Welcome to the city of lakes! In this post, Footlooseinme will take you on a trip to the places to visit in Udaipur. Surrounded by five lakes and dotted with beautiful palaces, forts and Havelis, this city exuberates the pride and opulence of yesteryears. The beautiful historical City of lakes and palaces is now a very popular wedding destination. So without spending much time let’s go and take a tour of the places to visit in Udaipur.
Udaipur was founded by Maharana Udai Singh II in 1559 as his new capital when the Mughal Emperor Akbar laid siege on his previous capital Chittorgarh. There is a legend associated with this. While Udai Sing II was on a hunting expedition he met a hermit. The hermit advised him to establish his capital on the fertile valley that the Aravalli Range would protect from outside attack. The king on his advice formed his capital in this valley and named it after him.
Maharana Udai Singh II was the king of the Mewar Kingdom and belonged to the Sisodia clan of Rajputs. To protect his new capital from external attack he built a 6-kilometer-long wall with seven gates – Surajpole, Chandpole, Udiapole, Hathipole, Ambapole, Brahmpole, Delhi Gate, and Kishanpole. Being surrounded by mountains on all sides Udaipur remained safe and untouched by the Mughals and other outsiders.
Those who have read my previous post know I was on a solo trip to Udaipur and Jawai. To those who haven’t read my previous post (read it here). I hired a scooter to go through the places to visit in Udaipur. Hiring a scooter would give me the mobility to move through the old city area conveniently and would also give me the liberty to explore the city in my way and in my own time.
I called the bike rental (that I had researched before visiting Udaipur) and got my scooter delivered to my hotel and from then my adventure began. This may not be an adventure in an actual sense but the over-dramatic me would love to call it that way. The beginning of my adventure was the missing stand for the mobile phone in the scooter. I asked the bike rentals for one but they gently denied it as they had none. Necessarily I had to rely completely on my earpiece while riding.
The first day after arriving in Udaipur and getting the scooter delivered I thought to explore some parts of the old City or the walled city. But in the melee, I left my earpiece in the hotel and went out with my destinations mapped on Google Maps. I did spend some time reading the road maps carefully to get a rough overview as I wouldn’t have the visual directions in front of me. All my prep work went in vain.
I realised my missing earphones when I was at the fuel station. But I didn’t return back to the hotel and continued towards the old city. The broad roads gradually narrowed down to lanes and bylanes. Navigating through these maze-like lanes without the visual map in front of me was very difficult. Every few seconds I had to stop, take out my phone and check the map and start again. In these narrow lanes stopping on the sides randomly is not a good way to ride. I had no other option. But I could not continue this for much longer and decided to get the direction from human maps rather than my friend Google Maps.
On my quest to tour the places to visit in Udaipur, I finally reached my first destination asking for directions from the locals around. On my way back I decided to purchase a mobile holder for the scooter. I kept looking for mobile accessories stores in the lanes and bylanes of the old city and in this way, I got completely lost in the maze of roads. Now I was too tired and wanted to get back to the hotel. Again I struggled to come out of the old city roads. Which I eventually did. The main roads were not much of a problem to navigate.
To my surprise, I managed to get a mobile accessories store on the main road and purchased a holder for my phone. All my problems were sorted, it seemed. I requested the seller to fix the piece on my scooter which he politely denied and asked me to go to some bike repair store to get it done. Despite many requests, he didn’t do it. I tried my hands (without the screwdriver) but all my efforts were in vain. In this process, I kept dropping the screws and nuts here and there.
I presumably collected all the tiny pieces I dropped put them back in the box and returned to the hotel relying on Google Maps. After reaching the hotel I tried to fix the piece again on my Scooter and now I discovered that I already lost a screw and a nut. I felt hopeless and was again back to square one. My only support for navigation was my earpiece and from the next day, I made sure that I took all my necessary items before leaving the hotel for the day. The rest of my ride went smoothly with the voice guidance in my ear. I still had some hiccups in narrow lanes or big crossroads and roundabouts but I handled it confidently.
The best part of my journey was my ride up the Sajjangarh hill to the Sajjangarh Fort. One more thing that I would like to mention is I went to the wrong Vintage Car Museum. While adding destinations of places to visit in Udaipur on Google Maps, I selected the wrong Vintage Car Museum and ended on some lonely forsaken road that led me to the Fateh Villas Resort. On reaching there I was perplexed about why I came to some resort. On enquiring about the Vintage Car Museum they said that they do have one with nine cars and am I ready to see it. When I came this far for the Vintage Car Museum and when they have one why not see it?
So I purchased the ticket and took a tour of the small garage filled with nine vintage cars. I could see the surprise in the faces of the staff seeing a lone visitor to this not-so-popular Vintage Car Museum. I realised my mistake much later when I was informed that the known one was on the Gulab Bagh Road near the Gulab Bagh Zoo.
One more interesting thing that happened to me was people (the staff at the monument’s ticket counters or the security guards) were surprised to see me (a solo traveller) with my scooter travelling alone through the places to visit in Udaipur. Many of them even enquired about me travelling solo with a strange awe on their face. Their amazement surprised me and I kept questioning myself am I the first solo woman traveller in Udaipur? I explored the places to visit in Udaipur with equal amazement and joy. So here is my list of places to visit in Udaipur. (Read about the other Udaipur of the East.)
Places to Visit in Udaipur:
City Palace: The City Palace complex is built on the East bank of Lake Pichola. Several rulers of the Sisodia clan of the kingdom of Mewar built this palace complex. Maharana Udai Sing II laid the foundation and built the initial part of the palace. Several palaces were built within the complex later for 400 years. The earliest royal structure of the palace complex was the Rai Angan or the royal courtyard. The uniqueness of this complex is that even after being built by 22 generations the architectural design remained uniform. The entire palace complex belongs to the Mewar Royal family and trusts. Two palaces within the complex namely the Fateh Prakash Palace and the Shiv Niwas Palace have been converted to heritage hotels. Other monuments near the City Palace complex overlooking Lake Pichola are Jagmandir Palace, Lake Palace, Neemach Mata Temple, Bagore ki Haveli and many more.
Jagdish Temple: Jagdish Temple was previously known as the Jagganath Rai temple. The temple is very close to the City Palace. Jagdish Temple was built in 1651 by Maharana Jagat Singh and used to be a royal temple. Lord Jagannath is the presiding deity and the idol is carved on a single black stone.
Jag Mandir Palace: Three rulers of the Mewar kingdom are credited for the construction of the Jag Mandir Palace or the Lake Garden Palace. The palace is built on an island within the Lake Pichola. Maharana Amar Singh started the construction of the palace in 1551, Maharana Karan Singh continued the process from 1620 to 1628 and finally, Maharana Jagat Singh completed the construction and hence the palace was named after him – Jagat Mandir.
This used to be the pleasure palace of the royal family in the summers. Jag Mandir Palace compound includes the Gul Mahal; the garden courtyard; the Darikhana; ‘Bara Patharon ka Mahal’; Zenana Mahal and Kunwar Pada ka Mahal. Present day the Gul Mahal is converted into a small museum while the rest of the structures are used as restaurants and spas. Jagmandir Palace can only be reached by boat from the Bansi Ghat Jetty of the Lake Palace on the mainland. The boat tickets are available from the City Palace ticket counter. The ticket includes a boat cruise around Lake Pichola to Jag Mandir Palace and back.
Lake Palace: Lake Palace is the iconic monument of Udaipur. It can be seen from the banks of Lake Pichola and closely while on the boat cruise to Jag Mandir Palace. Lake Palace was known as Jag Niwas Palace. This palace was constructed on an island in Lake Pichola by the 62nd ruler of the Mewar kingdom, Maharana Jagat Singh II during 1743-1746. This was again built as the summer retreat for the royal family. This palace is now turned into a hotel so outside visitors are not allowed within the island.
Bagore ki Haveli: Bagore ki Haveli is a museum showcasing Mewar’s aristocratic culture. The Haveli is built beside the Gangotri ghat by Lake Pichola. Amar Chand Badwa who was the prime minister of the Mewar kingdom from 1751-1778 built this Haveli.
Sajjangarh Palace: The Sajjangarh Palace is also known as the monsoon palace of the royal family of Mewar kingdom. The palace was built by Maharana Sajjan Singh in 1884 on a hilltop overlooking the city of the lakes. Sajjan Singh wanted to build an astronomical centre. He also wanted to watch the movement of the monsoon clouds in the surrounding area from here. Sadly, the Maharana had a short life of 26 years and ruled the kingdom for only 10 years. He couldn’t complete the construction of the palace. Maharana Fateh Singh succeeded him and completed the palace. The palace was later converted into a hunting lodge. Presently the Forest Department of Rajasthan owns the Palace.
Vintage Car Museum: The actual Vintage Car Museum is on Gulab Bagh Road. The Vintage Car Museum is a car collection of the Maharanas of Udaipur. It consists of 25 vintage cars in working condition. The other Vintage Car Museum I visited (as I mentioned above) has 9 vintage cars and is also in working condition.
Saheliyon-ki-Bari: Saheliyon-ki-Bari is a beautiful garden with fountains and a lotus pond built by Maharana Sangram Singh for his wife and her 48 maids who came along with her in marriage. This cool garden was a leisurely place for the queen and her maids away from the politics and complexities of the palaces.
Maharana Pratap Memorial: Maharana Pratap Memorial is located on Moti Margi or Pearl Hill overlooking the Fateh Sagar Lake. A life-sized bronze statue of Maharana Pratap sitting on his faithful horse Chetak is the main attraction here apart from the museum that displays paintings and artefacts from Kumbhalgarh and Chittorgarh. This memorial was built to honour the courage and valour with which he fought the glorious battle of Haldighati.
Ahar Cenotaphs and Museum: The group of Cenotaphs is also known as Mahasati. It contains 250 cenotaphs of Maharanas of Mewar built over 350 years. The Cenotaphs complex was closed to visitors when I visited there.
Lake Pichola and Fateh Sagar Lake: These two artificial freshwater lakes are the most beautiful and picturesque in the city of Lakes Udaipur. The other major lakes of the city are Swaroop Sagar Lake, Rangsagar, and Doodh Talai Lake.
Manshapurna Karni Mata Ropeway: The temple is located on Machla Marga Hills near Doodh Talai Lake. The temple is dedicated to Karni Mata and can be reached by a ropeway that offers a spectacular view of the lakes and the city of Udaipur.
These are some of the most popular places to visit in Udaipur city. There are many important and interesting sites to visit which are outside the city. Haldighati is the most popular site among them. The other places of attraction are the Eklingji Temple, Nathdwara, Sahastrabahu Temple, and Jaisamand Lake.
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