feels like Jodhpur before it was discovered. Its stepwells are extraordinary: Raniji ki Baori, built in 1699 by Rani Nathavati, has ornate arches and carved Ganesh niches down 46 metres of stairs; Nagar Sagar's twin kunds and Dabhai Kund are close by. Nawal Sagar in the town centre reflects the palace at dawn, and the Chaurasi Khambon ki Chhatri, an 84-pillared cenotaph of 1683, stands on the Kota road.

Bundi Utsav in November brings turban competitions and boat processions. Kota, 36 km east, is the practical base, but staying in a haveli inside the old town is the point.