Two nights is enough for the fort, the blue lanes and Jaswant Thada; a third gets you out to the Bishnoi villages and the step-well at Toorji, and leaves an afternoon for the clock-tower market, which is the best spice market in Rajasthan and the least staged.

The hotels are the reason many guests stay longer. The palace on the hill is one of the largest private residences in the world and works as a hotel; below it are converted havelis on the ramparts where the room is small and the rooftop view is the whole point. We will say plainly which is which.

Jodhpur also works as the hinge of a Rajasthan route - five and a half hours from Jaipur, five from Udaipur, five to Jaisalmer. Placed in the middle, it breaks the driving; placed at the end, it tends to feel like an afterthought.