Camel Festival: beginning with a colourful procession of camels walking through Junagarh Fort, this fascinating festival is all about the camel. From the best-decorated camel to the fastest camel, there are some really interesting events backed up by cultural performances from the humans.

Desert Festival: one of Rajasthan’s most popular and festive events draws visitors from all around the globe to Jaisalmer each year to enjoy the traditional arts and crafts of Rajasthan. The backdrop of Sam Dunes is an added bonus to the wonderful display of dancing, singing and music.

Elephant Festival: held in conjunction with the Hindu celebration of Holi, this popular festival puts Rajasthan’s finest elephants on display to showcase their skills, talents and charisma. With the colourful Holi festival chiming in, this is one event that should not be missed.

Holi: this hugely popular traditional Hindu festival runs for 9 days to welcome the coming spring with dances, singing and other special rituals.

Gangaur: this festival is perhaps the most important traditional celebration in Rajasthan. It is done all over the region, but Jaisalmer puts on a particularly good show with two weeks of cultural performances and rituals. This colourful festival is also the traditional time for young men and women from different tribes to freely interact.

Vat Pournima: a traditional Hindu festival popular with the romantics, this fun and light-hearted event celebrates the full moon and marks a time when women tie strings around a banyan tree to pray for prosperity for their husbands or future husbands.

Rath Yantra: another of Hinduism’s festivals to honour their deities, this event celebrates the life of Jagannath with several days of colourful processions and interesting rituals at his temples.

Independence Day: one of India’s national holidays is celebrated with less fanfare than in other cities, but still puts on good display of fireworks and civic parades.

Krishna Janmaashtami: this ancient celebration honouring the birthday of Lord Krishna is a big event throughout India, including Jaisalmer, where special events and rituals fill his temples throughout the event.

Ganesh Chaturthi: the birthday of Ganesh is also a very popular event in the Hindu calendar, and in Jaisalmer the local temples dedicated to the elephant god come alive with non-stop processions and religious ceremonies.

Gandhi Jayanti: also known as the birthday of the father of the nation of India, this national holiday receives a fair amount of attention in Jaisalmer with the usual processions and civic displays of national pride.

Pushkar Fair: blending religion with culture, this traditional fair runs for 5 days as thousands of devotees make the pilgrimage to its sacred lake for a ritual dip. Various cultural and sports events are also scheduled, including numerous camel-based activities such as the camel beauty contest, camel races and dances. It’s truly an event to behold.

Diwali: Hinduism’s Festival of Lights is one of the most amazing events in the world. The entire city of Jaisalmer blazes into life after dark as each house puts an oil lamp outside. Cultural events usually coincide with this holiday, but simply being in Jaisalmer during this festival is fun enough.