With celebrities often choosing Jodhpur for their weddings and heady sojourns, we were curious to find out why the city ranks high on itineraries. Testing waters, we wanted to gauge whether the Blue City would prove its mettle in a mere weekend. As we arrived in the 15th century city, we smelled the desert air and the baking sun. Rajasthan’s weather famously seesaws, as we were later told by the current prince and princess of Ranbanka Palace Hotel, our temporary abode in Jodhpur and the city’s first classic heritage property, which earned the tag from the government, recently.

View from the winding road of the Mehrangarh Fort Pics/Kanika Sharma