CITY PALACE - UDAIPUR, RAJASTHAN City Palace : Royal Heritage Palace Located : 150 m South of Jagdish Mandir Highlight : City Palace Udaipur is the largest Palace Complex in Rajasthan Best Time To Visit : October - March

City Palace on Lake Pichola

Udaipur City Nathdwara Forts And Palaces

Lake Palace Dungarpur

Eklingji Temple Chittorgarh

Udaipur City Palce - Exquisite Marble Architecture Among Turquoise Blue Waters!

It is easy to see why Udaipur is considered one of India's most romantic cities. The town's old quarter centered around Lake Pichola with its straight-out-of-a-fairy-tale Lake Palace in the middle, is unfailingly picturesque, if not sublime; it exudes the sort of charm that augments - and is augmented by - conviviality. You will find many grandeur monuments in India, but few that are as atmospheric as Udaipur City Palace. Its elegantly designed balconies are the highest pads in town with the shimmering waters of Lake Pichola dribbling below them - it's easy to imagine the royal invitees sitting up here watching the elephants at play in the voluminous courtyard below.

The Regal Riviera - Highlights of City Palace in Udaipur

The famous City Palace is an intricate labyrinth of inner patios, courtyards and balconies in granite and marbles, connected by interspersed passageways and flight of stairs. Enter from a mammoth courtyard (Badi Pol) where you can park your car, through an prodigious gate (Tripolia Gate) embellished by eight carved marble arches, into the building that cater a tour across centuries. This is because the mansions have been added to by succedents of the royal clan in a process that continued into the 20th century, and have been integrated much later but still retain an symmetry of design. Under the connected arches between the two, the Mewar kings were weighed with gold and silver, which would then be bestowed to the indigent.

Enjoy the famous City Palace Attractions while crossing the Tripolia Gate, you enter a courtyard where elephant fights were staged until 1951, the year Mewar joined independent India. The oblong depressions on the western side of the courtyard were used to park pachyderms. Although the 20 elephant stables remain untouched, they are unoccupied today.

Most alcoves will astonish, as much for their craftsmanship as for the vista, but in particular look out for the Mor Chawk, the peacock square which gains its name from the vivid blue mosaic, composed of thousands of tiny colored-glass carrying images of a peacock that decorates its walls. Looks as if a divine gift, these decors really makes one feel to kiss those blessed hands responsible for such marvellous craftsmanship. There are rooms with mirrored walls, ivory doors, colored glass windows, and carved and inlaid marble balconies. However, the piece de resistance must be the tiny room (Kanch ki Burj) in which every inch of space, even the ceiling, is enveloped with brightly colored, minikin paintings of festivals, flowers, jungle scapes and dancing damsels.

The Palace Archive That Comforts The Historic Nostalgia

The main part of the palace is now preserved as the museum with a hefty and sundry collection of regal memorabilia. Downstairs from the entrance is an armory section, sporting a magnificent collection of old weapons including a lethal two-pronged sword, which despite of its good looks is forsaken to awe a beautiful woman. Go upstairs to peep into the Amar Vilas, a royal residence built on a natural rock formation which was ingrained into the plan for the palace, allowing the fabrication of a Mughal-style garden at an impressive height. Wander across the slender passageway to reach the Zenana Palace, which, as the name suggests, is embellished with alcoves for different princesses; and the galleries exhibiting folk paintings. An entire section has been devoted to this alluring painting galleria, with Mewar's distinctive school of art on display.

An Ecstatic Cruise Around The White Marvel

There are solitary hunting lodges on the hills and lush green gardens on the islands; an indeed stupendous landscape composition. Jag Nivas island, now the Lake Palace Hotel, echoing the early Mughal architecture which inspired the Taj, is famous for its ubiety in the James Bond film Octopussy. Jag Mandir island has a garden with three towered pavilions arranged around a pool with fanciful embroidered sides. The evocative view of the undulating valley and surrounding hills makes a boat trip in this pool more than worthwhile. The Saheliyon-ki Bari, on the other hand, has an internal court with a square pool and a beautiful chhatri which is originally a fountain.

Experience The Pleasure In The Leisure of Kings At Heritage Palaces

Workers at City Palace

It is best to choose a location close to Lake Pichola or near Fateh Sagar, where most tourist activities are located. And how many hotels do you know that were once palaces that covered an island in a lake? Interestingly, the voluminous complex of City Palace houses three grand residential heritages. Oberoi Hotel's Udaivilas Palace on the banks of Lake Pichola is Udaipur's most luxurious hotel. World renowned for its candle-lit banquets and euphonic 'sangeet' (music) ceremonies amidst lush-green trees, picturesque fountains and flower-decked canopies, Udaivilas Palace Hotel, surely becomes an above-the-world charm, and not everybody's - as the cliche goes - cup of tea.

Enjoy a royal stay in Udaipur Lake Palace has had a mesmeric and magical cast on most visitors for the last four centuries; twenty-first century guests are no exception. Arrive by boat and spend a lovely holiday amidst slender carved columns, filigreed screens, swimming pools, fountains - all carved in the most beautiful marble. Today you and your loved ones can be luxuriating in the palace, ordering chilled martinis and chicken tikkas by the swimming pool and back-stroking your afternoon away, gazing at the unbelievably shimmering turquoise blue waters of the Pichola Lake under the cobalt blue sky, and you will forget that you are in the heart of hot and dry Rajasthan. The Fateh Prakash Palace Hotel of the Heritage Groups is known to provide an impeccable service and hospitality of the Royal Mewars. Embellished with opulent crystal chandeliers and velvet canopies, original portraits of the Maharanas of Mewar with a splendid display of armoury, a stay in this resplendent palace hotel will surely make your holiday.

Get Going

Udaipur is aboded on the NH 8, which goes straight towards Mumbai, the economic capital of India. But you don't have to plan much to visit the Venice of the East, just get a car, ignite the engine, shift gears and push your accelerator to reach this tourist destination, while enjoying the splendid landscapes dispalying true essence of Rajasthan. If you have come by train, then catch an unmetered auto rickshaw or local buses that will drop you beside this alluring lake. The museum and the palace are open from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm. Plan your day accordingly so as to spare some time for the mind-blowing boat ride.