Jaisalmer's railway station is 2km east of the city. Overeager touts, hoping to entice you onto a shoddy and overpriced camel safari, accost arriving passengers with offers of free Jeep taxi services and low rents at their hotels. To sidestep, walk or pay Rs10 to get into town by auto-rickshaw and choose a hotel yourself. Arriving at the RSRTC bus stand nearby, you will not be met with quite such a gauntlet of touts, rickshaw-wallahs and commission agents; the private bus stand by Amar Sagar Pole in the west of town is within easy walking distance of most accommodation. There are bike rental shops in the main street, and opposite Fort View Hotel .

 

RTDC's tourist office (Mon-Sat 8am-6pm; tel 02922/52406) is inconveniently situated southeast of town not far from Gadi Sagar Pole. The Head Post Office , with poste restante, is west of town, 100m south of the private bus stand; a more convenient office stands shaded by a huge banyan tree in Gopa Chowk in the centre. Banks are concentrated on Gandhi Chowk; the Bank of Baroda changes cash and travellers' cheques, as does the State Bank of India, inside the courtyard of Nachana Haveli .