Makar Sankranti: each year, devotees take a ritual dip in the holy water pool at Galtaji. This interesting religious event has also evolved into another of Jaipur’s massive kite-flying extravaganzas, filling the skies with colour on this holy day.

Harvest Festival: also commonly known as the Kite Festival, this wonderful event sees the skies above Jaipur filled with colourful kites, especially around the City Palace, to celebrate the annual harvest.

Elephant Festival: during the colour-splashing celebration of Holi, Jaipur holds an impressive procession of elephants dressed in full regalia and tromping through the city towards the City Palace amid clanging cymbals and the beat of drums. Elephant polo and tug-of-war matches are also big highlights.

Gangaur: this festival finds the women of Jaipur praying to the goddess Parvati that they will either find a good husband, or that their existing husband (if he’s good) will live a long life. An elephant procession to Gangaur Temple is the highlight.

Summer Festival: Mount Abu is the location for this all-around celebration to mark the coming summer season. Events range from cultural performances to eating, drinking, dancing and music amid a lovely natural setting.

Teej: marking the onset of the monsoon, Jaipur’s women put on their most colourful outfits, swing from trees, and generally flirt with available men. A combination of matchmaking for the young and thankfulness that it’s going to rain, come together in a very joyous frivolous festival.

Rakhi: this interesting annual festival is all about the celebration of the love between brothers and sisters. Even if you’re not related to an Indian, you will feel the love and good spirits flowing around Jaipur during this family-oriented event.

Ganesh Jayanti: celebrating the elephant god Ganesh, this important Hindu event sees any temple dedicated to Ganesh come alive with processions, rituals and other spectacles. Naturally, live elephants also figure largely in this event.

Donkey Fair: thousands of donkeys come to Jaipur from all over Rajastan for this traditional buying and selling fair. To keep things entertaining, there are also lots of hilarious events like donkey races and other sporting events.

Diwali: the ‘Festival of Lights’ as it’s also known, is celebrated throughout India as the Hindu New Year, but in the Pink City it is particularly special as the old forts and palaces are lit up at night with an unparalleled ambience.

Winter Festival: neighbouring Mount Abu is once again the site of an annual winter festival that celebrates the peak of the temperate season in Rajastan. Plenty of fun events and performances are planned to enjoy the perfect weather that everyone has been waiting for all year.