Udaipur - the City of Lakes
Udaipur - The City of Lakes
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Of all the touristy places in Rajasthan - rather, in India - Udaipur is perhaps the most over- hyped and commercialized one. Don't go by anything you read on the Internet (including this post) on face value. Most of it is just cleverly planted, airbrushed, and photoshop'ed (not including this post though - this one tries to be as unbiased as it can get!).
And yet, Udaipur - rather, "Oudieipore" as is spelled below a 18th century French sketch in the City Palace museum - has a charm of its own, if it can be called 'charm', that is completely different from the Jaipur-Jodhpur-Bikaner variety. Some of it is due to the number of lakes and hills doting the landscape of the city. I mean, the entry to the city is brilliant, as the road winds through green hills and you can see the expanse of the city contained yet spilling through cervices among them. Some of the 'charm' is due to the number of firangi tourists thronging the food streets of Bapu Bazaar and Bohrawadi. They are definitely more than usual, even when it's an off-season time of the year.
But most of this special character is due to the city's physical proximity and fraternal affinity towards Gujarat in general and Ahmedabad in particular. And most of it is quite nice - the traditional Gujarati thali lunches, the palaces, the lakes, the sites. You got to believe when I say affinity here. Most people in Mewar region speak fluent Gujarati in their day to day dealings. People dress up in more Gujarati style. Even JMB - Jagdish Mishtan Bhandar - famous for daal kachoris and pyaaj (onion) kachoris sell two varieties of 'Chakali' - one locally made and another brought in from A'bad!
However, before you start getting all mushy about Udaipur, let's get some facts out on the table, and then you can decide for yourself if you want to make it into a nice extended weekend gateway:
Getting There
--------------------
From Gurgaon (Sahara Mall), Udaipur main town square is around 670km. You take the 6-lane to Jaipur (250km) - which is still getting built, and it will probably take two more changes of government before the road is capable of imparting pleasure - and you cross Dharuheda, enter Rajasthan, cross Neemrana, Behror, Kotputli, and reach Chandwaji, where you take the overpass towards Ajmer.
You can see new residential projects, towers being built out of nowhere, with a hope of en-cashing on the industry of Jaipur and on the proposed plans of a Delhi-Mumbai express corridor. The going is easy here, and you cross some of the smaller towns like Dudu without incident. Around 120km from Chandwaji bypass where you took Ajmer road, you will see a flyover with Nasirabad shown to the left. Leave the road to Kishangarh-Ajmer and take this left towards Ahmedabad-Udaipur. The road will lead to Chittodgarh.
Here on, the road becomes four lane, rather than six lane, but the surface is still quite fabulous. You can easily cruise at 130-140. In fact the roads throughout are excellent and you can expect an average run rate of 75 kmph, compared to 50 on other Indian roads, for the overall trip. We did 650km in about 9 hours travel time.
The only issue could be that there are no good eateries on the way. You will bypass some nondescript places like Vijaynagar, Gulabpur etc. and they have nothing to offer. Saras Bhilwada Midway, around 20km before Bhiwara and about 10km from Raila, is probably your best option for a decent meal. The place is run by the folks who manage Saras Dairy, so it is a bit 'sarkari', but the service is warm in an old-world charm way and the food is good, although a bit heavy in oil and spices. Check out the local Govind Gatte ki Sabji, with multi-grain rotis, shrikhand, and chaas (buttermilk). All milk products are, of course, by Saras Dairy.
The road will safely take you to Chittod, from where Udaipur is another 100km. You need to take a right here to continue on the highway, else you will enter the city. The road here on is even better. You can wheez past some more towns, then the Udaipur airport on the left and now you are only 25km away from the city. From here on, the hills of Udaipur will begin to emerge.
The entry to the city is grand and scenic, and unlike any other city in Rajasthan - winding its way through the green hills, and with a view of the sprawling city across the mountain ranges. You will be surprised how green this entire region is - it does not feel like Rajasthan, more like Uttarakhand!
Your road takes you to Chetak circle, which is an important landmark. Go straight or go right, and you will move towards Lake Pichola, the largest of the lakes in Udaipur. Most of the hotels and places of interest are around the lake.
Stay Situation
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Different people go to Udaipur for different reasons, and therefore the city has many choices to offer. You of course have the Taj Lake Palace, built on Jag Niwas island in Lake Pichola, then you have the Oberoi Udai Vilas - both are a league in themselves. There is a Devi Garh palace that could also be included in this class. These are rather exclusive and frankly over-priced, with shenanigans like cover charges for lunch and dinner. Devi Garh also blatantly refuses to allow children below 18 to stay overnight !! ... The cheek !! ...
Even the Leela Palace is a great property. The prices in this league are around 15-18k per night for a couple during off-season.
The next level is probably the Trident, on the other side of Udai Vilas (in the same campus). They have a very good property, with some rooms having a slanted view of the lake, an excellent veranda for dinner overlooking the lush green lawns, and mostly family-friendly amenities. This could cost you around 6-8k per night. I have not checked Radisson and Ramada, but I guess these would be in a similar category.
There are some that will come with the same ticket price - like Chunda palace - and boast to be in the same category. Avoid these, unless you are attending a wedding there.
The third variety is the so-called lake facing properties - Udai Bagh, A Justa Resort, Udai Kothi, Jaiwana Haveli etc. Most will be in the range of 2-5k per night. If you are bag-packing and do not have kids with you, these might be good options. The rooms for most of these are very small, but you get to see the lake all the time from your rooms. The food served in these restaurants is marginal and most have a challenging road entry due to their vicinity to the ghats. So if you are driving down, this could be a small constraint. It is not that you cannot get to the places, but the parking as well as getting in and out is a hassle.
Up and About
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The sights and sites of Udaipur start, of course, with the lakes. Lake Pichola is the largest and famous for nesting Taj Lake Palace on an island. The hotel itself came in the limelight with Roger Moore's Bond movie in the early 80's - the highly unimaginative and unintentionally outrageous 'Octopussy'. Even today, there are a couple of degenerate places around the lake circuit that play the movie every evening as a ritual.
The city is built around four lakes - all lakes are inter-connected. The largest two are Pichola and Fateh Sagar, with the latter being developed more for amusement - it has a zoo, a garden, some fountains etc.
The people are proud, and appear to be slightly less hospitable than other parts of Rajasthan. Anyway, it was in Mewar that the last stand of Rajputs was taken against the Mughals, so I guess they have a historical leeway about it. Not that they are rude or so, but you don't find the natural Rajasthani warmth, which is such characteristic of northern and eastern parts of the state. The behavioral traits are more like those from the neighboring south-western state (!).
The best view of the city is from atop Karni Mata temple. There are gardens below and a ropeway leading to the temple, which charges a whopping Rs. 78 per person for a return trip. The roapway itself is rickety and usually heavily crowded. On occasions, you can book an entire cabin for yourself if they allow you - I believe it costs around Rs. 400 - in case you want a more exclusive experience. Take the cabin that is lower - as the view en route in this one is better than the other. From the cabin, you will see the lakes, and most of the northern part of the city.
Once you reach the top, there is a large viewing platform, and some stairs that lead to the site where the temple is currently getting re-constructed. All along, you can see the vast expense of the city on one side and the hills and the lakes on the other side.
Apart from the lakes and the temples, you can spend time and money on the City Palace museum, which - like everything else here - is highly over-rated. A museum that showcases brass utensils - things that I can still find in my aunt's kitchen, although with effort - is not high on my list of things to see. Anyway, the Mewari paintings are quite nice. Look out for the special section dedicated to Chetak - Maharana Pratap's favorite horse. There are sections about the great Rana - son of the founder of the city Maharaja Udai Singh - and his famous fight with the Mughal forces at Haldi Ghati - which are interesting too for history buffs.
The entry to City Palace has the most famous and revered Jagdish temple - also a landmark as almost all of the small streets around the lake trickle down to the square in front of the temple. The evening aarti is good to attend too.
The roads around the lake are exceedingly narrow, pebbled and allow only one vehicle at a time for most of their lengths.The surfaces are also uneven and go up and down, so driving a big car around here is rather painful. So are the tiny bazaars like Boharawada, and walking around or taking a cycle rickshaw might be more advisable,esp if it's not raining. One thing is certain - this is definitely not the 'Venice of the East' !!
Food Situation
----------------------
Due to the A'bad influence, Udaipur offers many places that serve the traditional Gujarati veg. thali. The one at Natraj is quite famous, but crowded. But you should try the one at The Garden Hotel next to the Vintage Car Museum (which itself is quite nice - one of the three museums in India dedicated to Vintage and Classic Automobiles) of the current Maharaja. It is a simple fair, with four veggies, daal, roti, rice - no onions, no garlic - all for Rs. 200/-. The place is very clean and well-managed.
The non-veg. scene begins and kinda ends at Ambrai - a place famous more for its location than its food. It has a long jetty-like deck that's right next to the Pichola lake. Sitting at the deck, you can easily spend a long lazy afternoon, day-dreaming the dreams of palaces and lakes and magic. The place serves some traditional varieties - but their Laal Maas is just garlic mutton curry, with lots and lots of garlic. It's nice, but it's not the real thing. The restaurant is hosted within a small category #3 (see earlier section on stay) hotel called Amet Haveli, part of which is under renovation as of now.
There are several restaurants that offer roof-top view of the lake - famous among these are Udai Kothi, near Ambrai, Upre by 1559 AD which is just opposite on the same road, Jaiwana Haveli on the Lal Ghat and Kabab Mistry - which is hosted in Jaisingh Garh haveli hotel. Most of these are marginal in terms of food, but offer good view, and if you are in the mood to spend the evening watching the colors change on the surface of the water - these could serve the purpose. Kabab Mistry also has live ghazals by local singers, so if you really feel like a firangi vacation, maybe this could suit you.
(Of course, if you want to see 'Octupussy' instead at 7pm, there's always Panorama - on the same road as Udai Kothi!)
There are also a few lounges with European and Mediterranean varieties if you feel like a change of palate - among which Savage Garden inside Chand pole - serves decent pastas and soups.
But the real fun in Udaipur is going to Bapu Bazaar and trying out the local roadside stuff. There are halwai shops selling lassi, mithai, kachoris. JMB's daal kachoris are actually quite good - reminds me of the ones we had at Aggarwals in Alwar some years ago, and the ones at Ghanta Ghar in Jodhpur. The Malpuwas (sweet) are also quite tasty - and no smell of oil, which is a huge plus - if you have traveled enough in India!
In terms of fine dining, Trident offers a traditional menu. The current head Chef Arun is from Delhi, but he has a local Rajasthani chef with him, who takes care of the traditional menu. Their dahi ke kebab are excellent, as is the govind gatta sabji and the palak mangodi sabji. Arun also prepared a higher version of Ker Sangri for us - but for the life of me I cannot remember its name. All I remember now is that it had five ingredients.
One of the reasons for this memory loss is the excellent Maas Baati I had next. I have had Baatis and I have had Laal Maas, but this is the first time I had them together - and the combination was exceptional! ... Now here was a Laal Maas that was not just spicy mutton curry. The spice was that of dried chilly, and had the ability to hit you rather later than while you are taking the bite, which is what is supposed to be. But now I am drooling.
Apart from this, there aren't too many places to eat. So is the case with places to stay and sights. Most places with rave reviews on traveler forums are rather over the top, and only if you keep your expectations in check, you may not be disappointed. The food is expensive and limited in variety, the stay can be too (if you try it during season), and the places of interest are only mildly amusing. The shopping is good, but Jaipur is perhaps better.
So there it is folks, as good as it gets - Udaipur is an excellent drive down from Delhi with good roads and some nice things to see and eat - but if you ask me, I will take a drive to Jodhpur any day over it !! ... Nevertheless,a most refreshing and much-deserved weekend gateway though!
Best
- Shreekant
31 July 2014
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| Udaipur City from atop Karni Mata Temple Fort |
And yet, Udaipur - rather, "Oudieipore" as is spelled below a 18th century French sketch in the City Palace museum - has a charm of its own, if it can be called 'charm', that is completely different from the Jaipur-Jodhpur-Bikaner variety. Some of it is due to the number of lakes and hills doting the landscape of the city. I mean, the entry to the city is brilliant, as the road winds through green hills and you can see the expanse of the city contained yet spilling through cervices among them. Some of the 'charm' is due to the number of firangi tourists thronging the food streets of Bapu Bazaar and Bohrawadi. They are definitely more than usual, even when it's an off-season time of the year.
But most of this special character is due to the city's physical proximity and fraternal affinity towards Gujarat in general and Ahmedabad in particular. And most of it is quite nice - the traditional Gujarati thali lunches, the palaces, the lakes, the sites. You got to believe when I say affinity here. Most people in Mewar region speak fluent Gujarati in their day to day dealings. People dress up in more Gujarati style. Even JMB - Jagdish Mishtan Bhandar - famous for daal kachoris and pyaaj (onion) kachoris sell two varieties of 'Chakali' - one locally made and another brought in from A'bad!
However, before you start getting all mushy about Udaipur, let's get some facts out on the table, and then you can decide for yourself if you want to make it into a nice extended weekend gateway:
Getting There
--------------------
From Gurgaon (Sahara Mall), Udaipur main town square is around 670km. You take the 6-lane to Jaipur (250km) - which is still getting built, and it will probably take two more changes of government before the road is capable of imparting pleasure - and you cross Dharuheda, enter Rajasthan, cross Neemrana, Behror, Kotputli, and reach Chandwaji, where you take the overpass towards Ajmer.
You can see new residential projects, towers being built out of nowhere, with a hope of en-cashing on the industry of Jaipur and on the proposed plans of a Delhi-Mumbai express corridor. The going is easy here, and you cross some of the smaller towns like Dudu without incident. Around 120km from Chandwaji bypass where you took Ajmer road, you will see a flyover with Nasirabad shown to the left. Leave the road to Kishangarh-Ajmer and take this left towards Ahmedabad-Udaipur. The road will lead to Chittodgarh.
Here on, the road becomes four lane, rather than six lane, but the surface is still quite fabulous. You can easily cruise at 130-140. In fact the roads throughout are excellent and you can expect an average run rate of 75 kmph, compared to 50 on other Indian roads, for the overall trip. We did 650km in about 9 hours travel time.
The only issue could be that there are no good eateries on the way. You will bypass some nondescript places like Vijaynagar, Gulabpur etc. and they have nothing to offer. Saras Bhilwada Midway, around 20km before Bhiwara and about 10km from Raila, is probably your best option for a decent meal. The place is run by the folks who manage Saras Dairy, so it is a bit 'sarkari', but the service is warm in an old-world charm way and the food is good, although a bit heavy in oil and spices. Check out the local Govind Gatte ki Sabji, with multi-grain rotis, shrikhand, and chaas (buttermilk). All milk products are, of course, by Saras Dairy.
The road will safely take you to Chittod, from where Udaipur is another 100km. You need to take a right here to continue on the highway, else you will enter the city. The road here on is even better. You can wheez past some more towns, then the Udaipur airport on the left and now you are only 25km away from the city. From here on, the hills of Udaipur will begin to emerge.
The entry to the city is grand and scenic, and unlike any other city in Rajasthan - winding its way through the green hills, and with a view of the sprawling city across the mountain ranges. You will be surprised how green this entire region is - it does not feel like Rajasthan, more like Uttarakhand!
Your road takes you to Chetak circle, which is an important landmark. Go straight or go right, and you will move towards Lake Pichola, the largest of the lakes in Udaipur. Most of the hotels and places of interest are around the lake.
Stay Situation
---------------------
Different people go to Udaipur for different reasons, and therefore the city has many choices to offer. You of course have the Taj Lake Palace, built on Jag Niwas island in Lake Pichola, then you have the Oberoi Udai Vilas - both are a league in themselves. There is a Devi Garh palace that could also be included in this class. These are rather exclusive and frankly over-priced, with shenanigans like cover charges for lunch and dinner. Devi Garh also blatantly refuses to allow children below 18 to stay overnight !! ... The cheek !! ...
Even the Leela Palace is a great property. The prices in this league are around 15-18k per night for a couple during off-season.
The next level is probably the Trident, on the other side of Udai Vilas (in the same campus). They have a very good property, with some rooms having a slanted view of the lake, an excellent veranda for dinner overlooking the lush green lawns, and mostly family-friendly amenities. This could cost you around 6-8k per night. I have not checked Radisson and Ramada, but I guess these would be in a similar category.
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| Lawns of Trident Udaipur |
The third variety is the so-called lake facing properties - Udai Bagh, A Justa Resort, Udai Kothi, Jaiwana Haveli etc. Most will be in the range of 2-5k per night. If you are bag-packing and do not have kids with you, these might be good options. The rooms for most of these are very small, but you get to see the lake all the time from your rooms. The food served in these restaurants is marginal and most have a challenging road entry due to their vicinity to the ghats. So if you are driving down, this could be a small constraint. It is not that you cannot get to the places, but the parking as well as getting in and out is a hassle.
Up and About
---------------------
The sights and sites of Udaipur start, of course, with the lakes. Lake Pichola is the largest and famous for nesting Taj Lake Palace on an island. The hotel itself came in the limelight with Roger Moore's Bond movie in the early 80's - the highly unimaginative and unintentionally outrageous 'Octopussy'. Even today, there are a couple of degenerate places around the lake circuit that play the movie every evening as a ritual.
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| Octopussy every fr@#$king day!!! |
The city is built around four lakes - all lakes are inter-connected. The largest two are Pichola and Fateh Sagar, with the latter being developed more for amusement - it has a zoo, a garden, some fountains etc.
The people are proud, and appear to be slightly less hospitable than other parts of Rajasthan. Anyway, it was in Mewar that the last stand of Rajputs was taken against the Mughals, so I guess they have a historical leeway about it. Not that they are rude or so, but you don't find the natural Rajasthani warmth, which is such characteristic of northern and eastern parts of the state. The behavioral traits are more like those from the neighboring south-western state (!).
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| View from Karni Mata Temple |
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| Karni Mata Roapway |
Once you reach the top, there is a large viewing platform, and some stairs that lead to the site where the temple is currently getting re-constructed. All along, you can see the vast expense of the city on one side and the hills and the lakes on the other side.
Apart from the lakes and the temples, you can spend time and money on the City Palace museum, which - like everything else here - is highly over-rated. A museum that showcases brass utensils - things that I can still find in my aunt's kitchen, although with effort - is not high on my list of things to see. Anyway, the Mewari paintings are quite nice. Look out for the special section dedicated to Chetak - Maharana Pratap's favorite horse. There are sections about the great Rana - son of the founder of the city Maharaja Udai Singh - and his famous fight with the Mughal forces at Haldi Ghati - which are interesting too for history buffs.
The entry to City Palace has the most famous and revered Jagdish temple - also a landmark as almost all of the small streets around the lake trickle down to the square in front of the temple. The evening aarti is good to attend too.
The roads around the lake are exceedingly narrow, pebbled and allow only one vehicle at a time for most of their lengths.The surfaces are also uneven and go up and down, so driving a big car around here is rather painful. So are the tiny bazaars like Boharawada, and walking around or taking a cycle rickshaw might be more advisable,esp if it's not raining. One thing is certain - this is definitely not the 'Venice of the East' !!
Food Situation
----------------------
Due to the A'bad influence, Udaipur offers many places that serve the traditional Gujarati veg. thali. The one at Natraj is quite famous, but crowded. But you should try the one at The Garden Hotel next to the Vintage Car Museum (which itself is quite nice - one of the three museums in India dedicated to Vintage and Classic Automobiles) of the current Maharaja. It is a simple fair, with four veggies, daal, roti, rice - no onions, no garlic - all for Rs. 200/-. The place is very clean and well-managed.
The non-veg. scene begins and kinda ends at Ambrai - a place famous more for its location than its food. It has a long jetty-like deck that's right next to the Pichola lake. Sitting at the deck, you can easily spend a long lazy afternoon, day-dreaming the dreams of palaces and lakes and magic. The place serves some traditional varieties - but their Laal Maas is just garlic mutton curry, with lots and lots of garlic. It's nice, but it's not the real thing. The restaurant is hosted within a small category #3 (see earlier section on stay) hotel called Amet Haveli, part of which is under renovation as of now.
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| The City Palace on the other side of Lake as seen from Ambrai Restaurant |
There are several restaurants that offer roof-top view of the lake - famous among these are Udai Kothi, near Ambrai, Upre by 1559 AD which is just opposite on the same road, Jaiwana Haveli on the Lal Ghat and Kabab Mistry - which is hosted in Jaisingh Garh haveli hotel. Most of these are marginal in terms of food, but offer good view, and if you are in the mood to spend the evening watching the colors change on the surface of the water - these could serve the purpose. Kabab Mistry also has live ghazals by local singers, so if you really feel like a firangi vacation, maybe this could suit you.
(Of course, if you want to see 'Octupussy' instead at 7pm, there's always Panorama - on the same road as Udai Kothi!)
There are also a few lounges with European and Mediterranean varieties if you feel like a change of palate - among which Savage Garden inside Chand pole - serves decent pastas and soups.
But the real fun in Udaipur is going to Bapu Bazaar and trying out the local roadside stuff. There are halwai shops selling lassi, mithai, kachoris. JMB's daal kachoris are actually quite good - reminds me of the ones we had at Aggarwals in Alwar some years ago, and the ones at Ghanta Ghar in Jodhpur. The Malpuwas (sweet) are also quite tasty - and no smell of oil, which is a huge plus - if you have traveled enough in India!
In terms of fine dining, Trident offers a traditional menu. The current head Chef Arun is from Delhi, but he has a local Rajasthani chef with him, who takes care of the traditional menu. Their dahi ke kebab are excellent, as is the govind gatta sabji and the palak mangodi sabji. Arun also prepared a higher version of Ker Sangri for us - but for the life of me I cannot remember its name. All I remember now is that it had five ingredients.
One of the reasons for this memory loss is the excellent Maas Baati I had next. I have had Baatis and I have had Laal Maas, but this is the first time I had them together - and the combination was exceptional! ... Now here was a Laal Maas that was not just spicy mutton curry. The spice was that of dried chilly, and had the ability to hit you rather later than while you are taking the bite, which is what is supposed to be. But now I am drooling.
Apart from this, there aren't too many places to eat. So is the case with places to stay and sights. Most places with rave reviews on traveler forums are rather over the top, and only if you keep your expectations in check, you may not be disappointed. The food is expensive and limited in variety, the stay can be too (if you try it during season), and the places of interest are only mildly amusing. The shopping is good, but Jaipur is perhaps better.
So there it is folks, as good as it gets - Udaipur is an excellent drive down from Delhi with good roads and some nice things to see and eat - but if you ask me, I will take a drive to Jodhpur any day over it !! ... Nevertheless,a most refreshing and much-deserved weekend gateway though!
Best
- Shreekant
31 July 2014
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