Rajasthan Motorbike Tour - Land of Maharajas

Twelve nights in a loop through Rajasthan, guided, 2,400 kilometres on a Royal Enfield, rated for beginners.

Flat, sealed roads and modest daily distances make this the operator’s easiest tour, which is the right call for a region where the interest is in the stops rather than the riding.

Jodhpur and Mehrangarh open the forts, a fortress rising straight out of a rock above the blue old town. Jaipur and the City Palace follow, then Chittorgarh, the largest fort in India by area, and Bundi with its stepwells. Two unusual shrines fall along the way: Karni Mata at Deshnoke, where rats are regarded as sacred and live in the temple, and Om Banna near Pali, where a motorcycle is itself the object of veneration after a fatal crash in 1988 and riders still stop to pay their respects. The Thar Desert dunes come next, then Udaipur and its lakes, a tiger safari at Ranthambore and the bazaars of Jodhpur and Jaipur.

The bike hire is included; the full inclusions were not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. No tiger sighting can be promised at Ranthambore, which is the honest position on any safari. October to March is the riding season, since Rajasthan in May approaches fifty degrees. Thirteen days rated beginner, on tarmac and at this price, makes it the obvious first Indian tour, and the forts alone would justify the trip without a motorcycle involved at all. Udaipur is the stop most people would happily have stayed longer in, with its palaces built out over the water.