Best Places to Visit in Jaisalmer in 2 Days

2 days in Jaisalmer may not seem like a lot of time, but if you use those 48 hours wisely you can still experience most of the Golden City’s highlights. With a compact old town, clear desert edges and well‑grouped attractions, it is easy to move between the fort, havelis, lake, cenotaphs and dunes without wasting too much time in transit. This 2026‑updated guide reshapes your original content with fresh timings, ticket patterns and smoother English so it reads naturally and matches what visitors actually pay and see now.​

Jaisalmer is often called the “Golden City” because almost everything – from the fort walls and havelis to the city streets – is built from warm yellow sandstone that glows at sunrise and sunset. Add to this the camel safaris, star‑filled desert skies and medieval lanes packed with shops and temples, and you get a destination that fits perfectly into any modern Rajasthan itinerary. From peaceful mornings at Gadisar Lake to long evenings on the dunes at Sam, Jaisalmer offers enough variety to satisfy history lovers, photographers and thrill‑seekers in the same short trip.​

---

Jaisalmer Fort – Walking Through a Living Golden Fort

Jaisalmer Fort is the city’s landmark, a massive golden structure that rises from the desert and can be seen from far away as you approach the town. Built in the 12th century and later expanded, it remains one of the world’s few large forts that are still fully inhabited, making it feel more like a walled town than a museum. Inside the thick sandstone walls you find houses, guesthouses, small hotels, cafés, shops, temples and narrow lanes that twist and turn in unexpected directions.​

As you walk through the arched gateways and along the steep inner ramps, it feels like stepping back in time. Many of the lanes are lined with tiny shops selling textiles, jewellery, leather goods and local handicrafts, while walls and doorways display carved stone details that tell you how old and wealthy this desert trading centre once was. Rooftop bars and cafés around the fort give wide views over the golden city below, and artists, musicians and fortune tellers often set up in corners to entertain passers‑by. Simple entry into the fort area is free; you pay only when you visit certain temple or palace sections.​

If you want to explore the historic interiors in more depth, you can buy a ticket for the Fort Palace Museum and Heritage Centre. Recent 2025–26 information shows an entry fee of around ₹50 for Indian visitors and about ₹250 for foreign visitors, with camera charges around ₹50 and video camera charges around ₹100. The palace museum takes you through old audience halls, balconies, courtyards and royal rooms, some of which open onto terraces with beautiful city views. Plan at least two to three hours inside the fort if you want to see the palace, Jain temples and viewpoints at a relaxed pace.​​

Tour of the Havelis on Foot – Patwon, Nathmal and Salim Singh

Havelis in Jaisalmer are the equivalent of grand mansions in the West, built by rich trading families when the city was a key stop on caravan routes. The old streets close to the fort contain several of these mansions, and their façades are some of the finest examples of carved sandstone work in Rajasthan. A walking tour of the haveli district is one of the best ways to appreciate the city’s artistry and merchant history.​

Patwon Ki Haveli is the largest and most important of these mansions. It is actually a cluster of five havelis built by a wealthy brocade merchant family, and the entire front looks like golden lace, with projections, balconies and lattice windows stacked one above another. Inside the main sections, which now function as a museum, you can see rooms with painted walls, mirror inlay, old furniture and artefacts that show how affluent families lived. Updated entry patterns list a ticket of about ₹20 for Indian visitors and ₹100 for foreign visitors, with camera fees around ₹50 and video around ₹100, and typical timings from 9:00 AM to around 5:00–6:30 PM.​

Not far from Patwon Ki Haveli, Nathmal Ki Haveli stands out with its twin façade, said to have been built by two brothers who worked from opposite sides and met in the middle. Most visitors admire it from the street, as current guides mention no fixed entry fee for outside viewing and flexible viewing hours from morning through evening. A little further away, Salim Singh Ki Haveli is known for its distinctive peacock‑shaped balcony and arched upper storeys. Recent fee charts show around ₹20 for Indian visitors and ₹100 for foreigners here as well, with similar camera charges and daytime timings from around 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Together, these havelis form a compact walking circuit that easily fills a half day with architecture, photography and street life.

Gadisar Lake – Calm Water and “Floating” Temples

Gadisar Lake is one of the most tranquil places in Jaisalmer and fits beautifully into a 2‑day itinerary as either a sunrise or sunset stop. Originally built as a water reservoir centuries ago, it sits just outside the city walls and is surrounded by ghats, carved gateways and small shrines that give it a slightly other‑worldly atmosphere. Stone pavilions and temples on the lake shore and small platforms in the water often look like they are floating, especially when the water level is high and the light is soft.​

At daybreak, locals and visitors come to Gadisar Lake to pray, jog, take photos or simply sit and watch the first light of the day. The area feels peaceful and is an excellent place to slow down with a book or quietly enjoy the view after the busier fort and bazaar areas. If you want to experience the lake more closely, you can rent a pedal boat or rowboat. Recent 2025–26 pricing guides list rates of roughly ₹300 for a 2‑seater pedal boat, ₹600 for a 4‑seater and ₹900 for a rowboat, with standard boating hours from about 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. There is no ticket to simply enter the lake area; you pay only if you choose to go out on the water.

Roof Hopping – Cafés and Sunset Views Over the Golden City

Jaisalmer’s cityscape is full of rooftop cafés and small restaurants, especially in and around the fort and the older parts of town. Each rooftop offers a slightly different angle on the Golden City: some are close to the fort walls, giving an almost eye‑level view of the ramparts, while others sit further out and frame the fort as a glowing silhouette against the sky.​

After a long day of climbing stairs and walking through narrow lanes, it is a pleasure to sit down on a terrace with a cold drink or hot chai and watch the sky change colours. Many rooftops are relaxed, informal spaces where you can spend an hour or two eating, talking and watching the city lights come on below. Names like Pleasant Haveli’s rooftop, Kuku Coffee Shop and various cafés with fort‑view terraces show up constantly in recent travel blogs, but part of the fun is trying a different place each evening and discovering your own favourite. There is no separate entry fee for rooftop hopping – you simply pay for what you order – which makes it an easy, flexible way to build breaks into your tight 2‑day schedule.

Thar Desert – Camel Safaris, Jeep Rides and Starry Nights

Because Jaisalmer lies on the edge of the Thar Desert, a desert safari is one of the most important experiences to include in your two days here. The dunes around Sam and Khuri provide classic desert scenery, with soft sand ridges, scattered shrubs and wide, open skies that turn brilliant colours at sunset. Safari options now cover everything from budget camel rides to premium jeep and camp packages, with clear price patterns published for the current season.​

Recent 2025–26 charts show basic camel rides at Sam or Khuri starting at around ₹500 per person for an hour‑long safari, with premium camel packages—often including a longer ride and better sunset points—reaching around ₹1,250 per person. Jeep safaris in Mahindra Thar‑type jeeps typically begin at about ₹400–₹500 for a short 30–60 minute ride, and combined packages with buffet dinner, dance performances and transfers to and from Sam are often priced around ₹1,000–₹1,200 per person. For a fuller experience, jeep or camel safaris with overnight camp stays, dinner, breakfast and shows usually fall around ₹2,000–₹2,500 per person, with some premium camps charging higher for upgraded tents and services.​

The overnight camel safari remains one of the most memorable options if you can afford to stay an extra night around Jaisalmer. You ride out to the dunes by camel or jeep, watch the sunset, have dinner at a basic camp or open‑sky bed and sleep under stars that seem almost close enough to touch. For travellers with tighter schedules or budgets, sunset safaris and evening cultural programmes at Sam give a shorter but still impressive taste of the desert. In any case, current guides strongly recommend booking with registered, well‑reviewed operators who follow safety norms and treat animals responsibly.

Khaba Fort – Abandoned Fort with a Mysterious Past

Khaba Fort lies in the desert about half an hour’s drive from Jaisalmer and is less crowded than the main city fort, which makes it an interesting addition to a 2‑day itinerary. The fort and the village below it were once home to Paliwal Brahmins, an influential community in the region, but the settlement was mysteriously abandoned a couple of centuries ago. Local stories talk about curses, sudden departures and bans on anyone else settling there, all of which give Khaba a slightly eerie, intriguing character.​

From the fort’s upper platforms you can look down on the remains of houses, courtyards and walls that stretch out in the surrounding desert. A small on‑site museum displays artefacts and panels with historical information, adding context to the ruins. Current fee charts show a small entry charge at Khaba, generally in the low tens of rupees for Indian visitors and a bit higher for foreign tourists, broadly aligned with other minor heritage sites around Jaisalmer. The fort is open during normal daylight hours and is often included in longer desert tours or combined with Kuldhara and Sam in one day.​

Bada Bagh – Royal Cenotaphs in the Desert Light

Bada Bagh, roughly 6–8 kilometres outside Jaisalmer, is mainly known as a royal cenotaph complex where domed chhatris honour generations of local rulers. Set on a gentle rise with wind turbines in the distance, the site offers some of the most dramatic silhouettes in the region, especially at sunrise and sunset when the sandstone domes catch the light.​

Visitors walk among rows of elevated platforms supported by carved pillars, each with inscriptions and decorative work that commemorate a different member of the royal family. The symmetry of the structures and the openness of the surrounding landscape make Bada Bagh a favourite spot for photographers and film crews; it has already appeared in several movies and music videos. Updated sources list entry fees around ₹20–₹50 for Indian travellers and ₹50–₹100 for foreign guests, with normal visiting hours from about 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. With only two days in Jaisalmer you may need to choose between Bada Bagh and other sites, but it deserves a place high on the list if you enjoy architecture and sunset photography.

Patwon Ki Haveli – The Masterpiece Mansion

Patwon Ki Haveli deserves its own separate mention in any 2‑day Jaisalmer guide not only because of its beauty but also because it sits at the heart of your walking route just a few hundred metres from the fort. Built in the 18th–19th centuries by a prosperous trader family, this cluster of five connected mansions is one of the city’s most visited attractions today.​

The entire façade is covered with carved details: brackets, arches, jharokhas, panels and balconies all cut from golden sandstone in incredibly fine patterns. Inside the main museum section, visitors can see old furniture, decorative ceilings, mirror work, painted rooms and displays that explain the family’s trade connections and lifestyle. Recent entry and timing updates show that Patwon Ki Haveli typically opens from about 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM or slightly later, with tickets priced around ₹20 for Indian visitors and ₹100 for foreign visitors, and camera and video fees matching other major havelis. Spending at least an hour here allows enough time for both the museum rooms and the various viewpoints over the surrounding neighbourhood.​

Kuldhara Village – Heritage Site with Haunted Legends

Kuldhara, about 20 kilometres from the city centre, is now promoted as a heritage village with a mysterious, haunted reputation. According to local legend, the original Paliwal Brahmin residents left overnight to escape oppression and vowed that no one else would ever be able to live there, giving rise to stories of curses and strange events. Whether or not you believe the tales, walking through empty streets lined with crumbling walls and collapsed roofs in the middle of the desert is a striking experience.​

Rajasthan Tourism has formalised access by setting up a gate and basic management at the site. Visitors pay a small vehicle fee at the entrance—recent guides mention around ₹10 per person for Indian visitors, about ₹100 for foreigners and roughly ₹50 for a car—and then drive or walk into the remains of the village. Signboards warn against staying after sunset, and most tours schedule Kuldhara as a daytime stop, often combined with Bada Bagh, Khaba or Sam dunes. With only two days in Jaisalmer, an hour here is usually enough to explore the main lanes, climb a few walls for wide views and take photographs.

Sam Village – Dunes, Camps and Local Culture

Sam village, around 35 kilometres from Kuldhara and roughly an hour’s drive from Jaisalmer city, is the main base for visiting the famous Sam Sand Dunes. As you approach, the landscape changes: scattered houses give way to tented camps, camel lines and stacked jeeps waiting to take visitors into the desert. The dunes themselves stretch out as gentle waves of sand under the open sky and become busiest in the late afternoon and evening when people arrive for safaris and cultural programmes.​

Sam is where you can experience both the natural beauty of the Thar and the cultural side of Rajasthan in one place. Most camps offer a standard evening package that includes a camel or jeep ride, a sunset stop on a dune ridge, then dinner and a show with Rajasthani folk music and dance on a central stage. Short camel safaris often cost from ₹500 to about ₹1,250 per person depending on length and inclusions, while jeep packages with dinner and dance typically range around ₹1,000–₹1,500 per person. Overnight stays with tents, full meals and breakfast may start around ₹2,000–₹2,500 per person and rise higher in luxury camps, where premium tents, private performances and extra services can push prices above ₹6,000 per person in the 2026 season.​

Entry to the Sam Sand Dunes area itself does not usually carry a separate ticket; you pay the camp or operator directly for whichever package you choose. With just two days in Jaisalmer, the usual pattern is to spend one evening – either the first or second – at Sam, timing your arrival so that you reach the dunes by around 4:00 PM and can fully enjoy the light, the ride and the post‑sunset cultural programme before returning to the city or your camp for the night.​

---

Choosing the Best 2‑Day Jaisalmer Plan for 2026

With so much to see and only two days available, the key to a successful Jaisalmer trip in 2026 is balancing old‑city time with desert experiences. One very practical structure is:

• Day 1: Focus on Jaisalmer Fort, Jain temples, Patwon Ki Haveli and other havelis, with an evening visit to Gadisar Lake and a fort‑view rooftop café.​
• Day 2: Start early at Bada Bagh and Kuldhara, then continue to Sam for a late‑afternoon desert safari and cultural programme, returning to the city or staying overnight in a camp.​

Within that framework you can adjust details depending on your interests and budget. Some travellers choose to swap Kuldhara for Khaba Fort, or to add the Government Museum or Desert National Park in place of one of the havelis. Others prefer to spend more time in the old town and do only a short sunset safari at Sam rather than an overnight stay. Because current monument and safari prices are clearly published, it is also easy to match your choices to your budget: you can focus on free or low‑cost spots like fort lanes, Nathmal Ki Haveli exteriors and Gadisar Lake if you are travelling very cheaply, or add palace museums and premium desert camps if you want a more luxurious experience.​

Whatever mix you choose, updated 2026 timings and ticket patterns mean you can plan your days hour by hour without surprise closures or hidden costs. Starting early, grouping attractions by area and booking a reliable car‑and‑driver or safari operator will help you fit all these highlights into your two days and leave Jaisalmer with the feeling that you have experienced the best of the Golden City rather than just checking off names on a list.

Last Updated: 7 January 2026