Udaipur, Rajasthan

Udaipur:

Udaipur located in southern Rajasthan spreads around lake Pichola and surrounded by green hills.

City palace:
City palace was built in 1559 by king Udai Singh. Udai Singh's son and legendary king Rana Pratap Singh ruled here. City palace stands on lake Pichola, surrounded by green hills. You can view the Lake palace hotel which is an island inside lake Pichola, from city palace.




Shilpigram:
Shipigram is a rural arts and crafts center, 5 kms. away from the city. It has displays and music and dance performances from various regions of India.



Hotels and restaurants:
We stayed in Udaipur for two nights in hotels close to Udaipur railway station. City palace is about fifteen minutes drive from the railway station.

These are hotels and restaurants near Udaipur Railway station:

Nataraj dining hall :
All you can eat veg thali. Rs 80. The restaurant was clean and food was great.

Hotel Vaidhyayi:
Next to Nataraj dining hall. Bed sheets and pillow covers did not look fresh. No towels in bathroom. Could not provide towels even after requesting them. Rs. 500 for a small room with a double bed. They told us they have running hot watrer in the mornings which was not true. They brought hot water in buckets.
Not reccommended.

Hotel Maan:
Was much better than Vaidhyayi. Room with two double beds for Rs. 1000. A double bed in India would be the same size as a king size bed in America. They had hot water in the tap in the morning.

Saffire restaurant:
Not too far from hotel Maan. We ate South Indian breakfast here. They have both north and south Indian food. Very good.

Vintage car museum:
We ate lunch in a restaurant inside the museum complex. All you can eat thali for Rs. 100. The vintage car museum is near the Gulab baag (park) entrance near city palace. The restaurant was clean and food was good.


Hotel Raj Darsan:
Ate dinner in Amantran restaurant inside hotel Rajdarsahn. Price per dish varies between Rs. 100 to Rs. 150. The food and service was excellent.


Barodia village:
On our way back to Jaisalmer we visited our friend's farm house in Barodia village. Barodia is about 12 kms from Udaipur, near Thur village. They grow organic vegetables on the farm and plan to start a guest house for visitors this year.




Taxi info
Jaisalmer to Udaipur is around 525 kms. We rented a taxi through Ganesh Travels in Jaisalmer. It was a Mahindra Scorpio and the rent was Rs. 7.5 per kilometer, which included the cost of gas. The taxi fare for the entire round trip cost us around Rs. 9250.

Pali
On the way to Udaipur from Jaisalmer, you pass through Jodhpur, Pali, Falna and Ranakpur. We ate lunch at Kesar restaurant in Pali.


Falna