The Itinerary 
Udaipur in 2 days: the City Palace, Lake Pichola and the old city
The largest palace complex in Rajasthan, a boat at the right hour, and a sunset palace on a hill — plus the honest note about what the lakes look like in a dry year.
- South Asia
- 2 days
- ≈ AED 250 / person
- Two slow days in the one Rajasthani city built around water
Before you go
Udaipur is the Rajasthani city that is not about the desert. It was founded in 1559 around a set of artificial lakes, and the whole place is arranged to look at water — which is why it feels so different from Jaipur or Jodhpur, four hours away.
Two days is right. The City Palace is the largest in Rajasthan and takes a morning; Lake Pichola takes an hour by boat at exactly the right time of day; and the rest is lanes, rooftops and a hill palace at sunset.
One honest caveat. The lakes depend on the monsoon. After a poor one, Pichola and Fateh Sagar can drop a long way, and the photographs you have seen were taken in a good year. It is still a beautiful city; it is just worth knowing.
Part of a Rajasthan trip? See Rajasthan in 7 days.
Figure the budget below. October to March.
Before you go: the short version
Getting there and around
- Maharana Pratap Airport (UDR) is 30 minutes out, with flights from Delhi and Mumbai.
- Six hours from Jaipur by road, five from Jodhpur, and the overnight train from Delhi takes twelve.
- The old city is walkable and that is how to see it — the lanes around Jagdish Temple are too narrow for anything else.
- Autos are the transport, INR 100–200 across town, agreed first. Uber and Ola both operate.
Where to stay
- Lal Ghat or Gangaur Ghat for the lake-facing havelis, which is the reason people come.
- A rooftop with a palace view costs very little more than one without, and it is the whole experience.
Day by day
Day 1 — The City Palace and the lake
Walking order: City Palace → Jagdish Temple (5 min) → Gangaur Ghat (5 min) → Bagore ki Haveli (on the ghat) → boat from Rameshwar Ghat. About 2km, flat, all within the old city.
- 09:00 — The City Palace at opening, the largest palace complex in Rajasthan — a conglomerate of eleven palaces built by successive maharanas over four centuries, each one added to the last.
- The Mor Chowk, the peacock courtyard, with five peacocks in coloured glass mosaic, and the Sheesh Mahal mirror rooms.
- Allow two to three hours. The route through is one-way and genuinely long.
- 12:00 — Jagdish Temple, just outside the palace gate — 1651, Indo-Aryan, and a working temple with aarti three times a day rather than a monument.
- 13:00 — Lunch on a rooftop facing the lake.
- 15:00 — Bagore ki Haveli on Gangaur Ghat, an eighteenth-century merchant’s house turned museum — the turban gallery and the glass-and-mirror rooms, and it stages a Rajasthani dance performance at seven which is the good version of that evening.
- 17:00 — The boat on Lake Pichola from Rameshwar Ghat — an hour, timed for sunset, past the Lake Palace and stopping at Jag Mandir, the island palace where Shah Jahan sheltered during a rebellion. Book the late-afternoon slot; the midday one is hot and flat.
- 19:00 — The dance performance, or dinner on the ghats.
Day 2 — The hill, the gardens and the lanes
Walking order: Monsoon Palace is a drive and a short climb. Back in town: Saheliyon ki Bari → the old city lanes (2km of wandering). About 3km on foot.
- 08:30 — Sajjangarh, the Monsoon Palace, on a hill 1,100m up — built to watch the monsoon clouds arrive, and never really completed. The view over the lakes and the Aravallis is the point.
- It sits inside a wildlife sanctuary, so there is a sanctuary fee on top, and you take a government jeep for the last stretch rather than driving up.
- 11:00 — Saheliyon ki Bari, the garden of the maidens, built for a queen’s forty-eight attendants — fountains that run on gravity alone, with no pump, from a lake above.
- 12:30 — Lunch, then out of the heat.
- 15:30 — The old city lanes — Bada Bazaar for textiles, miniature painting workshops where the brushes are made from squirrel hair and the work is done under a magnifier, and the silver shops around Hathi Pol.
- 17:30 — Ambrai Ghat or Karni Mata, reached by the ropeway, for sunset over the whole lake with the City Palace on the far side — this is the photograph of Udaipur.
- 20:00 — Dinner at a rooftop on the far bank, looking back at the palace lit up.
If you have a third day
- Kumbhalgarh, two hours north — a fifteenth-century fort with the second-longest continuous wall in the world after the Great Wall of China, 36km of it, UNESCO-listed.
- Ranakpur on the same road — a Jain temple of 1,444 marble pillars, no two carved alike.
Costs and practicalities
Getting around, and what it costs
| Auto across town | INR 100–200 |
| Uber or Ola | INR 100–250 |
| Car for the Monsoon Palace half-day | INR 1,200–1,800 |
| City Palace | INR 400 |
| Lake Pichola boat, sunset slot | INR 900 |
| Bagore ki Haveli | INR 100 |
| Dance performance | INR 200–300 |
| Monsoon Palace, with sanctuary fee | INR 400 |
- Udaipur is cheaper than Jaipur on almost everything, and the boat is the one thing worth paying the premium slot for.
Best time to visit
- October to March — 10–28°C, and the lakes are at their fullest after the monsoon. October and November are the best of it.
- April to June — 38–42°C, and the lakes drop.
- July to September — the monsoon, which is when the city is greenest and the Monsoon Palace makes sense.
- The Mewar Festival in March or April marks the arrival of spring with processions and boats on the lake.
Travel tips
- Take the sunset boat slot, not the midday one.
- Two to three hours for the City Palace, and the route is one-way.
- The best sunset view is from the far bank — Ambrai Ghat or the Karni Mata ropeway — looking back at the palace.
- Check the lake levels if the photographs are the reason you are coming.
- Buy miniature paintings from a workshop, not a shop, and watch one being done.
- Agree auto fares first.
What this trip actually costs
Two people, 1 night, mid-range comfort, excluding travel to Udaipur:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Hotel, 1 night in a lake-view haveli | INR 5,000 (≈ AED 195) |
| Food and drink, 2 days | INR 2,800 (≈ AED 109) |
| Palace, boat, haveli, dance, two people | INR 3,400 (≈ AED 133) |
| Monsoon Palace car and sanctuary, autos | INR 2,800 (≈ AED 109) |
| Total for two | INR 14,000 (≈ AED 547) |
- A lake-facing room is the one upgrade worth taking here, and it costs very little more.
- Hotel picks here are chosen on location, not on commission — always check prices and recent reviews before booking.
What to pack
- Shoes for cobbled lanes and palace stairs.
- Modest clothing for Jagdish Temple and the palace.
- Sun protection for the boat.
- A Type C/D/M adapter, 230V.
Part of a bigger trip?
- Rajasthan in 7 days runs Jaipur, Jodhpur and here.
- Rajasthan in 14 days adds Jaisalmer and the desert.
- Jaipur in 2 days is six hours north.
- India in 14 days places Udaipur in a wider route.
FAQ
Is two days enough for Udaipur? Yes — the palace and the lake on one day, the hill and the lanes on the other. A third day buys Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur, which are genuinely worth it.
Is the Lake Palace hotel visitable? Only if you are staying, or dining there with a booking. From the boat you pass it closely, which is how most people see it.
What if the lakes are low? It happens after a weak monsoon, and Pichola can drop a long way. The city is still beautiful and the palace is unaffected — but the reflections in the photographs come from good years.
Udaipur or Jaipur? Udaipur is smaller, slower and built around water; Jaipur is bigger, busier and has the forts. Most people find Udaipur the more pleasant and Jaipur the more impressive.
Where is the classic sunset photograph taken? From the far bank — Ambrai Ghat or the Karni Mata ropeway — looking back across Lake Pichola at the City Palace.
Prices and entry rules change, and what you need depends on your passport; last checked 29 October 2026, so confirm with the embassy or your airline before booking.
