Jaipur is cheap to see if you are careful and expensive if you are not, and the reason is the two-tier pricing: foreign visitors pay four to ten times the Indian rate at every monument. The good news is that the best-known image in the city — the Hawa Mahal facade — is free from the street opposite, the old city bazaars cost nothing, and a composite ticket exists that covers most of the paid sites for less than buying them separately. One honest warning before the numbers: published prices for Jaipur's monuments vary a great deal between sources, so treat every figure here as a guide and confirm at the counter. Prices are in rupees.

1. The Hawa Mahal — from the street first

The Palace of Winds is the photograph everyone comes for, and here is the thing most guides bury: the famous five-storey pink facade faces the street, and looking at it costs nothing. The view from the pavement and the rooftop cafés opposite is the view you have seen.

Going inside is around ₹200 for a foreign visitor and ₹50 for an Indian one, with student rates about half that and under-sevens free, open 9:00am to 4:30pm. What you get is the honeycomb of windows from behind and a view back over the street. Worth it if you want the interior; entirely skippable if you came for the facade.

2. Amber Fort

The one unmissable monument, on a ridge about eleven kilometres north of the city, open from 8:00am to 5:30pm with a separately ticketed evening session.

This is where the price warning matters most. Published foreign-visitor rates range from about ₹500 to ₹1,000 depending which source you read, and the Indian rate from ₹100 to ₹200. We are not going to pick one and pretend it is settled — check the board at the ticket window before you queue, and budget for the higher figure.

The evening light and sound show is ticketed separately from fort entry, and the walk up from the car park is free — you do not need to pay for a jeep unless you want to.

3. Jantar Mantar

The eighteenth-century astronomical observatory beside the City Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the most interesting thing in Jaipur per rupee: nineteen stone instruments including the world's largest stone sundial, accurate to two seconds.

Around ₹200 for foreign visitors and ₹50 for Indians, students roughly half, under-sevens free, open 9:00am to 4:30pm. It is small enough to do properly in an hour and it sits directly beside the Hawa Mahal and the City Palace, so the three make one walk.

4. Nahargarh Fort at sunset

The fort on the ridge above the city, and the best sunset in Jaipur. The whole pink city spreads out below it, which is a view you cannot buy anywhere else in Rajasthan.

Published rates put it at about ₹200 for foreign visitors and ₹50 for Indians, open roughly 10:00am to 5:30pm — so aim for late afternoon rather than actual sunset, and confirm the closing time on the day, because it varies by source.

It is also one of the monuments on the composite ticket, which makes it close to free if you have already bought one.

5. The old city bazaars

Free, and the part of Jaipur that most rewards time. Johari Bazaar, Bapu Bazaar and the streets of the walled pink city are where the city actually happens, and walking them costs nothing at all.

Jal Mahal, the water palace on Man Sagar Lake, belongs in the same category: you cannot go inside, and the view from the roadside is free and is the whole experience. Treat it as a stop on the way to Amber Fort rather than a destination.

Worth knowing

The short version

See the Hawa Mahal from the street for nothing, walk the bazaars for nothing, and view Jal Mahal from the road for nothing — that is half of Jaipur already. For the paid half, ask about the composite ticket at the first counter you reach, and go up to Nahargarh late in the afternoon for the view that makes the trip.