By road
~350 km from Jaipur
North India · Rajasthan
Bikaner, Rajasthan
Camel country and unrestored havelis · ~350 km from Jaipur
Getting there
By rail
Bikaner Junction, in the city
By air
Jodhpur Airport, ~251 km (Bikaner's own local Nal Airport has had very limited service)
Best time to visit
November to February; January for the Camel Festival
Don't miss
Junagarh Fort
Rampuria Havelis
Karni Mata Temple
Gajner Lake
Things to do
Camel-breeding farm visits
Haveli lane walks
Desert village trips
Where to eat
Sources: open-meteo, wikimedia, Photo: Madelon van de Water Noledam · CC BY-SA 3.0
What to pack
Desert layers, sun protection, appetite for bhujia
A quieter corner
The rat temple of Karni Mata at Deshnoke — unforgettable, truly
About Bikaner
- Desert
Where it is
Bikaner is a city in the Thar Desert of north-western Rajasthan, north of Jodhpur, surrounded by sand country dotted with camel-herding villages.
History
Rao Bika, a son of Jodhpur's founder Rao Jodha, founded Bikaner in 1488 in the region then known as Jangladesh. Its Rathore rulers built Junagarh Fort in the late 16th century, Maharaja Ganga Singh's Gang Canal brought irrigation to the desert in the 1920s, and the state joined Rajasthan after independence.
People
Bikaner's people speak Bikaneri, a dialect of Rajasthani, and Hindi. The city's merchant families built its havelis, and Bikaner is known for its snack makers and for usta art, the gold-leaf painting done on camel hide and palace walls.
Known for
- Junagarh Fort and its painted palaces
- Bikaneri bhujia and sweets
- The Karni Mata Temple at Deshnoke
- Camels and the Bikaner Camel Festival
- The carved Rampuria havelis
Did you know?
At the Karni Mata Temple in Deshnoke, near Bikaner, thousands of rats are revered as kin of the goddess, and sighting one of the rare white rats is considered especially lucky.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.