desert fest v. cattle fest?

tacita

i have only about 6 days to spend in rajasthan, arriving there from amritsar. i'm trying to establish some priorities, pick and choose among sights/cities among which it's impossible to choose! i had planned to spend a few days at the end of the rajasthan leg of the trip in jaisalmer because that's when the desert festival will take place.

i've just learned that the nagaur cattle festival takes place during what would be the earlier part of my time in rajasthan.

as naguar is a smaller city, might this fair be more "local", more provincial, than the seemingly more popular desert festival, or is this a "pass". (btw, both will have camel races...is this ok by the camels?)

while i'm at it, i'd welcome hearing about anyone's (admittedly entirely subjective) favorites/must-sees in rajasthan. i'd arrive there (where?) by overnight train from amritsar and will have about 6 days before an onward trip (fly or train?) to agra. overnight trains between cities in rajasthan seems like a good way to save time, but i'm struggling to map out logistics that will let me see as many sights as possible in my limited time. that being said, i don't want to be so rushed that it ruins the experience entirely. i'd also like to spend one night in the desert.

i've been reading some great threads in this sub-forum, and don't want to be redundant, but haven't come across any that address my particular logistical, timing and festival-competing parameters.

NB: travel by private car-hire is also an option that my budget would allow.

__________________
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SitaParityaga

I went through Nagaur last year, they do have a cattle fair. I was not there in time for it, but I can give you my impressions of that place and Jaisalmer.

The Desert Festival in Jaisalmer is put on by the tourism folks. Although not a "traditional" type of get together, I've heard people really enjoy it. I went to the Camel Fair in Bikaner, another "tourism dept" fair, and I had a blast. There were far more locals at the event than tourists. Saw some spectacular camel races.

Hmmmm. Nagaur. This will be the real deal. I don't think anyone is putting up any plush tents next to this one for the tourists! This place is "off the circuit" for Rajasthan. It was a place I stopped for chai, driving on the backroads from Pushkar to Bikaner. People in this town still stop and stare at you like they haven't been seeing a whole lot of outsiders come through. I was way impressed by this town's autorickshaws...they were all delightfully fancy and frilly. OK..they were the most pimped out ar's I've ever seen anywhere in India!

Jaisalmer is one of the most wonderful places, not to be missed. Even though the silly palace on wheels goes there, it is not a place spoiled by tourists in my opinion. There is an incredible atmosphere there, which is so hard to put into words. People are very friendly.

camelgirl

We were in Rajasthan last year and on our way to Bikiner our driver (we hired a car & driver, which turned out to be excellent) insisted we stop in Nagaur, which we had never heard of. He said there was a good fort/palace called Ahhichatragarh Fort (Nagaur Fort). I've put 2 photos I took of frescoes from there on the IM photo site. I have lots of photos of the fort but didn't post them. Look under members photos for camelgirl if you are interested.

We didn't really want to "waste time" but we did stop and it was one of the best places we saw. We were also the ONLY tourists inside the huge place for the entire time we spent there. We spent much, much longer than we expected and our driver was a bit peeved with us after our initial lack of enthusiasm I can highly recommend this but I did not see the cattle fair. It's probably good and this is definitely not a tourist oriented town.

tacita

thanks, grrrls! such helpful replies!

nagaur sounds great. as much as i'd hate to miss jaisalmer, nagaur may be a better choice for a more local festival vibe. key, however, is that it would keep my rajasthan leg more "compact".

CG-will check out your photos!

thanks again.