Udaipur – Explore India’s City of Lakes

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM UDAIPUR

Udaipur, famously known as the city of lakes, is a beautiful destination in Rajasthan, India. The city surrounds Lake Pichola and Fateh Sagar Lake. There are many beautiful palaces, gardens, and more to explore.

Need to Know for Udaipur:

Currency: Indian Rupee (check exchange rate here)

Language: Hindi and English

Airports:

Udaipur – UDR

Electrical Outlets: 230V supply voltage and 50Hz, plug types C, D and M.

Planning Your Trip

Accommodation: Firstly, you need to decide where to stay. We stayed in Hotel Lakeland which had nice rooms, good breakfast, and views of Fateh Sagar Lake. For spectacular views and a royal feel outside the city, check out Fateh Garh. We attended a wedding here and it was absolutely beautiful! On the other hand, for something unique and luxurious, check out Taj Lake Palace. This is a famous hotel that is very expensive and only accessible by boat. Finally, you can stay where the famous movie Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani was filmed – Oberoi Udaivilas!

Getting Around:

Ubers – there aren’t a ton available and they kept cancelling on us, but if you are patient, this is definitely a viable option.
Book tours with transportation. For instance, there are tons of great tours on Airbnbs that will take you around for the day so you don’t have to worry about transportation.
Rent a scooter – this is what we did and it was great!
Hire a car – your hotel can help you book cars to take you around

Restaurants

We only ate out a few places in Udaipur, but here are our favorites:

Natraj Dining Hall And Restaurant ($) – no frills Rajasthani thali. Safe and delicious, but always busy!
Upre ($$$) – fine dining on a rooftop with beautiful lake views
Ambrai ($$) – we stopped here for drinks and snacks since it has stunning views of Lake Pichola!
1559 AD ($$) – a fun restaurant with nice outdoor seating and incredible phirni!

Things to See and Do in Udaipur

Lake Pichola: We hung out by Ambrai Ghat to enjoy the sunset over the lake. There are also many boat tours you can book to take you out onto the lake. You can learn more about boat ride options here.

Saheliyon ki bari: Pay a small fee (10 INR per person for Indians, 50 INR per person for foreigners) to explore the Garden of Maidens. We enjoyed wandering the gardens and seeing the beautiful fountains. You only need 30 mins to an hour here, unless you plan to sit and relax.

Ropeway/Cable Car and Karni Mata Temple: This was a fun experience but be prepared for a long wait. When we approached the ticket station, the line didn’t look long, but once we got our tickets and they started calling numbers, we realized it would be over an hour wait to get a cable car up. The price is 100 INR for Indians and 300 INR for foreigners. Although we were annoyed with the wait, we really enjoyed this experience. We rode the cable cars to the top of the mountain to explore Karni Mata Temple and enjoy beautiful views of the city.

City Palace: We didn’t actually visit the City Palace in Udaipur since it is similar to the one we had just visited in Jaipur. The City Palace was originally built for the kingdom of Mewar and was transferred between the ruling leaders over the years. You can visit the palace and book tours and boat rides from there. The entrance fee is 100 INR for Indians and 300 INR for foreigners.

Badi Lake

One highlight from Udaipur was our little trip out to Badi Lake.

Getting there: Badi Lake is about 12km from the city of Udaipur. We rode a scooter out here which worked really well! I wouldn’t recommend taking an Uber since it would be hard to get one to pick you up. You would need to hire a car to bring you there, wait, and bring you back. You’ll want to navigate here. There is not really a parking lot and it is just a dirt road in a village. Just park wherever and look for the trail.

If you’re looking to trek to the top of the Bahubali Hill, I recommend following google maps to ‘Sunset Point’ and go from there.

The Hike: This is a very short hike, maybe 20-30 mins, but is pretty rocky. Many people even do their pre-wedding shoot at the viewpoint and hike in their nice clothes.

Fees: There shouldn’t be an entrance fee, there is no gate or guards. When we went, there were some guys who were monitoring entry and selling chai. They were demanding 30 INR per person. It wasn’t much so we didn’t fight it, but it probably wasn’t legit. Just have some cash on you to pay a little if needed.