Everyone starts here, and for good reason. Castle Mandawa’s courtyard alone is worth the trip, but wander the back lanes and you’ll find frescoes nobody has photographed yet: a 1930s car parked beside a flying Hanuman, a Rajput warrior smoking a hookah on a bicycle.
Built by a family who clearly had no filter. Havelis here show courtesans dancing, European ladies in low-cut gowns, and one famous panel of a man peeping at a woman bathing. The Nadine Prince haveli and Le Prince restoration project bring the faded walls back to neon life.
Once called “the Paris of Shekhawati” because its merchants were obscenely wealthy. The Podar Haveli Museum is perfectly restored, gold-leaf ceilings, mirror mosaics, and a painting of Venice that looks like the artist had only heard rumours. Outside, crumbling mansions still drip with faded opulence.
Home to the grandest havelis and the famous Poddar school murals. The Aath Haveli complex and Morarka Haveli have frescoes so detailed you can count the feathers on a peacock’s tail. The town feels alive, artists still paint here, and the Dr Ramnath Podar museum is a love letter to the region.
Most visitors skip it, which is why you shouldn’t. Climb to the fort at sunset and look down on a carpet of yellow havelis glowing like embers. The Char Chowk Havelis below have some of the boldest colours left, raw sienna, cobalt, emerald, because the sandstone here weeps less.
Tiny, dusty, and almost untouched. The massive Chatri of Thakur Shardul Singh is stunning, but the real joy is wandering past locked havelis where the paintings are peeling like old movie posters, Krishna driving a motorcar, Rama aiming a rifle, and one bizarre panel of a British officer riding a camel made of clock parts.