North India · Lake
Marble palaces mirrored in Lake Pichola beneath Aravalli hills
Best: Sep–Mar
Udaipur sits in a bowl of the Aravallis around lakes built by hand: Pichola, dug in 1362 by a banjara grain trader and enlarged by the Maharanas, then Fateh Sagar, Swaroop Sagar and Badi. When Udai Singh II abandoned Chittorgarh after the sieges, he built his new capital on Pichola's eastern shore, and the City Palace grew there over four centuries into a 244-metre facade of marble and granite, its Mor Chowk peacocks and Sheesh Mahal glasswork still intact. Mornings are best on the water: a boat from Rameshwar Ghat to Jag Mandir, where Shah Jahan sheltered as a prince, past the Lake Palace of 1746 that is now a Taj hotel.
The old city behind Jagdish Temple, with its 1651 spire and black stone Vishnu, is a tangle of miniature painters, silversmiths and rooftop cafes where you eat dal baati looking at the water. Late afternoon, drive up to Sajjangarh, the Monsoon Palace, for the view over the whole lake system, then come down for the Dharohar folk-dance show at Bagore ki Haveli at seven. Within an hour are Eklingji, the Mewar dynasty's family temple, and Nathdwara's Shrinathji shrine, where pichwai painting was born.
Udaipur is also the base for Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur, so give it more nights than you think.
Best Sep–Mar
September to March; the monsoon months of July and August fill the lakes and turn the hills green.
Give Udaipur 3 days and it repays the time; with fewer you are choosing between City Palace complex and the Crystal Gallery and Sunset boat ride on Lake Pichola to Jag Mandir. We build the hours around the weather — early starts when it is hot, long afternoons when it is not.
On the ground
The days we would actually plan for you, in the order that suits the light.
At the table
Non-vegRajasthan
A Rajput hunting-camp curry of mutton simmered with fistfuls of Mathania red chillies, yoghurt and browned garlic until the gravy runs deep red. It is fierce rather than sour, and is mopped up with bajra roti. Jodhpur and Udaipur kitchens still finish it with a live coal doused in ghee for smoke.
Getting there
Maharana Pratap Airport at Dabok is 22 km from the city; Udaipur City station has trains from Jaipur, Delhi and Ahmedabad; Jodhpur is 250 km by road.
Airport pickups, station transfers and the driver for the days here are all part of what we arrange — including the hour you should leave, which is usually earlier than you think.
Next door
Places that join Udaipur without a long drive — the way a real week is built.
FortRajasthan
Thirty-six kilometres of wall around Maharana Pratap's birthplace
TempleRajasthan
Fifteenth-century Jain temple of 1,444 carved marble pillars
FortRajasthan
Mewar's fortress of victory towers and three legendary sieges
Hill stationRajasthan
Rajasthan's only hill station, with Dilwara's marble Jain temples
2 journeys
10 days · 9 nightsEasy · Best Oct–Mar
Ten days from Jaipur's bazaars to the dunes and back to Lake Pichola
Route: Jaipur → Pushkar → Jodhpur → Jaisalmer +3 more
21 days · 20 nightsModerate · Best Nov–Feb
Three weeks down the whole length of India, Delhi to Chennai
Route: Delhi → Agra → Jaipur → Udaipur +6 more
From the journal
· Tips · 6 min
Everything we tell first-time travellers before they land: how many places to attempt, what a SIM card and a day of cash actually cost, how to eat street food safely, what to wear into a temple, and the four scams worth recognising.
Before you ask
Photograph of Udaipur: Geri from Biel/Bienne, Schweiz · CC BY-SA 2.0
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