Two hours from Jaipur, there’s a winter landscape in the middle of the heat. It took me years to go and look.
I’d bought a new compact video camera the day before. Kishangarh was supposed to be its first proper outing.
It didn’t last long. The heat and the glare got to it, and it overheated and gave up. Twenty-four hours old and already defeated by Rajasthan.
So, I carried on with my phone, squinting at a screen I could barely see. Everywhere I looked was white. The glare was like a Southern Alps snowfield at noon, with the thermostat stuck on 35.
Snow in Rajasthan? In 35-degree heat? Really?
The Place I Kept Putting Off
Jaipur has become something of a second home. Kishangarh is two hours down the road. I’d seen the photographs. I’d heard the nickname. And for years, I found reasons not to go.
I’ll happily travel halfway round the world for somewhere unusual. Two hours, it turns out, was a step too far.
Eventually, on a weekend trip to Pushkar, I stopped making excuses. My driver, Sanjay, and I added Kishangarh to the route. Sanjay had been before. He drives for a travel agency, so of course he had. My long-postponed adventure was an ordinary day at work for him.
Rajasthan’s Answer to Switzerland
Locals call it the Switzerland of Rajasthan. It sounds like something a tourism board dreamed up. Then you stand there, and it makes sense.
Others call it the Moonland of Rajasthan. I’ve never been to the moon, but I’d believe it.
White ridges and slopes run off in every direction. Turquoise pools lie in the hollows between them. Low hills line the horizon. It barely looks real.
None of it is snow.
Kishangarh is one of India’s great marble towns. Its workshops cut and polish stone all day. That leaves a by-product called marble slurry: water mixed with fine stone powder.
More than 1,200 processing units send their slurry here. Once discarded, the waste dries into fine white deposits, creating a snow-like landscape. So, it’s an industrial waste site. One that people now drive for hours to photograph.
Not quite the Swiss Alps, then. Considerably warmer, too.
Everyone Had the Same Idea
I’d hoped for a quiet morning. I arrived mid-morning on a Sunday, which didn’t help.
Couples were posing for pre-wedding shoots. Families were picking their way across the ridges. Influencers were filming themselves against the white. Local kids were there too.
Everyone had come for the same thing: the snow that isn’t.
The place took off as an attraction after the comedian Kapil Sharma shot a film sequence here in 2015. Social media did the rest. Entry is free, which doesn’t hurt.
Next time, I’ll go early. And I’ll pick a weekday.
The Less Photogenic Side
There’s another side to all this, and it doesn’t show up in the photographs. In December 2025, National Geographic reported on research around the site. It found fine dust levels at Kishangarh dumping yard far above World Health Organisation guidelines. It also found contaminated soil and groundwater nearby.
Residents and marble workers reported breathing, throat and skin problems. The main study is still under peer review. The Kishangarh Marble Association called the studies fake.
I can only tell you what I found. There wasn’t much dust on the day I went. But I was there for a morning. Other people live and work next to it every day.
None of that makes the place less striking. It just makes it more complicated. Go, but go with your eyes open and do your own research first.
If You Go
- Finding it: search for “Kishangarh dumping yard”, not just Kishangarh. Otherwise, you’ll end up in town.
- Getting there: about two hours by road from Jaipur, and about an hour from Pushkar. It’s an easy stop on the way.
- Timing: go early and avoid weekends if you can.
- Cost: entry is free. Themed photo shoots are charged at ₹5,100.
- Take: sunglasses, water and a hat. A mask is sensible if it’s dusty.
- Cameras: keep yours in the shade. Mine didn’t make it.
- The pools: look but stay out.
Heading further west? Read my West Rajasthan Cultural Tour: 8-Day Guide.
The Places We Keep Putting Off
I’ll travel a long way to find somewhere unusual. Kishangarh dumping yard was two hours from my second home, and it took me years. I’m glad I finally went. My camera is less convinced.
Is there somewhere close to home you keep meaning to get to? Tell me in the comments. Perhaps it’s time to stop putting it off.
