Udaipur Travel Guide: Lakes, Palaces and Planning Your Days

The old city and the City Palace line the eastern shore of Lake Pichola; Fateh Sagar lies to the north, joined to Pichola by a canal, with Saheliyon ki Bari below its embankment. Sajjangarh and Shilpgram sit just outside the city. Every trip we run here, tours and experiences together, is on our Udaipur tours and experiences page.

City Palace

Begun by Maharana Udai Singh II and enlarged by the rulers who followed him, the City Palace is a run of courtyards, pavilions, terraces and hanging gardens above the lake. The main way in is the Tripolia, a triple-arched gate, and the Mor Chowk courtyard is known for its peacocks in glass mosaic. The royal family still lives in one part; the museum, which the Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation administers, opened in 1969 and shows paintings, textiles and silver. Tickets are sold at the Badi Pol and Shitla Mata gates or online, and flash photography is not allowed in the galleries.

Lake Pichola

The lake takes its name from Picholi, a village that went under its water. Incredible India dates the first dam here to 1362; Maharana Udai Singh II later enlarged the lake and built his new capital on its shore. On its islands stand Jag Mandir, built between 1620 and about 1652, where Prince Khurram sheltered before he became Emperor Shah Jahan, and Jag Niwas, the summer palace of 1743 to 1746 that now operates as the Lake Palace hotel; non-guests generally see it only from the water. Rajasthan Tourism suggests a boat ride around sunset for the view of the City Palace on the eastern bank.

Jagdish Temple

Maharana Jagat Singh I built this temple to Vishnu, worshipped here as Jagannath, in 1651. A flight of 32 marble steps, guarded by two stone elephants, climbs to a three-storey shrine in the Indo-Aryan style, with carved pillars, painted ceilings and walls, and a black stone image of Vishnu in the sanctum. It stands in the old city beside the City Palace, so the two fit into one morning. Incredible India lists the temple as shut from 1 pm to 5 pm, so come early or for the evening aarti.

Bagore ki Haveli

Amar Chand Badwa, a prime minister of Mewar, built this haveli on Lake Pichola at Gangaur Ghat in the 18th century, and Maharaj Shakti Singh of Bagore added its triple-arched gateway in 1878. Its hundred-plus rooms now hold a museum of costumes, jewellery, paintings and manuscripts. In the evening, its Neem Chowk courtyard hosts Dharohar, a programme of Rajasthani folk dance and music; a ticket for the show does not cover the museum, and seats go to whoever arrives first.

Fateh Sagar Lake and Moti Magri

Fateh Sagar was first built in 1678 under Maharana Jai Singh and later enlarged and renamed by Maharana Fateh Singh; the Duke of Connaught inaugurated it, and it was first called Connaught Bundh. Boats cross to Nehru Park, the largest of its three islands, and another island holds the Udaipur Solar Observatory. Above the shore, Moti Magri hill carries a bronze statue of Maharana Pratap on Chetak, the horse that carried him to safety from the battlefield of Haldighati.

Saheliyon ki Bari

Maharana Sangram Singh II laid out the Garden of the Maidens for the women of the court in the 18th century. It lies in the north of the city, just below the Fateh Sagar embankment, and its fountains are still fed by gravity from the lake rather than by pumps. Marble elephants, kiosks and a lotus pool line the paths, and a small museum displays royal household objects. Being next to Fateh Sagar, the garden and the lake make an easy half-day together.

Sajjangarh (Monsoon Palace)

Maharana Sajjan Singh built this 19th-century palace on the Bansdara hills just outside the city as a monsoon retreat and hunting lodge, and planned to make it an astronomical centre for watching the monsoon clouds; the plan ended with his early death. It now holds a museum and looks out over the city, its lakes and the Aravallis. A wildlife sanctuary surrounds the palace, with the Sajjangarh Biological Park at the foot of the hills, and if you drive up in your own vehicle, the vehicle needs its own ticket.

Shilpgram

This 70-acre rural arts and crafts complex, surrounded by the Aravalli hills, lies west of the city near Fateh Sagar. Traditional huts from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa show the building styles and crafts of India's west zone, alongside museums of rural and tribal objects, a crafts bazaar and an open-air amphitheatre. The Shilpgram festival fills the last ten days of December with crafts, folk music and dance.

Ahar and Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal

At Ahar, a cluster of cenotaphs of the Maharanas of Mewar stands beside the small Ahar Museum, whose pottery and sculpture include finds dated to around 1700 BC and a 10th-century metal figure of the Buddha. In the city, Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal studies the folk art, songs and festivals of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, keeps a museum of Rajasthani artefacts and stages traditional puppet shows.

Doodh Talai and the Karni Mata ropeway

Doodh Talai is a lake among small hillocks on the road to Lake Pichola, with Deen Dayal Upadhyay Park and Manikya Lal Verma Garden on its banks. From the park, a ropeway climbs to the Karni Mata temple on the hill above, with the city spread out below, and Incredible India recommends the garden for watching the sun go down.

On the water, take a boat on Lake Pichola around sunset, or cross Fateh Sagar to the Nehru Park island. Couples on our 4 Days Honeymoon Udaipur Tour Package have a private sunset boat ride included, and our Udaipur lake palace experience pairs a guided City Palace visit with a private boat past Jag Mandir at sunset, plus a candlelit dinner at a heritage property if you want one.

After dark, choose between Dharohar at Bagore ki Haveli and the sound and light show on Mewar's history that Rajasthan Tourism lists at the City Palace's Manek Chowk. Jagdish Temple holds its evening aarti, and Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal stages puppet shows.

By day, Rajasthan Tourism suggests seeing the lanes around the lake by bicycle. For shopping, Shilpgram's crafts bazaar sells pottery, textiles, woodwork and metalwork made across western India.

For festivals, come in spring for the Mewar Festival, which coincides with Gangaur in Chaitra, the first month of the Hindu calendar (March or April). Rajasthan Tourism describes women dressing images of Isar and Gangaur, carrying them through the streets and immersing them in the middle of Pichola, followed by songs, dances and fireworks. The Shilpgram festival closes the year in late December.

Udaipur's main season runs from October to March. IMD's 1991–2020 averages for the city's weather station at Dabok put December to February days at about 25–28°C and nights at about 8–10°C, so bring a jacket for after dark, while October and March reach about 33°C by day. From April the heat builds, and May days average about 40°C. The rains come from June to September and bring most of the year's 674 mm, with July and August the wettest months at over 200 mm each, spread over nine to ten rainy days in each. Incredible India counts September in the season, but it still averages about 112 mm of rain, so October is the safer start. The monsoon tops up the lakes and turns the Aravallis green, and Incredible India notes that mist often wraps the Monsoon Palace in the rains.

• By air: Maharana Pratap Airport (UDR), at Dabok, is about 20–25 km from the city centre; Rajasthan Tourism lists daily flights from Delhi and Mumbai.
• By train: Udaipur City station (UDZ) is served by trains from Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and New Delhi. The City Palace Museum gives about 7 hours 35 minutes from Jaipur and 12 hours 43 minutes from New Delhi.
• By road: Chittorgarh is 117 km away. Our Jaipur to Udaipur drive on the 5 Days Jaipur Udaipur Tour takes about six to six and a half hours, breaking the journey at Ranakpur's Jain temple, and the Jodhpur to Udaipur day of the Royal Rajasthan Circuit takes about six hours with the same stop. Coming from the west of the state, see our Jodhpur travel guide.

• Kumbhalgarh: Maharana Kumbha's 15th-century fort, about 85 km away in the Aravallis, has walls that run for about 36 km.
• Chittorgarh: 117 km away; like Kumbhalgarh, its fort was inscribed in 2013 as part of the Hill Forts of Rajasthan World Heritage Site.
• Eklingji and Nagda: Eklingji, a Shiva temple at the heart of Mewar's royal worship, is about 20 km north, and Nagda, 22 km from the city, has the carved Sas-Bahu temples of the 9th and 10th centuries.
• Nathdwara: about 45 km away, the pilgrimage town of Shrinathji, a form of Krishna.
• Ranakpur: our routes from Jaipur and Jodhpur stop at its Jain temple on the way in.

For the rest of the state, from Mount Abu to the desert cities, see our Rajasthan travel guide.