Taking a camel safari in Jaisalmer was a huge highlight for us in India. So much so that on our first visit to Jaisalmer we did it twice!
Jaisalmer is a small Indian city in the far west of Rajasthan. But despite (or rather, because of) being a comparatively smaller and quieter city than some of India’s icons, it fast became our favourite.
Here is everything you need to know to plan the best camel safari in Jaisalmer!
- Choosing a camel safari in Jaisalmer
- Costs
- What is included?
- Getting there
- Riding a camel
- The experience
- Sleeping in the desert
- What to bring
- Where to stay in Jaisalmer
Choosing a camel safari in Jaisalmer
Although pretty much every hotel and business in town will offer you a camel safari in Jaisalmer. You definitely want to make sure you book a good one and also one that is ethical – to the camels, and to its workers.
- Tip: We booked our camel safari through Padam, at Wanderlust Guesthouse.
We highly recommend Padam and his team and Wanderlust is not our favourite accommodation in Jaisalmer, but the best place we have stayed in India.
How much does a camel safari in Jaisalmer cost?
Our overnight safari cost 1850 INR per adult (around $25 USD).
There are various options available for differing lengths of time and choices for with or without an overnight stay. But we can’t recommend the team at Wanderlust highly enough. It is a great price. And they are an amazing team that make for a very special experience in India.
We have even been there with our Group Trips!
What is included in the price?
The camel safari in Jaisalmer really is a top value for money experience in India. The guesthouse will organise everything for you and you truly can sit back and enjoy the (camel) ride.
- Luggage storage in Jaisalmer (you only need a small backpack),
- Pick up and drop off from your guesthouse,
- An overnight desert safari near Jaisalmer,
- Jeep transportation to and back from the desert with a couple of stops along the way,
- Chai, water, dinner and breakfast.
Getting to the camels
We were picked up by jeep from the Wanderlust Guesthouse at 2:00pm and driven the 60km to the desert. Nabu, our driver, was a great guide in showing us stops en route to admire a natural desert oasis and explore an abandoned city.
We arrived at a small village to begin our trek, with the suddenly apprehensive recollection of just how tall camels are… and just how awkward they are to get on and hold onto when they stand up!
But our guides were great, and before we knew it we were all on board and ready to ride. For the first day I rode with Harry, but by day two he was confident and rode on his own while Oscar rode with me.
How long is the camel ride?
From the village, the camel trek took about 1.5 hours to get to our camp spot for the night.
Although this sounds like a short amount of time; trust me, that’s a decent amount of time in a saddle. The camels plod along at a steady pace, and the trek passes through patches of low scrub and desert that could more aptly be named as plains arid with scrubby vegetation, before reaching more frequent dunes of sand.
These areas of sand dunes sometimes border makeshift paddocks and areas where farmers were tending to and herding goats, and it was interesting to see different aspects of village life and to wave hello as we went.
Plus, the most exciting thing was that we were actually riding camels… in the desert of India!
Staying the night in the Thar Desert
Camp for the night is literally a sheltered spot, where a small mud hut has been set up to store cooking utensils and bed frames; all a welcomed sight after an hour and a half in a camel saddle!
And bed for the night is quite literally, under the stars…
We loved the evening sun and the slow routine of getting the camels hobbled and set out for the night. The boys ran up and down the sand dunes, chasing the tracks of dung beetles and playing as camel herders across the dunes.
Dinner and breakfast in the Thar Desert
Gavin and I enjoyed a beer and helped to make chapati for dinner on the campfire. The whole evening created some of our best memories from India! It felt so far from other times of travel and the busy-ness of the cities and tourist sights…
Our guides, Nabu, Gudu and Huna cooked an amazing dinner of dahl, aloo, chapati and rice over the campfire. They even finished off the evening by singing songs until bed time.
We did our camel safari in Jaisalmer in March, and it was cold outside at night. But the blankets provided are heavy duvets and we all snuggled up together – quite literally under a million stars and the post-full moon from Holi New Year.
Since then we have also done a camel safari in Jaisalmer with Wanderlust Guesthouse in July (hot) and November (cold). The best time to visit Jaisalmer is from October to March but it is doable at other times too.
Waking up in the morning felt like the most unreal freedom. Our guides were up early too. Gudu headed out to track down our camels, and Huna had brought us a hot cup of chai before we even got out of bed! I am still to this day fairly sure that nothing could taste sweeter than a hot cup of chai at sunrise after a night of sleeping under the stars…
Getting ready for your camel safari
Going into the desert on a camel means being completely exposed to the sun with no cover. At night time in the desert the temperature drops big time.
The best advice to be prepared for your camel safari in Jaisalmer is to pack and dress for both extremes and cover as much exposed skin as possible. You will only need to take a small backpack, and if you are travelling with kids we found one backpack per adult was plenty between us.
Depending on your safari, a jeep might follow or drive ahead while you ride the camels. They can transport a bag if you’d rather not wear it while riding.
- Tip: Don’t forget to bring a torch of some sort for night time; especially as there is no toilet in the desert. You will want to make the bathroom runs as far away from camp as possible!
Packing list – Camel Safari, Jaisalmer
- Long sleeves and ideally long trousers, to cover as much skin as possible.
- Sunhat or scarf for the heat of the afternoon.
- Sunscreen.
- Shoes that are comfortable to ride in. A camel saddle doesn’t have stirrups like a horse saddle does.
- Long sleeved top and thermal outer layer for night time. We found it warm enough (in March) under the heavy blankets.
- Light waterproof rain jacket just in case. Rain is a possibility during the wet summer months. We didn’t need this but I was grateful for the extra layer to keep warm in the early morning. I wore my jacket plus neck buff and used my scarf as headwear…
Thats about it! Be prepared and enjoy an adventure like no other!
Accommodation in Jaisalmer and India
Looking for where to stay in India is like starting the search for a needle in a haystack! But we have had some amazing accommodation in India.
Here are some of our favourite places to stay in each city.
- Kochi: Hotel Abad Plaza [good location next to mall with supermarket. Multiple restaurants on site; huge buffet breakfast. Swimming pool. Note this hotel is not in the old city of Kochi].
- Varanasi: Hotel Temple on Ganges [great location; basic rooms and restaurant. Close to Assi Ghat – good location to explore Varanasi from].
- Jaisalmer: The Wanderlust Guesthouse [AMAZING guest-house! We loved staying here and can highly recommend. Great rooms; rooftop restaurant overlooking the fort; awesome camel safaris!
- New Delhi: Hotel Hari Piorko [good location in the heart of the Main Bazaar, Delhi; close to restaurants and train station. No view from rooms].
- Kolkata: Hotel Golden Palace [close to New Market with very friendly service and a great in-house room service restaurant].
- Mumbai: Gulf Hotel [good location in Colaba few mins walk to Gateway of India. Basic rooms (and very old elevator) and very basic breakfast included. Also lots of (questionably so?) mirrors].
- Jodhpur: Raj Mandir Boutique Homestay [good location in Blue City, spacious room with small balcony inside Haveli style home. Tiny little doors, lots of unique decor and artefacts].
- Jaipur: Jaipur Haveli [incredible old haveli home in heart of Jaipur. Highly recommend; beautiful rooms; great attention to detail and very friendly staff and owners].
- Agra: Aman Homestay [very friendly family-run homestay with rooftop views of The Taj Mahal. Great rickshaw driver service and home cooked meals].
- Delhi: Smyle Inn [extremely basic hotel in small back alley. Very friendly, helpful staff and simple breakfast included. Just off Main Bazaar].
What else can we say about India?
We LOVE India and can only highly, highly recommend you embrace the chaos. Embrace India; and get ready for what can truly only be described as the adventure of a lifetime…
More about travel planning for India and beyond…
These are the companies we use while traveling fulltime as a family and that we would recommend to anyone planning and booking travel.
- Booking.com – The best all-around accommodation booking site that constantly provides the cheapest and lowest rates. They have the widest selection of budget accommodation and it’s easy to filter and sort into price and availability with all the extras you are looking for personally.
- Skyscanner– This is by far our favourite flight search engine. They are able to search small websites and budget airlines that larger search sites often miss. We book all our flights through Skyscanner.
- GetYourGuide– Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace for tours and excursions offered all around the world including everything from walking tours, to street-food tours, cooking classes, desert safari’s and more!
- SafetyWing – A global travel insurance that covers people from all over the world while outside their home country. You can buy it short or longterm; and even if you are out of the country.
- World Nomads – Travel insurance tailored for longterm travel and nomads (including those who have already left home).
Read more about India
- Train travel in India: A complete guide.
- Five days in Kerala: The best introduction to India.
- The Sacred River Ganges: Two days in Varanasi with kids.
- A desert camel safari in Jaisalmer: Not once (but twice).
- Celebrating Holi in India with kids.
- A bread bucket-list: 12 Indian breads you need to try.
So what do you think? Would you go on a camel safari in Jaisalmer?