Pushkar is a small holy town in Rajasthan built around a sacred lake, and two days covers it. Spend one on the Brahma Temple, the ghats and Sadar Bazaar, ending with the evening aarti. Start the second with sunrise at Pap Mochani and the Savitri Temple. Add a day for Ajmer's dargah, or come for the fair in Kartik.
Pushkar sits at about 510 metres in the Aravalli hills, around a lake Hindus count among their holiest. Fifty-two ghats and hundreds of temples crowd its shore, among them one of the few Brahma temples anywhere. Come for the aarti, the bazaar and, in Kartik, the camel fair.
One of very few temples in India dedicated to Brahma, the creator, its red spire rising above the lake. The present structure dates to around the 14th century. Shoes stay at the stands outside, and weekends bring long queues.
Fifty-two ghats step down into the sacred lake, and at dusk the aarti brings fire, bells and drums to the water. The ghats are holy ground: take off your shoes and never photograph people bathing.
The temple of Savitri, Brahma's consort, crowns Ratnagiri Hill with the lake and town spread below. A ropeway opened in 2016 saves the climb; the stepped path is the way to go at dawn.
For about a week in the Hindu month of Kartik, camels, horses and cattle are traded on the fairground outside town. Races, moustache contests and folk music follow, and it ends with the Kartik Purnima dip in the lake.
Built in 1823 by Seth Puran Mal Ganeriwal of Hyderabad for Rangji, a form of Vishnu. A tall South Indian gopuram stands over Rajput and Mughal detail, the least Rajasthani sight in town.
A small hilltop temple reached on a trail behind the Marwar bus stand, about half an hour up. At sunrise the lake, the ghats and the Savitri hill opposite light up together.
About a kilometre of stalls between the temples, selling textiles, silver, puppets and rose products. Much of the cloth comes from Barmer and Gujarat. Walk the whole street before you buy, and haggle.
First built in the 12th century by Anaji Chauhan, destroyed under Aurangzeb and rebuilt in 1727 by Jai Singh II of Jaipur. Inside stands Vishnu as Varaha, the boar who lifted the earth from the waters.
The tomb of Moinuddin Chishti, the Sufi saint who came to Ajmer in 1192 and died in 1236, about 15 km from Pushkar. Akbar walked here from Agra in 1570, and pilgrims of every faith still come.
Pushkar's signature sweet: a batter of rabri, khoya and flour, deep-fried and soaked in cardamom syrup. Sweet shops across the bazaar fry them; eat one hot from the pan.
A mosque of 1199 built by Qutb-ud-din Aibak on the site of a Sanskrit college.
Old Pushkar, just outside town, with ghats and the Rudra Kund ringed by 108 lingams.
A white moonscape of marble slurry, loved by photographers. Skip it on windy days.
About a week of camel and cattle trading, contests and folk music in Kartik.
The full-moon holy dip that closes the fair. The ghats fill before dawn.
Lamps on the ghats and the temples, a few weeks before the fair.
The saint's death anniversary fills the Ajmer dargah, 15 km away.
Colour, drums and crowds in the bazaar. Wear clothes you can lose.
Women worship Gauri for 18 days after Holi, ending in processions.
Rajasthan's monsoon festival of swings, songs and green bangles.
Fierce desert heat. Most visitors wait for October.
The nearest airport, about 45 km away, with domestic flights. Jaipur (JAI), about 145 km away, has many more routes.
The main railhead, about 15 km away. Taxis and buses cross the hills to Pushkar in about half an hour.
The town's own station on the branch line from Ajmer, with only a few trains. Most travellers change at Ajmer.
Buses shuttle from Ajmer through the day. The lake and bazaar are best on foot; take an auto to the ropeway.
Fried rabri and khoya pancakes soaked in cardamom syrup.
Baked wheat balls with lentils and sweet crumbled churma.
Gram-flour dumplings in a spiced yoghurt curry.
Desert berries and beans cooked dry with spices.
Millet flatbread, eaten with ghee and garlic chutney.
Thick yoghurt drink flavoured with gulkand from local roses.
Rose petals preserved in sugar, sold all over the bazaar.
Ajmer's dense, nutty sweet, sold by the dargah.
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