Monkey Temple, Jaipur

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10km out of Jaipur, Galta is a pilgrim spot. It is visited for its temples as the sage Galav is mean to have lived and meditated here. It really is a beautiful, beautiful place.

Monkey Temple - As you walk up to the entrance gates there are people selling bananas and the like for the monkeys. You really do not need to bother buying anything - there are ample monkeys inside to have to worry about enticing them... and frankly the macaques here have rather short tempers and large teeth so, in my humble oipinion, encouraging them and feeding them is not the best idea in the world!

Now I cannot actually remember if I had to pay an entrance fee and if I did I think it was nominal. I did however have to pay a "donation" which I seem to remember thinking was not too bad and looked upon it as an entrance fee! I did get asked for some more donations as I went around and got led to some of the holier temples/shrines... this side annoyed me.
However, my trip here was one of my highlights in India. I drank chai with the guru who then took me and my family underground, hit us over the head with peacock feather, rubbed lotus oil into the backs of our hands, marked our forehead, bound our wrist with string, mumbled words I couldn't understand and blessed us. I am not a religious person but it was a very nice experience. I wondered if all tourists received this treatment but having met other people who had also visited here, I was the only one.

I wish I could have spent a little longer here but it was the end of a very long day and I was aware my driver was probably bored, tired and hungry. If I ever return to Jaipur I will definitely revisit here.

Wow! This place is stunning-like a lost city in the middle of craggy hills. I couldnt stop staring and then you enter-its got pools of water, monkeys dipping inside the water, not swimming but bathing. People worshipping and the structure is magnificent. The drive here is from in between stunning monuments and palaces, all abandoned but I can picture the splendour.

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It is an ancient pilgrimage centre lying beyond the gardens amidst low hills.Temples, pavilions and holy kunds (natural spring and water tanks) along with lush landscape make it a delightful spot.The most charming it falls on the full moon of Kartik Purnima same time of Pushkar Fair in (November). Each year, there are many people coming to Galta from all over Rajasthan and other part of India for holy bath.
The small temple of the Sun God built by Diwan Kriparam on the top of the highest peak is a visible city landmark.
Camera Fee Rs 30 Video fee Rs 50.

The Monkey Temple, a.k.a “Galta” or the “temple of the Sun God”, is my favourite place in Jaipur, or even in the whole Rajasthan.
First of all because once I got there, there was no one tourist beside me!!! And this is really unbelievable..Considered that, this place is a very holy place for Hindu.
The way you gotta take to reach this place from Jaipur is pretty hard. First of all you gotta rent a Rickshaw which will take you on the base, then you gotta take a quiet deep hill and reach the top.
Along the way you will meet hundreds and hundreds oif monkeys, that’s way the name of the place...
Once you are on the top, you gotta take direction Monkey Temple (ask to the people you will meet along the way). Durign the way you will meet some holy places where you will meet a lot of Sadhu praying.
Then, to reach the Monkey temple, you gotta take a very deep downhill, which will take you with a 1,5Km walk to the main entrance.
The Monkey temple is a very big compex with a holy water, temples and buildings.
You will meet a lot of genlte people and a lot of Monkeys, too!
I didn’t pay any entry fee, so i do not know anything about that.

The several temples of the Monkey Temple complex are both beautiful and the scenes of intense devotion by Hindu celebrants.

Though hundreds of monkeys live on the grounds, this is not principally a site for the worship of Hanuman, the 'monkey god,' but of Ganesh, the 'elephant god.'

I wandered into one small temple where a Hindu priest was reciting some mantra. The moment he saw me he stopped -- and proceeded to show me the temple's treasures and objects of devotion. An extraordinary experience -- and one I would not expect to be matched in a Christian church of Muslim mosque.

The photograph was taken from a landing below the main temple. The complex is huge.

If you just can't get enough of monkeys, you shouldn't miss the Monkey temple (Galta Temple) It's in the east of Jaipur, behind the Sun Temple. It exists of some temples and three water bassins on top of on another. And a lot of monkeys take a swim in one of these bassins every day, a very nice view I can tell you! Here you can take the nicest pictures of monkeys. Someone told me that the best time to visit this temple; is before noon