Historic Quarters & Havelis
Tour Jaisalmer's historic heart
Set off on a tour of the historic quarter, starting at Manik Chowk, the original trading post in the days of the caravanserai. The square is filled with small shops and vendors selling camel-hair and camel-leather goods and embroidered dhurries and textiles. Shop for fine pattu shawls, mirror work and embroidered articles , wooden boxes , trinkets , silver jewellery and curios. Continue on to Badal Vilas, a beautiful palace, before exploring the by-lanes of Jaisalmer’s old city with its gorgeous havelis. The havelis of Jaisalmer are an art-form unto themselves, magnificently carved with fine lattice work and made out of golden sandstone. Once upon a time, these havelis were owned by rich merchants with vast monopolies on trade over the Silk Route, some of whose descendants still occupy these once-grand residences today.