Bikaner is a city of about 650,000 in the Thar desert of northern Rajasthan, founded in 1488 and built on the caravan routes. It gets a fraction of the visitors of Jaipur or Jodhpur, which is most of its appeal, and it has one of the best preserved forts in India.
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What Is Here
JUNAGARH FORT WAS NEVER TAKEN AND IT SHOWS. Built from 1589, it sits on the flat rather than on a hill, which is unusual in Rajasthan, and because it was never sacked the interiors survive: the Anup Mahal with its gold leaf and lacquer, the Phool Mahal, the Karan Mahal, and a first world war biplane in the museum, presented to the maharaja.
The painted rooms are the reason to take a guide, and the audio guide here is genuinely good.
The second image is Narendra Bhawan, one of the old royal properties now run as a hotel, and it stands for something true about Bikaner: the city's heritage buildings are mostly in use rather than preserved behind rope.
THE KARNI MATA TEMPLE AT DESHNOKE IS THE THING PEOPLE REMEMBER. Thirty kilometres south, it houses some twenty thousand black rats which are venerated as the reincarnated descendants of the goddess's clan, fed, protected and free to move everywhere. YOU ENTER BAREFOOT, as at any Hindu temple, and the floor is where the rats are. Seeing a white rat is considered particularly auspicious. It is not a freak show, it is a working temple with a large congregation, and visitors who treat it as the former are resented.
The National Research Centre on Camels is a working government institute on the edge of town, with a herd, a small museum and camel milk ice cream. It is odder and better than it sounds.
The old city inside the walls has the finest havelis in Rajasthan after Shekhawati: carved red sandstone merchant houses in narrow lanes, mostly unrestored and largely unvisited.
When to Go
October to March. Within that, November to February.
Desert winter days are warm and clear and the nights are cold, sometimes near freezing in January, which visitors consistently fail to pack for.
April to June is extreme, regularly above 42C, and sightseeing becomes a dawn and dusk activity.
July to September brings some monsoon rain and humidity without much relief.
The Camel Festival is in January and fills the city's hotels.
Getting There
By train, which is the right way: overnight services from Delhi take about 10 to 11 hours, and there are good links to Jaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.
By road, roughly five hours from Jodhpur, six from Jaipur and nine from Delhi.
By air, Bikaner has a small airport with limited flights; Jodhpur and Jaipur are the usual alternatives.
Bikaner fits between Jaisalmer and Shekhawati or Delhi, and it is the least rushed stop on most Rajasthan circuits.
Is Bikaner Safe for Women?
Bikaner is a conservative Rajasthani city with relatively little tourism and correspondingly little tourist-directed hassle. The FCDO does publish advised-against areas for India, and being precise about them matters more than a general warning. It advises against all travel to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, except air travel to and movement within the city of Jammu, and against all travel within 10km of the India-Pakistan border, where the Wagah-Attari crossing is closed. It advises against all but essential travel to the state of Manipur, including Imphal. None of that is anywhere near this destination, and it is worth knowing which parts of a very large country the warnings actually describe.
The FCDO advises against all travel within 10km of the India-Pakistan border, and the clause that matters for a desert trip is the next one: the border is UNMARKED IN SOME AREAS of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Approaching it away from an official crossing point could be dangerous and, where it is unmarked, could mean entering Pakistan illegally. The Wagah-Attari crossing is closed to tourist transit except for the daily retreat ceremony, so anyone planning to cross overland between the two countries needs a different plan entirely. A dune excursion sold locally will not be measuring its distance from an international boundary for you.
DESERT HEAT IS THE PRINCIPAL HAZARD FROM APRIL TO JUNE, and above 42C it is a genuine medical risk rather than discomfort. Dawn and late afternoon, shade in between, and far more water than you think.
At Karni Mata you are barefoot on a floor where rats run. Socks are permitted and sensible, bites are very rare but not unknown, and anyone with an open wound on their feet should not go in. Wash thoroughly afterwards.
Camel rides are unregulated, and a camel that is made to run is dangerous. Ask for a walk, and refuse a saddle that looks wrong.
Dress covered. Shoulders and knees out of sight is the baseline, and a scarf for temples.
The Bikaner Packing List
A desert city: hot bright days, cold nights, dust in everything.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the piece that makes a desert trip work in both directions. In the heat it covers your arms and shoulders against sun that is far stronger than it feels in dry air, and it does not hold sweat or smell after three days in dust; in January it is the layer under everything else when the temperature falls to near freezing after dark. Add a heavyweight merino base layer from December to February, which is the single most commonly underpacked item for desert Rajasthan.
A Columbia Powder Lite insulated hooded jacket for winter nights, and a long sleeve sun hoodie for the hot months.
A wide brim sun hat, which in the Thar is not optional, and Darn Tough merino socks that you can also wear into the rat temple.
A RAYMYLO insulated water bottle, because tepid water in 40C heat does not get drunk and cold water does.
Not linked and worth packing: A LARGE SCARF, which covers your head in temples, your shoulders in the street and your face in blown dust; CLOSED SHOES you can slip off easily, since you will be barefoot repeatedly; A SPARE PAIR OF SOCKS for Karni Mata; HAND SANITISER; EYE DROPS for the dust; and A WATER PURIFICATION METHOD. Carry cash, though cards work in hotels and at the fort.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Bikaner
Emergency numbers: 112 is the single national emergency number and works from any phone. 100 reaches police directly, 108 ambulance and 101 fire. 1091 is the national women's helpline and 1098 the child helpline.
At the Karni Mata temple at Deshnoke you enter barefoot and the floor is where some twenty thousand venerated rats live. Socks are permitted and sensible, bites are rare but not unknown, anyone with an open foot wound should not enter, and you should wash thoroughly afterwards. IT IS A WORKING TEMPLE WITH A LARGE CONGREGATION and visitors who treat it as a spectacle are resented. DESERT HEAT ABOVE 42C FROM APRIL TO JUNE is a medical risk rather than discomfort: dawn and dusk only, with shade in between. WINTER NIGHTS FALL TOWARDS FREEZING in January and catch out visitors who packed for a desert. CAMEL RIDES ARE UNREGULATED: ask for a walk rather than a run. Dress covered, with a scarf for temples.
US State Department travel advisory: the India advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/india, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: the Sardar Patel Medical College and PBM Hospital in Bikaner is the largest facility in the region with a full emergency department, which makes this a better-covered city than most of desert Rajasthan. Dial 108 for an ambulance. Healthcare in the large Indian cities is genuinely good in the private hospitals and variable in the public ones, and the private sector expects payment or a direct insurance guarantee up front. Carry insurance with a high medical limit and repatriation cover, and carry proof of it. The commonest problem by far is not dramatic: it is stomach upset, so drink sealed bottled or filtered water, and be more careful with raw salad and cut fruit than with hot food cooked in front of you.
Official health authority: the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. covers the Rajasthan state health service
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in New Delhi.
Official tourism authority: Incredible India, the Ministry of Tourism's official site. publishes the Junagarh Fort and museum timings, the camel research centre visiting hours and the Camel Festival dates
Takeaways
Junagarh was never taken, so the painted interiors survive. Take the audio guide.
Karni Mata is barefoot and it is a temple. Wear socks and behave accordingly.
Pack a warm layer. January nights here approach freezing.
Walk the old city havelis. Almost nobody does.
Solo women safety assessment: Bikaner is easier for a woman alone than its better known neighbours, for the straightforward reason that it has less tourism: there is no tout economy of the kind that makes Jaipur and Agra wearing, and the attention a solo western woman attracts here is curiosity rather than commerce. It is conservative, so dress accordingly, shoulders and knees covered and a large scarf within reach; that single garment does more for comfort in Rajasthan than anything else in the bag. 112 IS THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY NUMBER, with 100 for police, 108 for an ambulance and 1091 the national women's helpline, and Bikaner has the best hospital in this part of the state. THE FCDO'S BORDER CLAUSE DESERVES A CAREFUL READ HERE RATHER THAN A GLANCE, because this is the one tier-21 destination where it is not simply academic: the FCDO ADVISES AGAINST ALL TRAVEL WITHIN 10KM OF THE INDIA-PAKISTAN BORDER and warns that THE BORDER IS UNMARKED IN SOME AREAS OF GUJARAT AND RAJASTHAN, so approaching it away from an official crossing could be dangerous and could mean entering Pakistan illegally. Bikaner city is roughly 150km back from the frontier and entirely outside that strip. The thing to watch is the excursion: a desert safari or camel trip sold in town is not measuring its distance from an international boundary on your behalf, so ask where you are going and keep the direction eastward or southward rather than west. THE REST IS CLIMATE AND CUSTOM. Heat above 42C between April and June is a genuine hazard and the answer is dawn and dusk; January nights approach freezing and the answer is the warm layer visitors forget to bring to a desert. And at Karni Mata you will be barefoot among rats: wear socks, keep your feet intact, wash afterwards, and remember it is somebody's temple rather than an attraction.
Reading On
Bikaner is northern Rajasthan and the desert cities run south and west from it. The Jaisalmer packing list covers the golden fort city deeper into the Thar and the Jodhpur packing list the blue city south, with the Jaipur packing list and Pushkar packing list for the east of the state. The Udaipur packing list and Chittorgarh packing list cover the lakes and the fort country of the south, and the Bharatpur packing list the wetland in the east. North, the Amritsar packing list and Chandigarh packing list cover Punjab, with the Delhi packing list for the capital. For the country the India travel guide for women and the India packing list carry the transport, the dress expectations and the practical material in full. For why wool handles dust, sweat and a cold desert night equally, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
