Virtual Tour To Iconic Hawa Mahal or Breeze Palace

India is a land of diversities and there’s absolutely no denying in that. Each state in India exhibits a unique vibration and energy. You come here and get involved in different cultures, people, places and foods and I bet – you will no longer be the same. Now I understand why India tops the bucket list of travelers and wanderers from all around the world.

Though being an Indian, I never truly understood the beauty of my country until I took travel seriously. It is when I started to see the diversity we live in, the people, the vibrant colors, the green lands, the snowy mountains, the warm love – that I understood and felt proud of being a citizen of India. Truly, I love my India.

But I’m not here to explain to you my love for my country. I, Vipin, from team Misfit Wanderers are here to take you on a virtual travel/tour to one of the most beautiful architectures I have ever seen in India. Yes, you saw it in the title – Hawa Mahal or Breeze Palace.

This is a hard time for everyone in the world. It saddens me to see thousands of people dying every day while others are living in fear and anxiety. This is a time we shouldn’t strictly go outside our houses and do not believe in COVID-19 myths.

Just know that things will pass if we keep up fighting and don’t get involved in unethical activities or go against rules deployed by authorities. You’ll be able to travel and explore soon.

But to scratch your itch and make you travel (virtually) while you stay home helping to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic, we are here with you.

A few weeks ago we wrote a detailed article on Hawa Mahal, and you can read it here. So, it’s obvious from the heading as well, we won’t be blabbering in this article rather show you things with the help of still images and a video. 

So if you liked any photo and wondered, which cam I used, I wanna tell you ahead – it’s my baby Canon EOS 200D mostly with 18-55 Canon Lens (aww). Lightweight and sturdy! Some pics are shots from my iPhone 6.

Virtual Tour: Things to Keep in Mind

Before we start, I wanna take a moment and make you understand the things you can expect and the things which I expect from you.

Honestly, this is my first virtual tour gift to you and pardon me for any mistakes. I’d love to hear all your suggestions. So, these are the 5 simple things to be kept in mind:

1. The end of the winter season is coming and the month is December.
2. The weather is pleasant and sunny, with a soothing cool breeze.
3. We are in Jaipur – Pink City of India. Hawa Mahal is situated in the busy streets of Jaipur.
4. Hawa Mahal is also known as Breeze Palace or Wind Palace, so don’t be confused.
5. You are with me and we are going to explore this beautiful architecture.

This is NOT a TYPICAL virtual tour

Look look, not being too melodramatic, I want to clarify that this virtual tour may not be what you expect. And if you follow it as being instructed, you are going to have a much, much meaningful experience. So, please keep in mind that:

1. Written text is as important as still images. You can watch the video alone, though.
2. Everything is in chronological order, a video being the sum of all is positioned at last.

So let’s start.

Reaching Wind Palace or Hawa Mahal

A quick Google search showed us that Wind Palace or Hawa Mahal is situated in the Badi Chaupad region of Jaipur. Reaching there won’t be tough if we walk, we agreed. Because we have done our research, we know the area around Wind Palace or Hawa Mahal is quite messy and busy.

We took the metro halfway as the construction of the nearest metro station to Hawa Mahal is yet not complete and we reached the Hawa Mahal crossing the bustling Tripolia bazaar of Jaipur.

As we are walking through the shops, we catch the glimpse of Wind Palace or Hawa Mahal as seen from the outside. Naturally, you and I started hurrying to catch a better view. And what we see now is described via images below.

I don’t remember if we are taking the main entrance to get inside Hawa Mahal complex but it is kinda a narrow lane that has just ended near a temple called Goverdhan Nath Mandir. 

Anyway, we keep walking by the temple, after taking blessings of Lord Krishna and within few minutes we see the ticketing window. And I can see the disappointment on your face that has come because of the huge crowd.

As we are entering, a bigger picture appearing and this is what we see when we come to the gate of Wind Palace or Hawa Mahal.

But you see, the intricacy, the fineness has started appearing. And we are wondering and imagining the royalness of Rajputs of India. Ahead of us is lying the backside of Hawa Mahal – a number of windows, architecturally a masterpiece and beautifully colored in pink.

We are now into – what seems like a huge courtyard, observing the beauty. Look at the door – isn’t it beautiful?

Moving to the right of the courtyard, through an entrance, we have now arrived in front of the statue of Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. The Rajput who built the Hawa Mahal and also known as Pratap Singh of Jaipur. It is said that he was a great devotee of Lord Krishna.

Further, moving across to the adjacent entrance in the courtyard, we see some awesome windows. The one which is huge is colorful (perhaps made to make good use of sunlight) and the ones which are small open directly to the market outside the Hawa Mahal. See:

Okay, now it’s time to go up. Let’s find the stairs. There you go, people in hoards (bottom left of the pic near pillar).

 What a view! You exclaimed seeing a much wider view of Hawa Mahal. “Hawa Mahal has over 900 windows, did you know?” I asked. 

“Is this (image) a signature building of Rajasthan or what? I see this shape very often.”, you mused. I suspected and certainly, I don’t have a clear answer. 

Marching forward, we have arrived at yet another artistry. People are queuing to take photographs but I can’t wave my eyes off them. Look at these.

I don’t know when we arrived at this much height, walking spirally in those paths. Oh, yes there are not many stairs to climb up. I guess they are only on the ground & the top floor.

Oh, see, these windows again. “The palace is rightly named”, I thought.

So, now we are entering a big hall. Look at these colorful windows! They are sincerely amazing.

Now exiting through that room, and moving a few steps ahead, we are now in a queue to reach on the top of Hawa Mahal. The maximum height that you can climb inside. And this is very messy here and I hope the view from above will be worth it. You broke into laughter, as I said this.

Okay, now we are finally at the top. Pink city is even pinkier from here. Majestic views of the city. Look:

And now from here, we can clearly see where we were when we started. Look at the courtyard near to which we found the Maharaja’s statue.

Ah, finally we made our way to the extreme point of Hawa Mahal. But I’m not still very satisfied. “Why?”, you ask.

Actually I want that wide and clear, that kind of bird’s eye view of Hawa Mahal. Similar to the ones which we see on the web and media. Discussing all these things we quickly made our way back to the busy market right at the foot of Hawa Mahal.

By the road, we were eating Gol Gappas and suddenly we saw a building complex right in front of the Hawa Mahal and a few cafes at the very top. And it clearly rings in our minds to go there and have this view.

Here’s the video

Your Help Needed

So, did you like it? This was a new kind of writing for me and I hope you’d enjoyed it. If you would like to go much deeper into Hawa Mahal, please read this blog.

I’ve made all attempts to make this virtual tour easily digestible and fun to do but I’d sincerely love to get your feedback.