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View from Top of Ishwar Palace Hostel
You can see some of the thousands of bats that fly around the city at sunset. This view is easy to get - there are many rooftop restaurants . City Impressions Picturesque Udaipur was the setting of the James Bond film Octopussy, and there is no shortage of places in town to watch it on a loop: it definitely highlights the city's variety - the palaces, temples, narrow streets, and of course the lakes.
This is definitely a more attractive city than Jaipur, in part because it is much smaller, and since we visited in late June / early July, it wasn't very crowded. We really lucked out with the weather - about 90F every day with no rain, much cooler than it had been the week before. Still, it being the low season, many of the best shops and restaurants were closed, and the ones that stayed open desperately touted their product every time I walked past. Motorbikers also take this opportunity to speed 40mph through the narrow streets that are probably packed with people in the high season. It's not a pleasure to walk anywhere, except for the city park, which is pretty vast, but plenty of locals have come to the same conclusion, so it's crowded. It's also nice to take refuge on one of the hundreds of rooftops, where it seems the whole town goes
Thali at Natraj
Food price for 2, all you can eat: under 6 USD to watch thousands of bats fly through the impressive sunsets over the lake.
Making the Most of Low Season We forgot we were in India for a moment and booked Ishwar Palace Hostel for cheap. You get what you pay for, which apparently includes badly stained sheets, a broken toilet, and a loud kitchen on the other side of a thin wall. We were the only ones there. We upgraded to a discounted Jaiwana Haveli after a night, and it was much quieter and more comfortable.
Krishna Ranch About 5km outside of town, arid hills rise above villages and bucolic resorts. We stayed at a cottage at Krishna Ranch, which was a perfect break from the chaos. It was the tidiest compound we've seen in India, with about a dozen horses, a few goats, and small plots of vegetables, all on the edge of a nature preserve. The meals are made with products from the farm and it's wonderfully quiet at night. The surrounding roads are pretty good for a hike or run, and Badi Lake, a 40-minute walk away, is undeveloped, but the locals still find the shores to be the most convenient place to
throw all their trash.
Food There are dozens of worthy restaurants and cafes throughout the city, but the one that left the biggest impression was the famous Natraj, which we walked to via the city park. The second floor is a full restaurant but the first floor is a full-service cafeteria dedicated to all-you-can-eat thali (see photo).
Ganesh Handicraft Emporium This indoor craft market is like a museum, with a dozen or so rooms on multiple floors. The merchandise is impressive but their popularity with Hollywood elites (photos of Beyonce, Judy Dench, and a lot of others I'm proud to not recognize, with their bags) and big tour groups drives prices out of my range. It's still worth a visit.
There are more photos below.
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Keep Smiling
Mike Fossey
My favourite city in all India.
There's something about Udaipur that's made me want to return time and again. It's great when there aren't too many tourists in town. The last time I stayed at the Jaiwana Haveli the owner thought he was doing me a favour by giving me a top-floor room with a spectacular view of Lake Pichola and the Lake Palace Hotel. It was in a separate part of this old building and, although I could see the restaurant from my window, I had to descend four floors, cross a courtyard and then climb up three floors to eat!