2 Best Sights in Rajasthan, India

The oldest museum in Jaipur, inside the Ram Niwas Bagh, is worth a visit just for its breathtaking architecture—the sandstone-and-marble 19th-century Indo-Saracenic-style building was designed by Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob, the father of that movement that merged popular Indian and Victorian architecture of that era, and who was one of Rajasthan's great builders (he built the Rambagh Palace as well). Named in honor of Victoria's husband Prince Albert (who became Edward VII) who came visiting shortly after it was built, the exteriors and gardens offer a glimpse of what the then New Jaipur (completed circa 1887) was like. The museum's enormous collection includes folk arts, miniature paintings, textiles, pottery, traditional costumes, marble carvings, coins, musical instruments, ivory, and visual explanations of Indian culture and traditions. Avoid the weekends when it gets crowded with local tourists. The museum has night hours (7--10), when it's set aglow with twinkling lights and you can have access to the central part of the museum.

Built between 1929 and 1942 at the behest of Maharaja Umaid Singh during a long famine, this public-works project employed 3,000 workers. Now part museum, part royal residence, and part heritage hotel, it has an Art Deco design that makes it unique in the state. Amazingly, no cement was used in construction; the palace is made of interlocking blocks of sandstone, something to admire when you stand under the imposing 183-foot-high central dome. The museum's collection includes a model of the palace, royal finery, collections of palace crockery and cut glass, menus, a sample of palace rooms (dining room and lounge), miniature paintings, stuffed big cats, and a large number of clocks. There's a photographic history of how the palace was designed as well as some grand old photographs of the palace, the royal family, and famous visitors. You may catch a glimpse of the titular Maharaja of Jodhpur, who still lives in one large wing, but you certainly won't miss the magnificent peacocks that strut around the palace's marble chattris (canopies) and lush lawns.