The City Palace of Udaipur

The City Palace is less one building than four centuries of them, added by successive Mewar rulers along the eastern shore of Lake Pichola until the complex ran to a long granite and marble front of balconies, cupolas and towers. The museum route threads a fixed one-way path through the older wings: a courtyard faced in blue and white tilework, a peacock mosaic set into an alcove, rooms lined with coloured glass and mirror, and higher up a set of terraces looking over the lake to the island palaces. Part of the complex is still a family residence and part is a hotel, so the visitor route is narrower and more constrained than the size of the building suggests.

What you actually see

• Mor Chowk - the courtyard alcove with peacocks worked in coloured glass mosaic.
• The mirror and glass rooms - interiors lined with inlaid mirror and coloured panes.
• The upper terraces - views across Lake Pichola to the island palaces and the hills behind.
• The tiled courtyards - blue and white ceramic facings in the older residential wings.

When to go

October to March is the pleasant season and the lake is usually full after the monsoon. Go at opening: the one-way route jams solid by late morning and the narrow stairs make it worse. Late afternoon light on the lake front from a boat or from the opposite shore is better than anything you get from inside the palace itself.

Honest expectations

The route is a slow shuffle in single file through corridors that were never meant for crowds, and you cannot double back. Several galleries, including the crystal collection, need separate and expensive tickets. In dry years the lake drops and the celebrated water views are mudflats. Touts around the entrance push boat rides hard.

Nearby

Jagdish temple is a few minutes' walk, and boats to Jag Mandir island leave from the palace jetty.