Jaipur rewards thin wallets: stepwells and monkey temples charge nothing, a metro ride across the walled city costs ₹15, and ₹150 buys a full Rajasthani meal. These three days string together free viewpoints, ₹10-entry food courts and museums under ₹100.
A ravine temple complex of seven sacred kunds fed by a natural spring, wedged into the Aravalli hills 10 km east of the old city. Entry is free and a camera permit costs ₹50. Come at 09:00, before the rhesus macaques turn pushy over food.
An eight-storey 16th-century stepwell in Amer with criss-crossing symmetrical staircases on three sides, once the bathing tank for Amer's villagers. Entry is free and it has never been ticketed; descending the steps is barred but the rim is open.
The five-storey Rajput palace sits marooned in Man Sagar Lake with four floors submerged; nobody is allowed inside, so the free lakeside promenade on Amer Road is the only view anyone gets. Kathputli puppeteers busk along the railing.
The 1734 hill fort built as a retreat for Jai Singh II's queens. Tickets are ₹50 for Indians and ₹200 for foreigners, but the lay-bys on the approach road below the gate cost nothing and face exactly the same sunset over the walled city.
Jaipur's metro runs Mansarovar to Badi Chaupar for ₹5–20 a ride, air-conditioned and rarely crowded. Chandpole station drops you inside the walled city at the marble-carvers' bazaar, where idols are chiselled on the pavement all morning.
The Sindhi Camp institution that made pyaaz kachori famous — a crisp onion-stuffed pastry at roughly ₹45, eaten standing at the counter, with a ₹90 slab of mawa kachori for dessert. Open 06:00 to 23:00 and shoulder-to-shoulder at lunch.
The pink arcades below Sanganeri Gate sell mojari leather slippers, block-printed razai quilts and lac bangles. Opening quotes run roughly triple; ₹350–500 is a fair landing point for juttis. Many shops shut on Sundays, so go midweek.
An open-air food court inside Ram Niwas Garden gathering twenty-odd Jaipur street-food names — Pandit kulfi, Shankar golgappe, pav bhaji — behind a ₹10 entry gate, so hygiene is policed and plates still land between ₹50 and ₹150.
A 1599 marble temple raised by Queen Kanakwati for her son, with a carved toran arch and the Krishna idol said to have been worshipped by Mira Bai in Chittor. Free, open sunrise to sunset, and empty while coaches queue at the fort above.
A restored 400-year-old haveli in Amer where carvers and printers work live in the courtyard while the upstairs galleries trace Rajasthani block printing. Entry ₹80, camera ₹50; open 10:30–17:00 Tuesday to Saturday, closed May to mid-July.
Rajasthan's oldest museum, an 1887 Indo-Saracenic hall in Ram Niwas Garden holding an Egyptian mummy, a 17th-century Persian garden carpet and clay models of Indian trades. Night viewing runs 19:00–22:00 when the whole facade is lit yellow.
Billed as India's largest circular park, ringed by rose beds and jogging loops of 1.4 km. The musical fountain plays free each evening, and Patrika Gate's eight vaulted arches are painted with motifs from every region of Rajasthan.