Udaipur: Places in the City

Udaipur has always been a popular tourist destination in India. It is in the northern state of Rajasthan in India and is also known as the City of Lakes. There are many things to do in Udaipur and we had a long list of places to visit and food to eat. In this post I want to list a few places that we enjoyed in the city. A few things that I would recommend for anyone are:

1. Staying in the city center and walking around feels great. Only rickshaws are allowed in the old city center near Lake Pichola, City Palace, Bagore ki Haveli and many lovely restaurants.
2. Rickshaws don't charge according to meter, so haggling and agreeing on a price before starting the journey is important.
3. If you can splurge, spend a night in one of the royal palace/haveli turned hotels.
4. You don't really need a rental car to get to most places. But, will need it for some of the far away places such as Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur Jain temple. 

City Palace: City Palace is by far the most popular attraction in Udaipur. I enjoyed this place for its royal ambience and architecture. However, it was extremely crowded. So, getting here early helps. It also helps if you visit on a weekday. There are several museums and smaller palaces in the palace (it's huge! of course!!) and you can also do a boat tour on Lake Pichola from here. More on the boat tour a bit later.

I liked that they had fixed rate for guides. Once you buy the tickets for the palace, there is a short walk up to the entrance. There is another ticket window here where you can pay for the guide. There is also an audio tour option. I would recommend going for some form of a guided tour, as there is a lot of history to this place. As much as I would like to support the local tour guides, they seem to be in a rush and wanting to move on to the next client. For this reason, I prefer audio tours. You can walk at your own pace and enjoy the surroundings. The advantage of a guide is that he (I didn't see any women guides) will take your pictures :-)

There is a lot of walking involved at City Palace. The palace is beautiful and so are all the artifacts in there. But some places certainly need to be touched up. And you don't have access to all the areas in the palace. There are exhibits of silver artifacts, armors, paintings, jewelry, etc. We had lunch at Sunset Terrace restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed the Lal Maas and beautiful views of Lake Pichola.

City Palace Entrance

My favorite room in the palace. Loved the colors, the arches, the swing, the windows and the low seating in the window

Taj Lake Palace as seen from Sunset Terrace Restaurant

Boat ride on Lake Pichola: Once inside City Palace, you can take a boat ride on Lake Pichola. This ride will drop you off at Jagmandir island and let you explore Jag Mandir Island Palace. The palace has a small museum and beautiful gardens to walk around. It also has bar/cafe, where you can buy drinks and enjoy them on the palace grounds. Once done, you can hop onto another boat and head back to City Palace. The sunset boat tour is more expensive than the day tour. The tour from City Palace is also the only one that will stop at Jag Mandir Island Palace. We took the sunset boat tour and it was nice. However, given the price of the sunset boat tour, this is not high on my list. There are cheaper boat tours that you can take from Lal Ghaat during sunset. These will not stop at Jag Mandir, but quite honestly I did not find Jag Mandir extra ordinary. Especially after spending the whole day at City Palace, this feels like more of the same and actually anti-climactic. The sunset from Ambrai Ghaat on the other hand is stunning and we ended up going here multiple times. There are also many beautiful lake front and rooftop restaurants that you can go to. We enjoyed Ambrai and Upre. I recommend having drinks at any of these restaurants around sunset time. The view is beautiful and it is easier to find seating. Reservations are must for dinner.

Sunset View from Jag Mandir Island Palace

Bagore ki Haveli on Lake Pichola

Bagore Ki Haveli: Bagore ki Haveli is an older haveli turned into a museum. It sits on lake Pichola at Gangaur Ghat. The museum has interesting exhibits on puppets, turbans, ceremonies and rituals in India, etc. The haveli itself is beautiful to walk around. You can easily spend a couple of hours here. Bagore ki Haveli is most popular for the performance show, Dharohar, that it hosts in the evenings. This I believe is a must-do on your trip to Udaipur. The show has song and dance performances from different regions in Rajasthan and is quite enjoyable. There are a few things to know before visiting this place:

1. The museum closes at 5 pm. So, be sure to give yourself at least 2 hours to enjoy the exhibits.
2. If possible, buy show tickets in advance on the day of the show. Line for tickets starts forming more than an hour before the show, but if you have the tickets, you can come closer to the show time and get in quickly.
3. If the demand is high, they will have another show on the same day. But if you are at the back of the line, this means you will spend quite some time waiting for the first show to be done. And you don't want to leave your spot in the line.
4. Seating is tricky. If you sit in the very front, you have to fold your legs and sit. You can watch the performances up close, which is great, but cannot get good pictures from that close proximity.
5. If you sit on the benches (even those in the very front), you get people's heads in your photos. It is also hard to see the dancers as they lie down on the floor, which they will do and it's pretty amazing to see what they do. 
6. They charge for taking photos and I am not so sure if it was worth paying. S got some decent shots, but I would recommend just enjoy the show and don't worry too much about the photos.

Traditional Ghoomar dance 

Saheliyon ki Bari: This is a beautiful garden in the city consisting of lush green lawns, fountains, lotus pond and marble art. It was built by Maharana Sangram Singh for his queen and her maids. At the entrance of the garden, the pathway is lined with fountains that sprinkle when the garden doors open. There are tour guides available at this garden, but you could easily, just walk around on your own and enjoy the beauty of this place.

Sajjangarh: Sajjangarh or Monsoon Palace is a castle that is built on the top of a hill. The fort was being restored by the government when we visited. The views from this palace are worth the trip. Sunset is a good time to be here and monsoons are especially beautiful.

Shilpgram: This artisan's village is a huge complex and depicts lifestyle, arts and crafts of different villages in India. The complex has houses from different regions in India and has song and dance performances. We enjoyed watching the cultural performances and bought a few souvenirs here.

Vintage Car Museum: If you are into vintage cars, then this is a decent one to go to. But considering the price, the small collection and the condition of the cars, this was a huge miss for me. I have been to some museums outside of India and seen huge collections of shiny vintage cars. So, this did not impress me. But I am sure that there are many vintage car fans, who would love this exhibit.

Fateh Sagar Lake: This is another popular lake in the city where you can try some street food, walk around the lake and even take a boat tour. This was a miss according to me. There is a pretty nice lake front restaurant here, called Jhumar that I liked. And the sunset was pretty too. But, overall, I think it could be skipped, if time was limited.

Food: No travel post can be complete without mentioning food. And Udaipur has some great options. We tried several items, including Ker Sangri. My favorite was Lal Maas, especially the one at Sunset Terrace. We enjoyed a traditional dal-bati churma thali at the famous Krishna Dal Bati restaurant. Another favorite place was Jodhpur Mishthan Bhandar. Their Ghevar was to die for. Plus they also had a chaat thela in the store where we enjoyed kachoris and other chaat.

Shopping: No trip to India can also be considered complete without shopping. We roamed around a few markets quite a bit (check out this list) and enjoyed walking around Hathipol market. I ended up buying a couple of sarees, including a local favorite Bandhani. Bandhani dupatttas (scarf/stole) make for great gifts and I got a few to give away. In addition to sarees, you can also buy some great jewelry and handicraft items. I also enjoyed walking in the old city and window shopping at art galleries. We saw several stunning pieces of art there. Got this organic henna done from a lady in the old city center.

There are tons of places to see in the city of Udaipur. My favorites were City Palace and Saheliyon ki Bari. I also loved the Dharohar show. These are the highlights of the city. Some of my other favorites were places outside the city that I will share in a different post. If you don't want to rent a car and just spend a few days in the city, you have lots of options.