Dausa: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Long before Jaipur, this was the Kachhwaha country: the clan that later built Amber and Jaipur first took Dausa, and the small town on the highway is proud to have been their first capital. The land to the north-east is dry, and water was its wealth, which is why the villages here built some of the most extraordinary wells in India. This route goes from the town to the great stepwell of Abhaneri and on to the railway town of Bandikui and a famous temple of Hanuman. Half a day by car, about 120 km; the stepwell is at its best in the morning.
A short history of Dausa
Dausa is a small district town in Rajasthan, on the road between Jaipur and Agra. In the 10th or 11th century it was the first capital of the Kachhwaha dynasty, before they moved to Amber and later to Jaipur. About thirty kilometres away, in the village of Abhaneri, is the Chand Baori stepwell, built in the 9th century, which descends about 13 storeys into the ground, with thousands of steps arranged in triangles.
The ten best sights in Dausa
1Chand BaoriThe stepwell of Abhaneri, 30 km north-east; you look from the top gallery, the steps themselves are closed
2Harshat Mata TempleAcross the lane from the stepwell; look at the carved panels on the plinth
3Giriraj Dharan TempleA local Krishna temple on the east side of town; a quiet stop rather than a sight
4Bhangarh FortThe ruined town 23 km north; the gate opens at sunrise and closes at sunset, by rule
5Mehandipur BalajiA Hanuman temple famous for exorcism rites; intense, crowded and not for everyone
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6Kankwari Fort
A fort inside Sariska’s forest, reached only on a park safari
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7Pandupol
A Hanuman temple at a cleft in the rock inside Sariska; open to private cars only on some days
8Amber FortAbove Jaipur, 50 km west; go at opening time and walk up rather than ride the elephants
9Hawa MahalThe pink façade is best from the café roofs opposite in the morning light
10Jantar MantarAn 18th-century observatory of giant stone instruments; worth an audio guide
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Dausa →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Dausa:
Free walking tours in Dausa
Steps down into the earth
Long before Jaipur, this was the Kachhwaha country: the clan that later built Amber and Jaipur first took Dausa, and the small town on the highway is proud to have been their first capital. The land to the north-east is dry, and water was its wealth, which is why the villages here built some of the most extraordinary wells in India. This route goes from the town to the great stepwell of Abhaneri and on to the railway town of Bandikui and a famous temple of Hanuman. Half a day by car, about 120 km; the stepwell is at its best in the morning.
- Dausa old town · Dulha Rai, the founder of the Kachhwaha line in this region, made Dausa his first seat. His descendants moved on to Amber and, in 1727, founded Jaipur.
- Giriraj Dharan Temple · Giriraj Dharan means "the one who holds up the king of mountains": Krishna lifting Govardhan hill on one finger to shelter the cowherds from the storm. It is one of the most common images in the temples of eastern Rajasthan, near Krishna's home country of Braj.
- Chand Baori · The well was dug around the 9th century and goes down about 30 metres in 13 levels, with some 3,500 narrow steps arranged in zigzags on three sides. At the bottom the air is several degrees cooler than at the top, which is why villagers came here in summer.
- Harshat Mata Temple · Harshat Mata is the goddess of joy, believed to keep the village happy. The temple was wrecked centuries ago and many of its finest carvings are now in museums, but the plinth and the pieces piled in the yard show how rich it was.
- Bandikui Junction · Bandikui grew up around the railway, and in 1874 the first train in Rajasthan ran from Agra Fort to here. Old colonial railway bungalows still stand around the station.
- Mehandipur Balaji · Pilgrims come here from all over north India believing Hanuman, as Balaji, frees people from spirits. By custom visitors take no food or offerings out of the village, and many do not look back as they leave.
A haunted town and the tigers of Sariska
North of Dausa the plain breaks into the Aravalli hills, the oldest mountains in India, worn down to dry ridges and forest. In the folds of those hills lie a ruined town abandoned in the 18th century and the reserve where India had to bring tigers back after losing all of them. This is a full day by car of about 200 km: Bhangarh in the morning, a safari in Sariska in the afternoon, and back past the lake that once watered Jaipur. Book the Sariska safari in advance and carry food; there is little on the way.
- Bhangarh Fort · Bhangarh was built in the late 16th century by Raja Bhagwant Das of Amber for his son Madho Singh. Its ruin gave rise to India's best-known ghost story, and the Archaeological Survey's board at the gate forbids anyone to stay inside after sunset.
- Pandupol · Pol means gate. The story says that Bhima, strongest of the five Pandava brothers, broke through the rock with his mace here during their years of exile, leaving the cleft where the temple of Hanuman now stands by a seasonal waterfall.
- Sariska Tiger Reserve · By 2005 poachers had killed every tiger in Sariska. In 2008 tigers were flown in by helicopter from Ranthambore, the first time wild tigers were moved to restock a reserve, and the population has grown again since.
- Kankwari Fort · The fort stands on a hill above a grassy plateau in the heart of the reserve. Tradition says Aurangzeb held his elder brother Dara Shikoh prisoner here during their war of succession in the 1650s.
- Hotel Sariska Palace · The palace was built by the Maharaja of Alwar as a hunting lodge for his guests, at a time when Sariska was the royal shooting reserve of the state. It is now a hotel at the gate of the reserve.
- Ramgarh Lake · The reservoir was built in the late 19th century and was for decades Jaipur's main water source. In 1982 it hosted the rowing events of the Asian Games; it has been almost completely dry since the early 2000s.
Jaipur, the pink city
Dausa is an hour from Jaipur, the city the Kachhwahas built when they came down from their hill fort at Amber. Sawai Jai Singh II laid it out in 1727 on a grid of wide streets, an unusual idea for its time, and divided it into blocks for each trade. This route goes from the old capital on the hill to the walled city and its observatory, and ends at the museum outside the walls. A full day of about 120 km from Dausa; traffic in the walled city is heavy, so park once and walk.
- Amber Fort · Raja Man Singh, Akbar's general, began the palace in the 1590s. Its Sheesh Mahal is set with thousands of pieces of mirror, so that, the guides say, a single candle could light the whole hall.
- Jal Mahal · The palace stands in Man Sagar, a lake made by damming the valley below Amber. When the lake is full, four of its five storeys are under water.
- Hawa Mahal · Sawai Pratap Singh built the Palace of Winds in 1799 so that the women of the court could watch the street without being seen. The façade, only a few rooms deep, holds 953 small windows.
- Jantar Mantar · Jai Singh II built five observatories across north India, and this is the largest. Its great sundial, the Samrat Yantra, is about 27 metres high and tells the local time to within a few seconds.
- City Palace · In the Diwan-i Khas stand two silver urns, each of more than 300 litres, said to be the largest silver objects in the world. Maharaja Madho Singh II had them made to carry Ganges water on his trip to London in 1902.
- Albert Hall Museum · The foundation stone was laid in 1876 by the Prince of Wales, the visit for which the old city was painted pink. The museum opened in 1887, and among its collection is an Egyptian mummy.
Getting to Dausa and getting around
- Dausa railway station · On the Jaipur–Agra line; Jaipur is about an hour away by train
- Dausa bus station · Buses along the Jaipur–Agra highway pass all day; for Abhaneri a taxi is far easier
- Jaipur International Airport · The nearest airport, about an hour by the highway
Cheap eats in Dausa
Dausa is a highway town and eats like one: dhabas with dal, vegetables and rotis from the tandoor, and halwai shops frying kachori and sweets in the morning. The Rajasthani dish to look for is dal baati churma — hard baked wheat balls broken into dal, with a sweet crumbled version on the side. Almost everything is vegetarian, and food is cheap: a full meal rarely costs more than a coffee in Jaipur's smart cafés.
- Jai Gurudev Hotel · Highway dhaba west of town, dal, sabzi and rotis about ₹100-200
- Bikanerwala · Clean chain stop for chaat, thali and sweets on the way to Abhaneri, about ₹150-300
- Desi Dhava · Rajasthani dhaba on the way to Mehandipur, about ₹100-200
- Gulab Halwai · Sweets and morning kachori in Bandikui, about ₹20-80
- Sharma Cafe · Tea and snacks by Bandikui station, about ₹20-100
- Gudha Katla Restaurant · Village restaurant on the road to Bhangarh, thali about ₹100-200
Museums in Dausa
- Albert Hall Museum · Rajasthan’s oldest museum, in an Indo-Saracenic hall
- City Palace · Royal textiles, arms and the silver urns
- Jantar Mantar · An open-air museum of astronomy; a World Heritage site
- Jaipur Wax Museum · Wax figures inside Nahargarh Fort, with a mirror hall
Nature and day trips near Dausa
- Sariska Tiger Reserve · Dry forest with tigers, leopards, sambar and peacocks
- Ramgarh Lake · The dry lake bed and dam, with Aravalli hills around
- Galtaji · Temples and spring-fed pools in a rocky gorge east of Jaipur
- Sisodia Rani Garden · Terraced Mughal-style garden with painted pavilions
Things to do in Dausa with kids
- Chand Baori · Children love counting the zigzag steps from the top
- Galtaji · Monkeys everywhere; hold on to bags and food
- Chokhi Dhani · A Rajasthani village theme park with dancers, puppets, camel rides and dinner
- Jaipur Wax Museum · Wax figures and a glittering mirror room up on Nahargarh
Where to eat in Dausa
- Laxmi Mishthan Bhandar · LMB on Johari Bazar: Rajasthani thali and famous sweets
- Rawat Mishthan Bhandar · The place for pyaaz kachori, fried pastry with spiced onion
- Chokhi Dhani · Village-style dinner on the floor, all-you-can-eat Rajasthani
- Kanha Restaurant · Simple restaurant on the highway towards Sikandra
Frequently asked questions about Dausa
What is there to see in Dausa?
The top sights in Dausa are Chand Baori, Harshat Mata Temple and Giriraj Dharan Temple. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Dausa?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Dausa without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Dausa?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Dausa, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Steps down into the earth.
How do you get to Dausa and get around?
The main ways are Dausa railway station, Dausa bus station and Jaipur International Airport. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Dausa, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Dausa that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Dausa for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.