Hawa Mahal

हवा महल

A five-story honeycomb-shaped pink façade built in 1799 so palace women could watch the street, with 953 small latticed windows. It is Jaipur's most photogenic landmark.

Hawa Mahal was built in 1799 by Sawai Pratap Singh as an annex to the City Palace. It allowed the royal women of the inner palace to watch festival processions in the street without being seen by outsiders. The building is really a five-story façade only one room deep. Its red and pink sandstone is pierced with 953 small windows with carved stone latticework (jharokha), a design modeled on Krishna's crown. Breezes blowing through keep the interior cool even in summer, hence the name Palace of the Winds. Visiting: Enter from the City Palace side behind the building. A ramp leads to the top floor, where you can look through the small windows at the old city streets and the distant Nahargarh Fort. There is a small museum inside. Foreign visitors pay 200 rupees (included in the 1,000-rupee combined ticket). Open 09:00 to 17:00. The classic front view is from across the street. From the rooftop of Wind View Cafe or Tattoo Cafe, which face the façade, you can take photos after buying a coffee. Between 7 and 9 a.m., when the sun shines directly on the front, the colors are most vivid, and there is lighting at night. It sits at the Badi Chaupar crossroads on the old city's main street, within a five-minute walk of the City Palace and Jantar Mantar, and the Johari Market is right nearby. Allow 20 minutes for exterior photos and 40 minutes for the interior.

Notes: Traffic in front of the building is heavy, so watch out when taking photos. At the entrance, pushy people will try to charge you for photos. Just say no.

Hawa Mahal

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