The Christmas vacation has been an annual tradition for a few years now. The last years do was a road trip to Mahableshwar, Kolhapur and Amba forest. With the weather being bearable for the most part, December is a great time to move about in a hot country such as India. So this time as well, we decided to go for a road trip. After a long deliberation, Udaipur was the chosen destination basis a lot of factors - right weather for December, chance for a long drive, and loads of history.
GETTING THERE
We had planned on leaving Thane (my hometown), pretty early - around 6.00 am or so, but my kids' school decided to throw a wrench in the plans - by deciding to have an open house the same day. By the time we had wrapped it up, it was almost 11.30 am. Interestingly when planning the trip, Google maps showed a route via Godhra, while traditional wisdom dictated going via Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar. Weighing both the options, we decided on going via Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar since we were unsure of the roads along the other way. The total distance from my house to Udaipur is a little over 750 kms and we had planned to cover it with an overnight stay in Gandhinagar - although I have heard people cover the entire stretch in a day however I would not advise it if you have young kids with you, as it gets really stressful for them.
The drive was pretty smooth but slow considering that we had left pretty late. Trucks, buses, an under repair bridge (near Ghodbunder, Thane) a bridge under expansion (at Bharuch) and a stupendous amount of tolls along the way pretty much meant that we were lucky to be around Vadodara at 6.00 pm. Ideally we could have pushed for another 2-3 hours and our original plan was to spend the night at Gandhinagar. But I remembered the advise of one of my uncles,who used to own and drive trucks. His motto for small car drivers was simple - when on a open highway - as soon as it gets dark, find the nearest comfortable hotel and sleep the night away. Leave at the crack of dawn if you must, but never push yourself after dark. So taking his advice we decided to break for the night at Vadodara as we were near the town at around 6.30 pm. The choice of our stay was Ginger hotel in Vadodara, since we know it is a good choice when it comes to basic amenities and quite affordable too. Besides the fact that it was not too far away from the highway was also a major factor in choosing the hotel.
 |
| The open highway past Gandhinagar |
So we resumed at 7.00 am and reached between Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad at 10.00 am. Breakfast was at a local stall with jalebi and fafda - traditional Gujarati breakfast , accompanied by Khamani and smoking hot samosas. Cheap and delicious, and cocking a snook at hygiene, we enjoyed the breakfast immensely - even the kids ate to their heart's content. The drive from Gandhinagar to Udaipur was wonderful, passing through the heart of Gujarat, and zooming through open country side. A small ghat section past Samalji provides a welcome change from the open countryside and eventually gives way to the sights and scenes of Rajasthan.
Interestingly one would expect it to be full of dry desert land - but far from it, the national highway cuts through towns and villages that are quite well populated and full of green vegetation. An distinct landmark of places in Rajasthan is the marking of land boundaries via cactus trees. With these views we finally arrived at Udaipur around 2.00 pm - having driven for almost 6 hours.
On the way back we had decided to stop at baroda for a day, and we were advised the route via godhra. There is a road that breaks away from the main Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway, just as you clear Samalaji. The road takes you to Baroda via Godhra and Modasa. We took that route since we had already seen the other route and were prepared for a bad trip, expecting the state highways to be a bit worse off than the national highway. A pleasant shock awaited us as we found that the road was smooth and even better in my opinion than the Ahmedabad highway. If one intends to go to Udaipur from Mumbai.. I will recommend this place any day over the Ahmedabad highway, since it is more closer to the hinterland and offers a much closer view into the heart of the country.
THE STAY
After a lot of research and quite frankly last minute desperation, we settled in on Hotel The Tiger in Udaipur. It being the height of vacation season i.e. Christmas /New Year, we did not really get any great deal on the room as such. We were offered a lake view room for the first 2 nights and a regular room on the other 2 nights, at a total of Rs. 22000 (stay only ). The hotel is a mixed bag. Firstly the positives - it is centrally located, right on the banks of the lake Pichola and next to the Bagore ki Haveli, one of the top destinations in Udaipur. The lake side view room on the top is actually lake facing .. with a splendid view of the sunset over the lake Pichola. Quite close to the City palace, restaurants and eateries are quite close, within 2 minutes walk from the hotel. The rooms are decently large enough for a family of 2 adults and 2 kids. The non-lake facing room was larger than the lake facing room. The staff is quite friendly and warm, and we did not have to fight for anything despite it being the high tourist season. Small things like extra mattress for the floor were given without any charge.
The hotel stands literally a few steps away from Gangaur ghat, one of the most visited ghats in the city. The terrace is simply magnificent. Facing the azure blue Lake Pichola, the views are unhindered as you look down upon the lake. Watching the sunset or waking up early in the morning cold to see the sunrise had become our favorite pastime for the 4 days that we were at the hotel. That combined with piping hot tea, taken with hot bhaijiyas or french fries for the kids, as you see the sun going down makes for one of the most wonderful memories of the trip for me. (see photos.)
 |
| View outside of our hotel room |
 |
| View from the terrace |
 |
| An evening in Udaipur |
 |
| Evening skyline |
 |
| Decorations for Christmas |
However not all is hunky dory... there are some significant negative aspects as well. There is no parking. There is one parking lot about 200 meters from the hotel, but it charged me Rs. 500 for 4 nights - that too after significant bargaining. The road leading up to the hotel is so narrow that 2 Maruti Alto cars , side by side would jam the road. The hotel has no lift and the stairs are quite steep. People with bad knees and no daily practice of climbing stairs please stay away. When we had to bring our bags inside, the staff was quite hesitant to help, until we threatened them with complaints. However after that, there were no issues with any matter. The in-house restaurant is good for tea, and some snacks - and nothing more. The food is quite average in quality, considering the steep price.
If you are looking for an experience in the heart of the city, with Lake Pichola as your sight outside, and the city palace, Jagmandir palace, and Jagdish temple a stone's throw away, and if you love stepping from your hotel right into the heart of the tourist hub ... this is the place for you. However if you want to have a luxury stay with all the amenities - this is a place to be avoided.
THE SIGHTS
Lake Pichola
Along with Fateshsagar lake, Pichola is one of the larger lake bodies in the city. It is difficult to capture the beauty of the lake in words. Lined with countless havelis and palaces made of white marble, the setting is grand and even before you step into the luxury inside, the sense one gets is that of stately grandeur - a grandeur that has withstood the ravages of time and now reminds one of the proud glory days that the city must have once had. Looking at the lake from top of the hotel had become a morning ritual - seeing the pre-dawn grey give way to shades of light misty blue as the sun comes up behind the city palace and eventually the morning light filling the whole lake and turning it into a deep blue jewel on the yellow brown desert face.
 |
| The Lake Pichola at dawn |
 |
| A view of the havelis and the Jagmandir palace in the distance |
 |
| Another view from the hotel terrace |
 |
| Watching the sunset come over at Lake Pichola |
The City Palace
It is hard to describe the City palace - for a variety of reasons. One could take a historical point of view and describe architecture, or could describe the various inner treasures. But I'm a firm believer that one must describe the feelings one experiences at the place. The overwhelming impression i had - coming out of the palace was that the place was a enormous scam. It seems the layers of security and pricing at multiple places are so complex that it would take Einstein to solve the problem - even he would demand a Nobel prize at the end of it. So sample this - the actual entry to the palace courtyard is quite low, but is never explained anywhere. A pass worth Rs. 150 or so - per person, is sold as the standard pass. However no one explains what this pass actually entitles you for. Besides there are various rates - for entries into different
darwazas (or doors). And the standard pass does not cover it all. There is a separate fee for boating at the Lake - which is explained only once you only once you reach the boat start point. All in all the entire palace is meant to be a gigantic maze with collection centers at every point, maximizing the revenues by confusing the poor tourist.
 |
| The City palace |
 |
| Another view of the Palace |
 |
| One of many Darwazas or doors |
Anyways the highlight of the visit to the palace was the boat ride on Lake Pichola and the subsequent visit to the Jagmandir palace. The jagmandir palace is a small island on the lake and can be accesssed only through boats from City palace. The short 15 minute ride takes you througth all the major attractions lining the lake and then drops you at Jagmandir palace where you can explore the place (not that big). Another boat waits to pick you up from the dock at a periodic interval ( a boat per 15 minutes or so). Since my kids and my wife were insistent on the boat ride first - we were in the jagmandir palace at around noon. It turned out to be a great decision as when we came back to the city palace, the queue waiting to get into the ride was atleast 5 times longer with wait times as much as about an hour.
After the boat ride, the rest of the palace was not so interesting. We are not the greatest of history buffs and were quite happy to have a cursory glance at antiques and move on.
 |
| The royal courtyard at the Jagmandir Palace |
 |
| From Jagmandir Palace - watching the lake |
 |
| Having a cool drink at the restaurant |
 |
| An overview of the magnificent courtyard |
Jagdish Temple:
The temple is a must visit - just for the glimpse into temple architecture. Although not a huge temple, the quality of the artisan ship is one of the best. With intricate carvings etched into the soft marble, the temple is a tribute to the skilled artists who excelled at their craft. The only drawback is that the stairs are steep and put a great strain on the knees. Unfortunately there is no respite or alternate arrangements for people who would be otherwise unable to climb the stairs.
 |
| Intricate carvings at the Jagdish Temple |
 |
| The Temple at night |
 |
| Another view of the temple |
 |
| The carvings up close |
 |
| Detailed carvings - top to bottom |
Fatehsagar Lake:
The Fathehsagar lake is some way off from the city center. However it is a just as big as Lake Pichola however not as magnificent. While Pichola is surrounded by palaces and
havelis all around its banks, lending a majestic aura to the lake, the Fatehsagar comes across a poorer cousin. Perhaps the government decided to create equality and decided to put the Nehru Gardens in the midst of the lake. To be honest the gardens are not exactly a great tourist spot. The only highlight of the trip to the gardens was the boat ride one has to take to reach the gardens.
The gardens themselves are nothing great. Like any regular government maitained gardens these too suffer from the same problems - lack of innovation, no freshness and definetely nothing to offer to the well heeled and well travelled tourist. Can visited if there is nothing else to do and is close to your hotel.
 |
| Fountains at the Nehru gardens |
 |
| View of the Nehru garden |
Saheliyon Ki Bari (Garden of GFFs)
The Saheliyon ki bari is quite close to the Fatehsagar lake - almost a challenging walk - if not encumbered by kids or old people. We however took a rickshaw to the place. It is a slightly better maintained version of the Nehru gardens. Better maintained and functioning fountains make the place almost a good visit. But as an Indian who has been abroad, it pains to see the "chalta hai" attitude. While we have a trove of historical monuments and places, we are still stuck in the 80's - the infrastructure created then still continues to creak along. The saheliyon ki bari is a testimonial to the same attitude. Simple things like some parts of a fountain not functioning bite your mind and you feel cheated at some level and apologetic at some level for neglecting these monuments.
The fountains come on once every half an hour or so... make sure you are around for one of those shows.
 |
| The main courtyard |
 |
| Smaller fountains behind the main courtyard |
Sajjangarh Palace.
The Sajjangarh palace is again a short taxi ride away from the Saheliyon ki bari. It is situated atop a steep hill and served as a monsoon getaway. Once the taxi drops you to the bottom, we can avail a ride via government taxis that ferry you up and down the hill. Once on the top of the hill, we are presented with a vista - one side we have the magnificent views of both the main lakes of the city and surrounding it is the sprawl of the city - which still more traditional as compared to many cities of the country. On the other side is the rugged and craggy mountainside. The contrast is amazing and one can spend some hours moving around the palace and taking in the views. The palace itself is not large, and if one were to simply walk through the rooms we can finish off the tour in about 15-20 minutes. We took our own sweet time, but were still done in about 1 hour.
I would recommending driving to this place in your vehicle or hiring one if you can afford it. The problem with the government taxis is that there is no discipline amongst the tourists while getting down from the palace to the main gate. We had a fight with other passegers while trying to get back. Unlike many other places which need you to use government buses, the supply demand equation is not adequately managed.
 |
| Seeing the city from Sajjangarh palace |
 |
| Seeing both the lakes from the hill top |
 |
| The rugged mountainside |
Bagore Ki Haveli
Last but certainly not the least.... Bagore ki haveli. The haveli is a reconstructed /restored haveli from the era of the might rajput kings. It is a short walk away from the city palace and sits bang on the Ganguar ghat. While the haveli itself is a worthwhile visit in itself, what really adds shine to the jewel is the evening cultural program. Run by the tourism department of Rajasthan, the program is a good mix of traditional and folk dances of different regions and different culturally relevant times of the year.
The ladies performing the dance are extremely adept at their dance and bring alive the cultures of Rajasthan over a short period of 2 hours. Both my kids(aged 5 and 8.5) sat spellbound through the entire program - which is a testament to the spellbinding nature of the dance. Definitely worth a visit.
THE FOOD
Udaipur has a lot to offer in terms of culinary delights. The best part of the food is that it is not at all expensive. With kids who are not averse to exploring eats (thank god!!) we were quite open to walking into lesser known places and eating almost any kind of food. Within Udaipur itself we experimented quite a lot. The first evening we went to a local restaurant, which could be perhaps called pedestrian - niether fancied nor exotic. It seemed it was operated by a husband and wife - with regular home food served to customers.
Manwar restaurant was a unique experience. Firstly most of the waiters are hearing and speech impaired.. but fear not. They understand you quite well. We were just charged for adults - kids eat free at most thali places in Udaipur. The thali was quite nice ... chapati and puri with paneer subzi, dal, kadhi, gobi and aloo sabzi. Salad and sooji halwa completed the plate. The food was quite tasty and filling. For a Mumbaikar like me who is fed on a diet of baking soda laced food at Shetty restaurants, it was a very refreshing and healthy change. Overall a very good experience. Would easily recommend it to people who value simple and well made thali food.
Natraj dining hall in the main city is a must place to go for authentic Rajasthani food. We visited there twice - once to just eat Daal baati and once to eat their Thali. Trust me to say that we were more than satisfied on both occasions. The Daal baati is simply made with no over the top taste tricks. It is simple and authentic - reflecting the true taste of Rajasthan. The thali is huge with multiple katoris for daal, kadhi, dry subzi, wet subzi , sweets and other accompaniments. Rice, khichdi, rotis and rotlas keep on coming. The restaurant takes pain to exhort you not to waste food. The interesting thing is that despite eating more than our regular capacity, we never experienced acidity or bloating - the ones you experience in much pricier and fancied city restaurants. The hordes of food lovers who maintained a constant stream through the place is a testimonial to the enduring popularity of the place.
 |
| Natraj Dining Hall - a not to be missed Thali |
For a true non vegetarian like me - it was not possible to leave without tasting the famed Laal Maas (Red Meat). Made of lamb meat and dark red chilies, the dish leaves a distinct impression on both the tongue and the mind. Tehkhaana - a basement level restaurant , near the Saheliyon ki bari was the place where we ate the food. I don't know if there are better restaurants serving the dish .. but to me this was as good as any.
A noteworthy mention to some of the lesser known places we ate at .. and enjoyed our food immensely. Vyom juice center which sits on a corner of 2 small intersecting lanes. We had 2 of 4 breakfasts here .. and the aloo parathas are simply heavenly. The place is run out of a small 2-room house and serves other small eats as well. The other place where we had a immensely satisfying local meal of kachoris was Paliwal. A small traditional eats and sweets shop serving samosas as well ... Paliwal is well known among the locals for its kachoris. On the morning i visited - a weekday, there was a waiting of almost 30 minutes, till the kachoris were being fried in the oil and the owner patiently dipping them till they were cooked the perfection - indicated by the dough turning from a light brown yellow to a tinge of brown gold. Paliwal sits on the road from Jagdish temple to the ghanta ghar khana.
THE DOs and the DONTs
DOs
- Do make sure you get plenty of rest if you are driving down the distance. We took an overnight halt at the mid point of our journey and were much the better for it.
- Sample the local cuisine- the rajasthani thalis, daal baati and laal maas are not to be missed.
- Visit the local ghats on lake pichola.
- Make sure you know what you are getting for your ticket - especially at the City palace. They are not very transperent and there are different payments for different sights.
- Do visit the Jagmandir palace. Enjoy a beer (or a coldrink) sitting in midst of palace designed for kings and queens. Expenive - but totally worth the experience.
- Visit the local areas through Uber. Auto rickshaws fleece you.
- Bargain with Autowallas everytime. Be ready to let go of couple if the bill seems ridiculously high.
- Spend 1 evening on a terrace restaurant overlooking the Pichola lake. There are plenty of them and you can just bring the sunset as you sip over cups or chai and French fries.
- If you happen to be on Mumbai - Ahmedabad highway, do stop at the chocolate outlet of Schmitten.
- Shop for local Rajastani jewellery.
DONTs
- Bring your car into the areas near the City palace. If you have a driver it is ok, but avoid congestion. Also parking is a pain in the butt.
- Stay at one of the hotels near the lake ghats - they are expensive, and unless you have a direct view of the Lake Pichola, so not worth the trouble. Would rather advise stay in one of farther hotels and visit the city palace area as and when required.
- Expect the Nehru garden on Fatehsagar lake to be great. It is pedestrian. If you must visit the place, do it for the Boat ride and not for the garden.
- Leave the city without visiting the Bagore ki haveli and the evening show.
Comments
Regards
Archis