Rajasthan is an excellent state of fairs and festivals. Every state has its uniqueness. Jaisalmer is a famous state situated in the West direction.
Jaisalmer is a genuinely fantastic tourist place with the beauty of Rajasthan and the culture entrenched inside it. It has become one of the famous tourist places in India many tourists coming from foreign lands. People living in Jaisalmer can speak Languages like Hindi, English, Urdu, and Rajasthani. Jaisalmer is known to be the ‘Golden City’ of Rajasthan.
It is in the heart of the Thar Desert, with a population of about 78,000. Jaisalmer Desert is also considered the administrative headquarters of the Jaisalmer district.
This spectacular town is an example of a World Heritage Site, with many beautiful palaces and many ornate Jain temples. The houses and temples in this golden city are finely sculptured, giving the whole town a majestic and attractive appearance.
Jaisalmer has many tourist attractions, dunes, desert safaris, and sprawling, magnificent forts.
The Famous Desert Festival
Every year during February, the Desert Festival is organized by the Rajasthan State Tourism Development Department to attract tourists from all over the world and promote the royal culture of Rajasthan. It also increases the Golden City’s beauty by exhibiting various activities, cultural performances, and competitions.
Every year this desert festival attracts many millions of tourists to the city of the Golden Fort’-Jaisalmer and is an extravaganza.
The history behind the Glorious Desert Festival
There is ancient mythology behind this great festival’s celebration, which says that Lord Krishna had told Arjuna (one of the Pandavas) that the Yadava community’s successor would set up his kingdom. This prediction had come true when Rawal Jaiswal established Jaisalmer.
Jaisalmer Desert Festival Location: It is in the Thar Desert in the Sam Dunes, 42 km away from the central city of Jaisalmer.
What is the Date of the Jaisalmer Desert Festival 2024?
Dates: Thu, 22 Feb 2024 – Sat, 24 Feb 2024
Glorious Desert Festival
During these three days of this fantastic festival, many local people appear in their traditional bright costumes. They depict the stories and history of the desert through their music and dance. People celebrate this festival with zest and zeal. They decorate their beautiful stalls and present their handicrafts arts at the fair and folk performances.
Moreover, you can also discover the festival’s celebration, including competitions and the beauty camel parade three-day-long annual festival at Jaisalmer. Apart from these, people make the whole place alive with their mesmerizing folk dances, music, ballads of courage, romance, tragedy, and laughter programs. This festival is arranged in the moonlight full of lights and sounds amid the sandbank.
The tourism department offers many opportunities for foreign visitors to view the exciting culture of Rajasthan. The main attraction of the Desert festival is Camel.
Since the festival is conducted in the desert near the dunes, it gives the tourists the ultimate experience of camp and feels memorable.
Particular highlights of the festival
Here in this festival, various competitions are held for camels like dressing them in the best colorful camel dresses, mustache competition, and turban tying contest. Tourists can see the desert areas by riding on the back of the Camel with great joy.
The festival also brings a great taste to food lovers with their local delicacies food items, making it even more interesting to attend this festival.
Other attractions – Apart from these activities, local people living in their areas during the festival offer many other events like famous puppet shows, acrobats, Mahanadi artists, and artwork sellers to make the festival more colorful and exciting.
The weather in Jaisalmer in February month is delightful. The temperature ranges from 5 to 26 degrees. Tourists feel very comfortable during the day and feel elated during the night’s cool weather.
Jaisalmer Desert Fair is very comfortable and the best time to enjoy all kinds of outdoor activities.
Jaisalmer Desert Festival Days
This fabulous Jaisalmer desert festival is an annual winter event organized for three days by the Rajasthan Tourism Department.
During the first day of the festival, local, and regional artists and performers performed Rajasthani art, folk dance, and music. To cheer with great joy, visitors have been engaged in the competitions and make them feel happy by involving their rivals with turban tying, most prolonged mustache, fire dance, and Mr. and Mrs. Desert contests.
The second day of the festival is full of entertainment that engages the audience with various games and art performed by local women with music and dance.
The last day of the festival falls on a full moon day and is engaged with Sam Dunes’ superb setting. During this time, the most awaited camel rides and camel races are held.
Finally, the renowned Desert festival will wind up with traditional Rajasthani folk music.
Read Also:
- 20 Most Visited Tourist Places in Rajasthan
- Popular Places to See Rajasthan in February
- Famous Places to Visit Rajasthan In April
- Top Places to Visit in Rajasthan in December
- Best Places to See Rajasthan in Summer
- Off-Beat Experiences In Rajasthan
- Things to do in Rajasthan with kids
- Rajasthan: History of the Imperial State of India
Jaisalmer Thar Desert Safari
Tourists can spend some adventure time at the Jaisalmer Desert fair; they can go for a long camel ride and experience the thrill of a safari camel ride in the Thar Desert. They can even stay overnight in the splendid luxury desert camps and feel more trustworthy in every aspect.
Read Also:
- Popular Adventure Sports Activities to Do in Jaisalmer
- Road Trip from Delhi to Jaisalmer: Distance, Time, Routes & Stopovers
- 20 Best Places to Visit in Jaisalmer
Hospitality to Foreign Tourists
The Rajasthan Tourism Department offers excellent hospitality to the foreign tourists visiting the Jaisalmer Desert festival by providing a help cell to deal with the problems faced by foreign tourists, especially.
The local administration arranged the desert festival and monitored it with a state of the art of medical vans equipped with high-quality medical amenities.
A facility to exchange Mobile money is made available in case any tourist needs to exchange currencies.
Read Also: How Many Days Should Spend in Rajasthan?
Big Don’ts to Drugs
- Do not be involved in any Drug-related activity in the Jaisalmer desert festival or around. It is punishable and offends medical vans’ art.
- Do not be fooled by the local frauds.
- Don’t exchange your money at authorized exchange counters and
Big Do’s
- Hire always Government certified tourist guides only.
- Facilities provided to tourists:
- Tourist accommodation is made available inside the fort itself. Hotels and residents are available inside the defense taking initiatives to help with restoration and avoid displacement.
Acceptable Activities
- Hotels in all the districts of Rajasthan are operational.
- Adventure activities have been reopened in the state.
- If any tourist is fond of adventure sports, then they can enjoy themselves in the desert.
- Tourists can go for adventure activities like camel rides, polo matches, and a desert safari ride on Camel or jeep are permitted and can enjoy their passage over the shifting dunes of Sam.
How to Reach Jaisalmer
Jaisalmer is easily accessible via road, train, and airways.
- Jaisalmer Airport is well-connected with flights from all the major cities of India.
- Jaisalmer is well connected via trains. Jaisalmer has its own railway station. Frequent trains are readily available to Jaisalmer from almost everywhere in India.
- Jaisalmer Desert Festival’s venue is 42 km away from the city. Easily access through private taxi hires a taxi, and regular public buses are frequently available.
- Every day regular local buses move from nearby major cities like Jaipur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Jodhpur, and New Delhi to Jaisalmer, making it more comfortable for travelers.
Also, read about other festivals in Rajasthan:
Detailed route map of desert trek, period and cost