Beautiful palace - we got a guide from down below- who took us to the stepwell, and the fort itself - it’s worth it to do it… the government has mandated price lists so 1-4 people pay 400INR, this is great so you don’t get scalped…

The fort is gorgeous , such beautiful architecture - frescoes, carving styles, royal and majestic to look at… the government can make some furniture replicas to place to give the full effect- that would be awesome!

Walking into the large courtyard, there are tons of vendors that swarm you - this is not fun… makes for an irritating experience - due to wanting to show interest but then being aggressively sold the said item, you cannot just browse in peace and express interest because they don’t get you go away in peace…

The bathrooms were clean but smelly and didn’t have any soap to wash hands… so carry some paper soap if you need to use the restroom.. Lots of monkeys walking about everywhere , so be aware of food and drink as they can get aggressive and snatch from your hands, and hurt you in the process. Can be a nuisance if you’re not careful.

The fort itself is beautiful, but lots of missed opportunities- they could have made a photo Point marker at certain locations to bring out the best view point for picture or video capturing… they could have done furniture replicas to give a better impression- more write ups around the palace… the biggest missed opportunity is the sheesh mahal - it is a palace of mirrors.. our guide was shining a light from his phone to show the beauty, and it was gorgeous. I couldn’t see any lights anywhere, put some bulbs or yellowish lights to recreate the ambience! I’d love to see that effect.., it’s still great in the daytime, but will brighten the experience for sure.

Our tour was a bit of rush so walked through quickly without hanging out or take in views, but he was still good in explaining everything about the different rooms and all the history about the fort. We learnt a lot from Rahul. He was patient in answering our questions. And we couldn’t return back inside after his tour ended because his tour ended at the craft factory, that is a craft factory on crack!

Careful when you’re entering it as you can easily end up spending hours inside if you don’t have a proper list of items to buy and a budget- they literally have everything, and an answer to any question you may have—-

They have gorgeous carpets with free international shipping clothes, blankets, shawls and wraps, marble , brass, paintings, jewelry and more! It just keeps going on and on , the sales associates can get a bit aggressive and try to get you into their section even if you show a little interest. They offer free palm reading but I assume they’ll ask for some tip at the end of the ‘reading’. We were getting hungry and felt like it could take really long.

The main proprietor walks with you (the tour guide dropped us with him) to ensure you’re engaged and practically hands you over to each associate so you can feel a little trapped if you don’t have a good plan of action…

I’d say having an idea of what you want to get, like show me carpets in this price range, I’d like to pick up kurtas, some small gifts for friends in the budget of 1000INR , cotton blankets or anything with free shipping, and pashmina shawls, something like this, with specific budgets and be aware of the time so you don’t get sucked into it… things don’t have prices attached to them but the good thing is prices are fixed , it may be a bad thing to some? But there’s no negotiating… that’s why you have a budget so they’ll give you in that range. They have beautiful stuff for sure… if you know what you’d like to take home.

Even on the exit they tried to take us to the Taj Mahal replica ‘to appreciate the art’ and then begin hawking us more marble work and other wooden work 🧐🤦‍♀️ we hadn’t eaten in over 8-9 hours and just couldn’t wait to see the exit. lol

Guide can be good for amer fort but be aware of the ending, and if you want to skip the craft store and just hang out at the palace.