Location: Situated in Rajasthan, India. It is 256
km from Jodhpur, 354 km from Jaipur and 480 km from New Delhi.
Climate: Arid desert climate with hot days and chilly
nights.
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Bikaner offers awesome scenes of Thar Desert with majestic
sand dunes, hard scorched rocky soil and thorn shrubs that look quite
attractive to adventurers and committed travelers. It is enlivened by
the sight of the red sandstone fort and architectural heritage that
gives a royal look to the surrounded by a fortification wall, which is
5-9m high and is more than 5 km in circumference. One of the cities of
the Desert Tour Triangle, Bikaner reached its height due to its
strategic location at the silk route, the famous path used by the
tradesmen at the time when camel caravans were a common sight. Rao
Bikaji founded the city in 1486 AD. The other highlight of the city is
the Camel Breeding Farm, only one of its kinds in Asia and the
much-famous Camel Festival.
Traditional vivid-colored costumes of the natives and the bright and
vivacious fairs and festivals that display native paintings, murals,
wares, arts and handicrafts attract tourists to the city. The Camel
Festival is held on the full moon night every year in January and is
famous for many unique events such as camel races, camel dances and
camel rides along with the exotic performances of Rajasthani folk
songs and dances. Kite Festival on Teej bears a special significance
here as it commemorates the day, when the city was founded. Karni Mata
Fair, dedicated to the royal deity of the Bikaner rulers, is held at
Deshnoke twice a year on the ninth day of the Navratra.
Bikaner's Prime Attractions
Junagarh Fort
The fort was built during the
reign of Akbar, by his contemporary Hindu ruler Raja Rai Singh and has
a record of being unconquered till date. The only dent in this history
was the brief seizure of the fort by Kamran who could not retain it
for more than 24 hours. The precincts of the fort houses 37 palaces,
temples and pavilions. They used red sandstone and marble for their
construction and were richly embellished with mirror work, paintings
and stone carvings. The highlights of the Fort are the Suraj Pol or
the Sun Gate, the main doorway of the fort; Chandra Mahal or Moon
palace; Phool Mahal or Flower Palace; Karan Mahal or Karn Palace; Anup
Mahal; Hall of Public Audience Hall; Hawa Mahal or Wind Palace; Badal
Mahal or Cloud Palace; Rang Mahal or Color Palace) and Dungar Mahal.
The Fort Junagarh Museum offers a wide range of manuscripts, carpets,
jars, jewellery, armory, treaties, and several other royal trivia on
its display. The Fort remains closed for the visitors on Fridays.
Lalgarh Palace
Sir Swinton Jacob designed
this palace and it was built by Maharaja Ganga Singh. This daunting
building uses eclectic combination of Oriental style delicate
latticework and European style luxurious overhanging balconies and
terraced lawns. Natural beauty is enhanced by the presence of peacocks
and bougainvillea bushes in the palace while the Library displays a
rich collection of rare, original Sanskrit manuscripts on parchments,
copper and gold or silver plaques. Palace Museum or Shri Sadul Museum
is housed on the first floor of the palace and exhibits well-preserved
hunting trophies, royal costumes and other trivia that belong the
former rulers such as camera, golf tees, camera, books, electric
toothbrush of the former 'maharaja', his earplugs and old photos. The
Palace remains closed on Wednesdays.
Ganga Golden Jubilee Museum
This museum
offers you an invaluable insight into pre-Harappan, Gupta, and Kushan
pottery, carpets, paintings, Bikaneri miniatures, armory and coins
along with local arts of the area.
Camel Breeding Farm
Very near to Bikaner is
the unique camel research and breeding center, only one of its kinds
in Asia. It had its origin in the Camel Corp of the British army and
today houses more than 250 camels and cute baby-camels that are a
great tourist attraction. Kids love to ride the camels here. The visit
to this farm is free but it remains closed on Saturdays. However, on
second Saturday of the month it is opened for two hours from 3 to 5
pm.
Deshnok
30 km from Bikaner, the 600-year old
Karni Mata Temple holds a special significance to the natives of the
city as it is dedicated to the Goddess Karni Mata, the royal deity of
the former rulers of Bikaner. It is perhaps the only place where you
can find thousands of rats in the temple that are fed by the devotees
and are provided a safe sanctuary here because people believe that
they are actually the holy men devoted to Goddess who came here to
live in the temple in this form. There is only a single white rat here
and to spot is considered a lucky omen. The temple remains open from 4
am to 10 pm.
How to Reach:
By Air: The nearest airport is 17 km from the city
and is known as Nal Airport. Though, an airfield for Indian Air Force,
it remains open to civilian flights in the tourist season from
November to March. The international airports near Bikaner are in
Jodhpur and Jaipur.
By Train: Well connected
by trains, Bikaner is linked to and from Agra, Churu, New Delhi,
Jaipur, Mumbai, Kolkata and other major Indian cities. The railway
station is located centrally.
By Road: The
Rajasthan tourism and private buses including air-conditioned buses
and luxury coaches link Bikaner to all the major cities such as Agra,
Ajmer, New Delhi and Udaipur. The bus station is just opposite the
Lalgarh Palace.