What's on in Jodhpur, India through the year

Peak crowds — Desert touring season, Winter break in India

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Desert touring season (15 Oct – 15 Mar), Destination wedding season (1 Nov – 28 Feb)

Busy — Desert touring season, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  World Sacred Spirit Festival

  10–20 Feb · usuallyMajor festivalBook early

  Three nights of Sufi and devotional music in the courtyards of Mehrangarh, ending well after midnight. Small, ticketed, and the fort at that hour is the whole point of going. Source ↗

Still on: Desert touring season (15 Oct – 15 Mar), Destination wedding season (1 Nov – 28 Feb)

Busy — Desert touring season, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Desert touring season (15 Oct – 15 Mar)

Busy — Summer vacation (Kerala / far south) in India, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Hazard

  Pre-monsoon heat

  20 Apr – 25 Jun · usuallyExtreme heat

  The edge of the Thar in May: no shade anywhere on the fort ramparts and a dry wind that makes the afternoon worse, not better. The blue city is a dawn and dusk proposition for two months. Source ↗

Busy — Summer vacation (north & east) in India

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Pre-monsoon heat (20 Apr – 25 Jun (usually))

Quiet — travelers describe it as quiet, Summer vacation (north & east) in India

Nothing new starts in June.

Still on: Pre-monsoon heat (20 Apr – 25 Jun (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

• Season

  Monsoon on the desert edge

  1 Jul – 10 Sep · usually

  The rains reach the Thar late and thin, in short violent storms rather than weeks of grey. The stepwell fills, the rock goes dark, and the tour buses are three hundred kilometres east.

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Monsoon on the desert edge (1 Jul – 10 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Monsoon on the desert edge (1 Jul – 10 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — Jodhpur RIFF, Desert touring season

• Festival

  Jodhpur RIFF

  22–26 OctMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Rajasthani folk musicians and roots acts from a dozen countries, staged inside Mehrangarh and timed to the brightest full moon of the year. Rooms below the fort go months ahead. Source ↗

• Season

  Desert touring season

  15 Oct – 15 MarDry seasonCrowded

  The five months the coaches run the Jaisalmer–Jodhpur–Udaipur line. Mornings are cold enough for a jacket on the ramparts and the light on the blue houses is at its best.

Busy — Desert touring season

• Season

  Destination wedding season

  1 Nov – 28 FebClosuresBook early

  The palace hotels take whole-property bookings through the winter, and Umaid Bhawan and parts of Mehrangarh close to everyone else at short notice. Check before you build a trip around one of them.

Still on: Jodhpur RIFF (22–26 Oct), Desert touring season (15 Oct – 15 Mar)

Peak crowds — Desert touring season, Winter break in India

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Desert touring season (15 Oct – 15 Mar), Destination wedding season (1 Nov – 28 Feb)