Rajasthan Food and Culinary Private Tour

Your culinary journey begins at Indira Gandhi International Airport, where our representative greets you in the arrivals hall and walks you to your private car. The drive to your hotel in central Delhi takes about forty-five minutes, and your chauffeur will hand you a cold bottle of water and a small box of Delhi's famous soan papdi as a first taste of what is to come. After check-in, take a few hours to rest and recover from the flight. If you arrive in the morning, we suggest a light lunch at the hotel so your appetite is ready for the evening. Delhi's hotels serve good fresh lime soda, the ideal drink after a long flight.

In the evening, your food guide meets you in the hotel lobby for an easy introduction to Delhi's dining culture. Rather than diving into Old Delhi on the first night, we head to the Lodhi Colony area or Khan Market, where you can try a well-made butter chicken, a crisp dosa, or a Lucknow-style galouti kebab in a relaxed restaurant setting. Your guide explains the difference between Mughlai, Punjabi and Rajasthani cooking, which helps everything that follows make more sense. It is a gentle start, ideal after a long flight, and a chance to ask any questions about the days ahead.

Overnight stay in Delhi.

The morning is dedicated to a food walk in Old Delhi, best started early before the lanes become crowded. Your food guide meets you at Chandni Chowk metro station, and the first stop is a famous jalebi shop where the coils are fried in pure ghee and soaked in syrup. From there, you wander into Paranthe Wali Gali, the lane where families have been frying stuffed parathas since the late nineteenth century, filling them with everything from potato and paneer to bitter gourd and banana. Next comes a cup of kulhad chai and a plate of chole bhature, or a bowl of daulat ki chaat if you are visiting in winter, when this cloud-like milk froth is sold at dawn.

After a short rest, your guide takes you into Khari Baoli, Asia's largest spice market, where sacks of red chilli, turmeric, cardamom and dried fruit line the narrow passages. You climb to the rooftop for a view over the market and Fatehpuri Masjid, and learn how to spot good saffron and fresh spices. The afternoon ends at the Red Fort or Jama Masjid, depending on the day, as the Red Fort is closed on Mondays. Dinner is at Karim's near Jama Masjid, an institution running for more than a century and known for its mutton korma and nihari. Vegetarians can enjoy dal and fresh roti here too.

Overnight stay in Delhi.

After breakfast, your chauffeur drives you along the expressway toward Jaipur, a journey of about five hours. Food lovers should save some appetite for a stop at a well-known highway dhaba near Behror, where parathas come off the tandoor with white butter and a side of curd and pickle. Your chauffeur knows which dhabas keep the cleanest kitchens and the freshest food, and the stop gives you a taste of how most Indians eat on the road. As you approach Jaipur, you will notice the change in landscape, with the Aravalli hills, fortified walls and fields of mustard and millet. Millet, or bajra, is the base of many dishes you will taste in the coming days.

On arrival in Jaipur, you check into a heritage hotel in the city, chosen for its excellent in-house kitchen. In the late afternoon, your local food guide takes you on an evening walk through the old city's markets, starting with a cup of masala chai near the Hawa Mahal before working through Johari Bazaar and Bapu Bazaar. Along the way, you taste dal pakoras, kachoris, ghewar (a honeycomb-like sweet soaked in syrup), and kulfi from a cart that has been on the same corner for decades. Your guide explains how each dish fits into Rajasthan's festival calendar. Ghewar is at its best during the monsoon festival of Teej.

Overnight stay in Jaipur.

Start the day the Jaipur way, with a breakfast of pyaaz kachori at Rawat Mishthan Bhandar near Sindhi Camp, where the onion-stuffed pastries are fried from early morning and served with tamarind chutney. Afterwards, your chauffeur drives you to Amber Fort, where your guide shows you the Sheesh Mahal, the Diwan-i-Aam and the old royal kitchens, explaining how food was prepared for the court and how dishes like safed maas, a creamy white mutton curry with cashew and cardamom, were born in these palaces. Lunch is laal maas, Rajasthan's fiery red mutton curry made with Mathania chillies, at a heritage restaurant near the fort; a vegetarian version with paneer is always available.

In the afternoon, you are welcomed into a Jaipur family home for a hands-on cooking class. The host walks you through dal baati churma, the state's signature dish of baked wheat balls, spiced lentils and a sweet crumble of wheat, ghee and jaggery. You will also learn gatte ki sabzi, gram flour dumplings in a yoghurt curry, and ker sangri, a tangy dish made from dried desert beans and berries. Once everything is ready, you sit down with the family to eat what you have made, sharing conversation and stories about Rajasthani home cooking. Recipe cards are yours to keep.

Overnight stay in Jaipur.

After breakfast, you leave Jaipur for Pushkar, a three-hour drive through farmland and the Aravalli foothills. Pushkar is a holy town and strictly vegetarian, with no meat, eggs or alcohol served, which makes it an ideal place to understand the role of food in religious life. After check-in at a resort on the town's edge, your chauffeur drives you to the rose fields that surround Pushkar, where farmers grow the fragrant Damask variety. At a small family workshop, you watch rose petals being turned into gulkand, a sweet preserve used in paan and desserts, and rose water distilled in copper pots. A cup of rose sherbet ends the visit.

In the late afternoon, walk with your guide down to the ghats and around the sacred lake, visiting the Brahma Temple before settling at a lakeside restaurant. Dinner is a traditional vegetarian thali with dishes like kadhi, bajra roti, panchkuta and churma, followed by malpua, a sweet fried pancake soaked in syrup that Pushkar is known for. If you wish, you can stay to watch the evening aarti on the ghats, with bells, lamps and chants echoing across the water. Your guide also points out the town's many falafel and hummus cafes, a legacy of decades of Israeli backpackers.

Overnight stay in Pushkar.

An early start lets you enjoy a breakfast of hot poha and jalebi in Pushkar's main market before the four-hour drive to Jodhpur. The road crosses the desert fringe, with camel carts, goat herds and roadside stalls selling seasonal fruit along the way. On arrival in Jodhpur, you check into a boutique haveli hotel in the old city with views of Mehrangarh Fort. After a short rest, your food guide meets you for an afternoon trail through Jodhpur's most celebrated snack spots, starting near the Ghanta Ghar clock tower and the Sardar Market. Wear comfortable shoes and come hungry, because the portions add up quickly over the next couple of hours.

The tasting begins with mirchi vada, a large green chilli stuffed with spiced potato and fried in gram flour batter, at a stall that has been serving them for generations. Next comes mawa kachori, a sweet pastry filled with milk solids and nuts, dipped in syrup, followed by a tall glass of makhaniya lassi topped with butter and saffron at a famous shop near the clock tower. Your guide then leads you to a spice merchant in the Sardar Market, where you learn to blend your own Rajasthani garam masala to take home. Dinner tonight is light, at the hotel.

Overnight stay in Jodhpur.

The morning begins with Mehrangarh Fort, rising high above the blue city. Your guide leads you through its seven gates, the gilded Phool Mahal and the Sheesh Mahal, and the museum's galleries of palanquins and paintings. Look out for the old royal kitchens and the brass and silver utensils used for court banquets. Then, your chauffeur drives you about 25 km out of the city to a Bishnoi village, known for its deep respect for nature and wildlife; blackbuck and chinkara antelope are often seen grazing near the fields. The Bishnoi have protected these animals and their khejri trees for more than five centuries, and your guide shares the story of their sacrifice to save the trees.

In the village, a Bishnoi family welcomes you into their home for a traditional lunch cooked over a wood fire. You watch them grind millet by hand, roll bajra rotis, and prepare simple vegetable dishes with buttermilk and spices, then share the meal sitting on the floor. After lunch, your host may show you the khejri trees and water tanks that keep the village going through the dry months. Return to Jodhpur in the afternoon for time at leisure, then have dinner at a rooftop restaurant facing the lit-up fort, trying Jodhpuri kabuli, a rich layered rice dish. The hotel can pack leftovers for tomorrow's drive.

Overnight stay in Jodhpur.

After breakfast, the drive to Udaipur takes about five hours through the Aravalli hills, with an option to stop at the Ranakpur Jain Temple, open to visitors from noon, if you would like to add it. Lunch on the way is at a roadside dhaba or a heritage hotel, depending on your preference. On arrival in Udaipur, you check into a lakeside hotel with views across Lake Pichola. After a short rest, your guide takes you for an afternoon walk to the City Palace and the Jagdish Temple, where you can browse the nearby market for spices, pickles and local snacks. Look for the dried fruit and saffron stalls near the temple steps.

In the late afternoon, you join a Mewari cooking class in a local home near the lake. Here, you learn to prepare Udaipur specialities such as dal dhokli, a lentil stew with wheat dumplings, and sev tamatar, a tangy tomato curry with crunchy chickpea noodles, along with fresh chapatis. Once you finish cooking, you enjoy the meal you made together with your host. Afterwards, a private boat ride on Lake Pichola at sunset glides past the Lake Palace and Jag Mandir, the perfect end to your last full day in Rajasthan. Dinner is on the hotel terrace.

Overnight stay in Udaipur.

On your final morning, enjoy a last Rajasthani breakfast at the hotel, perhaps with kachori and a cup of masala chai on the terrace overlooking the lake. Depending on your departure time, there is an opportunity to visit Saheliyon Ki Bari or pick up last-minute food souvenirs such as Mewari pickles, spice blends or a box of sweets from a well-known sweet shop near Bapu Bazaar. Your chauffeur then drives you to Udaipur Airport, about forty minutes from the city, for your domestic flight to Delhi. The flight takes about an hour and a quarter, and our team confirms the timing the evening before, so you can relax over breakfast without worrying about the schedule.

On arrival in Delhi, our representative meets you and helps with your transfer to the international terminal for your onward flight, or to a hotel near the airport if you are leaving later. Over nine days, you have tasted the street food of Old Delhi, cooked with families in Jaipur and Udaipur, walked rose fields in Pushkar, and shared a village meal with a Bishnoi family near Jodhpur. We hope you go home not only with a few new recipes, but also with a deeper appreciation of how Rajasthan's food reflects its people, its land and its traditions. Safe travels. Thank you for cooking and eating with us.