By road
~180-190 km from Jaipur
North India · Rajasthan
Shekhawati, Rajasthan
Open-air gallery of painted havelis · ~180-190 km from Jaipur
Getting there
By rail
Sikar Junction, ~100 km (Jhunjhunu, ~17-30 km, is closer to towns like Mandawa specifically)
By air
Jaipur International Airport, ~175-190 km
Best time to visit
October to March — fresco-hunting weather
Don't miss
Mandawa havelis
Nawalgarh's Podar Haveli Museum
Fatehpur's Nadine Cultural Centre
Things to do
Haveli fresco trails through Nawalgarh-Mandawa-Fatehpur
Heritage stays
Where to eat
Sources: wikimedia, Photo: Doris Antony, Berlin · CC BY-SA 3.0
What to pack
Walking shoes, camera, tips for haveli caretakers
A quieter corner
Ramgarh's crumbling, barely-visited painted mansions
About Shekhawati
- Inland
Where it is
Shekhawati is a semi-arid region of northern Rajasthan, covering the Jhunjhunu, Sikar and Churu districts, between Jaipur, Bikaner and Delhi.
History
The region takes its name from Rao Shekha, a 15th-century Kachwaha chief whose descendants, the Shekhawats, ruled it. In the 18th and 19th centuries its Marwari merchant families grew rich on trade, later running business houses in Calcutta and Bombay, and spent their wealth on lavishly frescoed havelis in their home towns.
People
Shekhawati's people speak Shekhawati, a dialect of Rajasthani, and Hindi. It is the ancestral home of many Marwari business families, and its farming villages, especially in Jhunjhunu, have a long tradition of service in the Indian Army.
Known for
- Frescoed havelis of Mandawa and Nawalgarh
- Painted towns of Fatehpur and Ramgarh
- Stepwells, temples and small forts
- Heritage stays in restored havelis
Did you know?
Shekhawati's havelis are painted with murals inside and out, and towns such as Mandawa are often described as an open-air art gallery.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.