First of all, apologies for being MIA for a few weeks now. Things got busy at work and personal life so couldn’t get to writing and the city I chose to cover in this blog post was very overwhelming. I didn’t realize how much work it is to come up with a post every week. Now that I am finally getting back to the routine of writing, here is the second city I visited with my friends Josh and Vincent during my February trip to India this year – Udaipur (Oh btw, I think February is a great time to visit Udaipur as we got to experience mild winters).

I have been obsessed with Udaipur ever since I saw Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (a must- watch Bollywood movie if you ask me J). Although the city was covered very well in the 13^thJames Bond film, Octopussy, it was during Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani that I fell in love with the city.Known for its lakes and palaces, Udaipur definitely sets up a romantic backdrop for many Bollywood movies. Other famous movies that have been shot here include Guide, Khuda Gawah, Yaadien, Eklavya, Ramleela, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and the best Exotic Marigold hotel. If you are a Bollywood fan boy like me, you will remember many scenes from the movies as you make your way through this city.

How long to stay

Since we had decided to cover Jodhpur and Udaipur over the course of 5 days, we ended up spending 2 full days in Udaipur. I would say 2 days can be overwhelming to see all that Udaipur has to offer so definitely make sure you make a 3-day trip. However, if you are city hopping your way through Rajasthan, you should be able to see what the city has to offer in just 2 days.

Getting there and Getting around

We had rented a private cab to drive us from Jodhpur to Udaipur. There are bunch of apps in India which will hook you up with a cab and a driver for one-way travel between cities. I think our trip costed us Rs. 4000. I would say it was a great price since we got to sleep on our way there and were fully recharged for a busy day of sightseeing. If you want to fly, there is an airport that serves multiple flights to Delhi and Mumbai. They also have occasional flights from Jaipur and Chennai. Your other options to get to Udaipur will be via train or bus.

It is possible to walk your way through the narrow alleyways in the old city and see many of the attractions by foot. If you are tired and don’t want to walk, order an autorickshaw/tuk-tuk using Ola app. It shouldn’t cost you more than Rs. 50-100 anywhere in the city. Only if you are planning to visit the Monsoon palace, you would need a cab. Also, an Uber/Ola ride from airport to the city center will set you back by Rs. 300-350.

Where to stay

The city offers wide range of accommodation options and you can find hotels in any categories depending on your budget. There are a lot of boutique hotels near the city center that are facing Lake Pichola. Just like Jodhpur, a lot of these boutique hotels were mini palaces that are now converted into hotels. If you are okay with spending a little more than the usual, I would highly recommend staying at one of the luxury heritage hotels in the city. These 5 stars hotels in Udaipur are unlike any other you will ever experience in the world. Some of the popular ones are: The Leela Palace, Oberoi Udaivillas, Shiv Niwas Palace and the iconic Taj Lake Palace. Taj Lake Palace is only open to paying guests so if you want to check out the property you will have to book your stay there. We stayed at the Golden Tulip Udaipur and it costed us Rs. 10620 (~ $166.34) for 3 people for 2 nights.

I want to draw special attention to 3 really popular luxury hotels that are definitely worth visiting or staying in:

Taj Lake Palace

Okay, first thing first, there is no way to access this hotel unless you have booked reservation for a stay there. Since this is in the middle of the lake, the only to get here is using their private boat/jetty service. They only come to pick you up if you have a room booked with them. I tried many times to get a dining reservation as a way to get to explore the property but they said they can’t make meal reservations for non-guests. If you do managed to get in to the hotel, please share your experience.

The Leela Palace

One of most recent palaces that was built as a hotel, the Leela Palace Udaipur lives up to the hype. Since we didn’t have much time, we weren’t able to go there for a meal and try their dining. However, we did manage to go grab some cocktails to explore the property. If you can’t afford to spend $$$ on the room, then definitely go grab for a meal or a drink. You will have to make a reservation for food as well. Just like the Taj, they have a ferry to pick you up from the city since the main entrance for Leela is on the lake.

The Oberoi Udaivilas

Unfortunately, I don’t have photos of it in my camera. When I ended up visiting it, I forgot to put batteries in my camera (facepalm) and left them at my hotel room itself. Usually, you will be able to find a meal reservation even if you are a non-guest but this wasn’t the case for us. Since we were visiting during the peak travel season, they were sold out and couldn’t entertain non-staying guests. However, after various calls begging them to let us come in for a meal before we leave the city, they let us come in for coffee and a tour of the property. I have to say the overpriced coffee was worth the property tour. Since Yeh Jawaani hai deewani’s wedding sequence was entirely shot here, I could remember the various scenes while walking by different areas of the hotels. I will try to post photos I took my from phone on Instagram so be sure to look out or those.

What to buy

Udaipur is famous for the miniature paintings inspired the style of Mughals and Rajputs. If you are planning to buy anything, these paintings should be on the top of your list. You can find them for as little as Rs. 100 and they make for perfect souvenir or gifts. It is highly unlikely that you will find them elsewhere in India so if you are keen on buying them make sure to check out the shops outside the city palace. Although you will find a good collection of them at the City Palace Museum Shop, you will also end up paying a premium if you end up buying there.

What to see or do

There is so much to see in Udaipur from heritage hotels, palaces, gardens to lakes. In fact, a lot of attractions in Udaipur are around the two lakes: Lake Pichola or Fateh Sagar Lake. You can dedicate a day to each lake and try to cover the attractions surrounding it. One thing to note is that the prices of all the attractions in Udaipur are more than what you would usually find anywhere else in India.

Lake Pichola 

It’s an artificial fresh water lake with several islands within the lake. The iconic Lake palace (now a converted into a heritage hotel and run by the Taj group) is located in the center. It is only accessible to the paid hotel guests. There are 2 other islands in the lake: Jag Mandir and Jag Niwas. Both these islands can be accessed by boats. I would recommend going for a boat tour of the lake. You can find tickets for it from the city palace complex and it will allow you to hop off and back on at Jag Mandir and Jag Niwas islands.

City Palace

To say that this is just a palace would be lying. It’s more of a complex containing many palaces, museums, and gardens and is perhaps the most the beautiful structure in Rajasthan. Throughout the complex you will see influence of Rajasthani, Mughal, Medieval, European and Chinese architecture in this granite and marble masterpiece. The interior of the palace boasts of delicate mirror work, marble work, murals, silver work, wall paintings and colored glass mosaics. I would highly recommend getting an audio guide to explore the palace since that will give you a good idea about the history that took place here.

Just like the Mehrangarh fort, I will try to cover the important units within the complex that you shouldn’t miss:

• Amar Vilas: It is the highest point in the palace. Amar Vilas houses various hanging gardens with fountains, towers and terraces. Its cusped arcades enclose a square marble pool. 
• Badi Mahal/Garden Palace: The exotic central garden palace is a pleasure pavilion built in Mughal Style.
• Durbar Hall: Located inside the Fatehprakash palace, this hall with luxurious interiors and extraordinarily large chandeliers was used by royal ladies to observe the court proceedings. On display here are Maharana portraits and weapons. 
• Fatehprakash Palace: This has now been converted into a heritage luxury hotel with access to only paying guests. However, it has a crystal gallery that you can see after you buy tickets. This was probably my favorite part of the palace as it had things made of crystal I couldn’t even imagine were possible like crystal furniture including chairs, dressing tables, beds, sofas and tables.
• Krishna Vilas: It’s one of the other chambers in Fatehprakash palace that is open to public. It houses collection of miniature paintings that display royal processions, festivals and games of Maharanas. 
• Manak Mahal: This is the raised alcove inlaid completely in mirrored glass.
• Mor Chowk/Peacock Square: This chamber consists of pillared hall with glass and mirror mosaic decorations modelling 3 peacocks representing the 3 seasons (Summer, Monsoon and Winter) in high relief built into the successive niches in the wall area. The details with which 5000 pieces of glass that shine gold, green and blue are used to create these peacocks is impeccable.
• Rang Bhawan: Originally, the place where all the royal treasures were stored, now contains temple of Lord Krishna, Meerabai and Shiva.
• Sheesh mahal/Palace of Glasses and Mirrors: One of the oldest part of the palace, this Sheesh mahal gives the ones in Jodhpur a run for its money. 
• Zenana Mahal/Women’s Palace: Now converted to a museum, this wing has exquisitely designed alcoves, balconies, painted windows, tiled floors and walls. 

Jag Mandir

Also knows as “Lake Garden Palace”, it is a palace built on one of the main islands in Lake Pichola. This was used as a summer resort by the royal family and a pleasure palace for holding parties. Today, it can only be approached by boat from the Bansi ghat next to the Lake palace.

Jagdish Temple

It is hard to miss this temple if you enter or leave the city palace using its north gate. This Indo-Aryan architecture style temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and has become an iconic landmark of the city.

Bagore ki Haweli

This 18^thcentury mansion situated next to the City palace on the waterfront of Lake Pichola now serves as a museum. There are many rooms dedicated to displays of costumes and a large and exquisite collection of Mewar paintings, glassworks and other art pieces. Although we couldn’t witness it first hand, they do have an hour-long Rajasthani folk dance and marionette puppet show which includes live music with local instruments every evening around 7 pm. I think it costs Rs. 100 per person and there in an extra fee for camera.

Fateh Sagar Lake

Another artificial lake created in the city with 3 islands within the lake that houses the observatory and Nehru Garden. We managed to get a boat tour of the lake.

Udaipur Solar Observatory

This is located on an island in the Fateh Sagar lake and is supposed to be Asia’s largest observatory. Unfortunately, we were not able to visit it as it was closed during our stay.

Nehru Garden 

It is located in the middle of Fateh Sagar lake and has a flower garden and a Lily pond. Unfortunately, it was closed for public since they didn’t have any boat/ferry services running to take the visitors to the garden.

Sukhadia Circle 

To be honest with you, I was very disappointed with the circle when I visited it during the day. It’s a large roundabout with the centerpiece being a large 3-tiered fountain with scalloped dishes surmounted by a wheatear motif which symbolizes prosperity. I have heard it gets illuminated at night so maybe it worth visiting then?

Saheliyon ki Bari

This roughly translates to Garden of the maids. Build originally for group of 48 young women attendants who followed a princess to Udaipur as a part of her dowry, this is now open to public. The garden area comprises of fountains, kiosks, a lotus pool and marble elephants.

Puppet Museum 

There is a museum in the city that is dedicated to puppets which is worth a visit. These puppets are traditionally Rajasthani puppet but they also have a collection of puppets from all the world.

Monsoon Palace 

Sajjan Garh Palace or Monsoon Palace is a hilltop palatial residence of the royal family overlooking Fateh Sagar Lake and giving panoramic views of city’s palaces, lakes and countryside. Since it was built primarily to watch for monsoon clouds, it got popular as “Monsoon Palace”.  You will have to get a taxi to get here since it is way far from all the other attractions. I would recommend getting here early in the evening so you can see the beautiful sunset happen.

What to eat

Just like accommodations, Udaipur has varied options available when it comes to food. You can indulge in a feast like a Maharajah at many of these heritage hotels’ restaurants or go for a low-key meal around the old city area. No matter where you eat, be sure to try the local delicacies of the region:

• Dal Baati Churma

  It essentially is a meal in itself. Dal is lentils/gram curry, Baati is kind of hard wheat rolls and Churma is a sweet served alongside.

• Gatte ki Sabzi

  Gram flour dumpling in a vegetable curry.

Here are some of the places we managed to try out during our short stay:

• Ambrai at Amet Haveli Hotel

I am not sure if it is the location or the food that makes it a favorite in the city. It is situated at the lake-side level of Lake Pichola and you get an amazing view of the City Palace while you dine. I would highly recommend making reservations early on otherwise you can spend quite some time waiting for a table.

• Sunset Terrace at Fatehprakash Palace hotel

 This open-air restaurant located at the heart of the city palace complex is a perfect place to grab a drink and watch sunset over Lake Pichola.

Overall, I was very pleased with this short trip to Udaipur. It definitely made it to my top 3 favorite places in India. Now, all I want to do is to attend a fancy destination wedding here in one of the heritage luxury hotels. Hint, hint, hint to all my friends and cousins getting married 😉