Travel to Bikaner

a relatively pleasant and interesting outpost

Bikaner is located in the Rajasthan province of northeast India, roughly 400 km (250 miles) west of Delhi.

Back in 1478 a prince of Jodhpur, Rao Bika, decided to head out into the Thar Desert to establish his own independent kingdom. Arriving at a great oasis on the caravan route between Delhi and the Gujarat coast, he established a fort, around which a town started to form.

Around 1625 a much larger defensive structure was constructed, Junagarh Fort, which continues to command the modern town to this day.

During the 1900s Bikaner grew rapidly to become the fourth largest city in Rajasthan, much facilitated by the opening of the Ganges Canal in 1928 and the Indira Gandhi Canal in 1987.

Bikaner is a fair bit off the beaten track to feature in many trips, but can serve well as a place to break the long road journey from Delhi to Jaisalmer or Jodhpur.

We generally prefer to fly the leg between Delhi and Jaisalmer, in order to take miles out of a road trip exploration of Rajasthan, enabling us to slow the pace and spend more time in more remote and interesting areas.

The area has a couple of decent historic hotels, which can be used as bases to explore the town, surrounding villages and to do camel trips into the desert.

road trips only rarely pass this way