Mount Abu is a town of about 22,000 on a plateau in the Aravalli hills at roughly 1,200 metres, and it is THE ONLY HILL STATION IN RAJASTHAN. It is where Gujaratis and Rajasthanis come to escape the heat, and it holds the DILWARA TEMPLES, five Jain temples of white marble carved so finely that the stone is translucent in places.
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What Is Here
DILWARA IS THE REASON TO COME AND THE RULES ARE STRICT. The five temples date from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, and the Vimal Vasahi and Luna Vasahi in particular are carved into lace: ceilings, pillars and lintels worked until the marble looks like something softer. PHOTOGRAPHY IS PROHIBITED INSIDE. Leather is not permitted, which includes belts, bags and watch straps. Shoes come off. Opening hours for non-Jain visitors are restricted to the afternoon, usually from about noon, with mornings reserved for worship, and menstruating women are asked not to enter, which is a rule of the trust rather than of the state and is worth knowing in advance rather than discovering at the door.
NAKKI LAKE IS THE CENTRE OF THE TOWN'S SOCIAL LIFE, a small lake with pedal boats, horses, an ice cream economy and Toad Rock on its shore. It is unpretentious and busy and it is where everyone walks in the evening.
The rock and lake landscape is the second image, and it is what the plateau looks like away from the bazaar: granite boulders, scrub and sudden water.
GURU SHIKHAR IS THE HIGHEST POINT IN RAJASTHAN at 1,722 metres, 15km from town, with a Vishnu temple and an observatory at the top. Sunset Point and Honeymoon Point are closer and much busier.
The Brahma Kumaris have their world headquarters here, which gives the town an unusual second population of spiritual visitors, and the Peace Park and Universal Peace Hall are open to anyone.
The Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary covers the plateau, with sloth bear, leopard and an enormous number of birds.
When to Go
October to March is the main season, with November to February the most comfortable.
April to June is when Mount Abu is busiest, not quietest, because it is the hill station the plains escape to: expect crowds, full hotels and higher prices exactly when the rest of Rajasthan empties.
July to September brings the monsoon, with mist, waterfalls and green hills, and is beautiful and wet.
Winter nights are cold and can approach freezing, and there is occasional frost. Rooms are often unheated.
Getting There
By train to Abu Road, 28km away and the nearest railhead, on the Delhi to Ahmedabad line, then a taxi or bus up the hill.
By road from Udaipur, about four hours; from Ahmedabad, roughly four and a half; from Jodhpur, five.
By air, Udaipur is the nearest at four hours.
The road up from Abu Road climbs in tight curves and is shared with buses, which is the usual hill-station arrangement.
Is Mount Abu Safe for Women?
Mount Abu is a domestic family resort and is among the safest places in Rajasthan for a visitor. 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.
The temple rules are the thing most likely to catch you out and they are listed above. Arriving in the morning, carrying a leather bag or expecting to photograph the interiors are all common and avoidable disappointments.
The hill road is the main physical risk, as with every Indian hill station: curves, buses, and drivers who have come a long way.
Sunset Point is extremely crowded at sunset and the ground near the edge is rock with limited barriers.
The sanctuary holds sloth bear and leopard, and walking the plateau trails at dusk alone is not sensible.
Alcohol is available here, unusually for Rajasthan, which changes the evening atmosphere around the lake at weekends.
The Mount Abu Packing List
A cool plateau: mild days, cold nights, unheated rooms and strict temples.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the right choice for a hill station where the temperature swing is large and the dress expectation is conservative: covered shoulders and arms are what you want at Dilwara and what you want at 6C after dark. A heavyweight merino base layer from November to February, because rooms here are unheated and the nights are genuinely cold.
A Columbia Powder Lite insulated hooded jacket for the evenings and Guru Shikhar, and a Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket for the monsoon.
Waterproof hiking shoes with Darn Tough merino socks, and note that you will take them off at every temple, so laces you can undo quickly matter more than usual.
A RAYMYLO insulated water bottle for the walks and the sanctuary trails.
Not linked and worth packing: A LARGE SCARF for the temples; A NON-LEATHER BAG AND BELT, which is the single most useful preparation for Dilwara; SOCKS you are happy to walk in, since the marble is cold underfoot; A TORCH; and CASH for the temples, the boats and the taxis. Antimalarials are unnecessary at this altitude but repellent is useful in the monsoon.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Mount Abu
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.
The Dilwara temple rules will catch out an unprepared visitor and they are worth reading before you set off. Photography is prohibited inside. LEATHER IS NOT PERMITTED, including belts, bags and watch straps. Shoes come off. Non-Jain visitors are generally admitted only in the afternoon, usually from about noon, with mornings reserved for worship. Menstruating women are asked not to enter, which is a rule of the temple trust rather than of the state. THE HILL ROAD FROM ABU ROAD climbs in tight curves shared with buses. SUNSET POINT IS VERY CROWDED at sunset with limited barriers on rock. THE SANCTUARY HOLDS SLOTH BEAR AND LEOPARD, so the plateau trails at dusk are not for walking alone. APRIL TO JUNE IS THE BUSY SEASON HERE, the opposite of the rest of Rajasthan. Winter nights approach freezing in unheated rooms.
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: Mount Abu has a civil hospital for routine and emergency care, with larger facilities at Abu Road and Palanpur, and Udaipur or Ahmedabad about four hours away for anything complex. 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 Dilwara visiting hours for non-Jain visitors, which are restricted, and the Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary arrangements
Takeaways
Dilwara opens to visitors in the afternoon. No photographs, no leather.
Busiest in April to June, when the plains come up to escape the heat.
Winter nights approach freezing, in rooms with no heating.
Walk Nakki Lake in the evening. That is the town being itself.
Solo women safety assessment: Mount Abu is among the most comfortable places in Rajasthan for a woman travelling alone, and the reason is who else is there: it is a domestic family resort, not an international one, so the evening promenade around Nakki Lake is couples, grandparents and children, and the Brahma Kumaris headquarters adds a large and orderly population of spiritual visitors including many women travelling independently. The usual Indian practice is enough, dressed covered and brief with unwanted conversation, and the hassle level is markedly lower than in Jaipur or Agra. 112 IS THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY NUMBER, with 100 for police, 108 for an ambulance and 1091 the national women's helpline, and the town has a civil hospital. THE FCDO'S INDIAN PROHIBITIONS ARE ALL ELSEWHERE, in Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and the Naxalite states, and the 10km India-Pakistan border strip is far to the north west of the Aravallis. THE THING MOST LIKELY TO AFFECT YOUR DAY IS NOT RISK BUT RULES, and the Dilwara temples are strict in ways that surprise people: non-Jain visitors are admitted only in the afternoon, photography inside is prohibited, no leather of any kind is allowed past the gate including a belt or a watch strap, and the temple trust asks menstruating women not to enter. That last is a private matter and a visitor is not interrogated, but it is better to know the rule exists than to meet it unprepared. Bring a non-leather bag and you have solved most of it. THE PHYSICAL RISKS ARE ORDINARY HILL-STATION ONES: the road up from Abu Road is tight and shared with buses, Sunset Point is a crowded rock edge with limited barriers, and the surrounding sanctuary holds sloth bear and leopard, so the plateau trails are for daylight and company rather than a solo dusk walk. And the counterintuitive seasonal point: this is the one place in Rajasthan that is fullest in May, because it is where everyone else goes to get cool.
Reading On
Mount Abu is the Aravallis and southern Rajasthan is below it. The Udaipur packing list covers the lake city four hours away and the Kumbhalgarh packing list the great wall fort, with the Chittorgarh packing list for the older Mewar capital. North, the Jodhpur packing list, Jaisalmer packing list and Bikaner packing list cover the desert and the Jaipur packing list and Pushkar packing list the east. South, the Ahmedabad packing list and Diu packing list cover Gujarat, with the Mumbai packing list further on. 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 one wool layer suits a strict temple and a cold night, 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.
