You really should visit Udaipur at least once with your BAE. This city is so beautiful and romantic during rains ;)
Trip Duration: 4 Nights and 4 Days (14/08/2019 to 18/08/2019)
Route: Gurgaon-Jaipur-Udaipur-Ajmer-Gurgaon
Tips & gears before planning : Carry umbrella and rain coat, if visiting in monsoon
Trip Started on the evening of 14th August. We departed from Gurgaon at 4:00 pm and headed for Jaipur (for night stay). After crossing the major traffic stretch till Manesar, we took a break at Highway King (best option to eat on this highway).
When we were about to reach Jaipur, we got news about some chaos there, so, we didn’t go for stay within the city. You will find some hotels on the highway itself. We stayed at OYO Satyam Inn (for INR 800).
Day 1
We left the hotel at 6:00 AM and started our journey to Udaipur.
If you wish to eat anything beyond Jaipur, do it then and there itself because there are not much good options for that later on this route. We departed quite early, and realized that all the eateries were full with truck-halts. So, we just had tea at a tapri (stall). You will also find a CCD at 302Km before Udaipur. But, the only good option to eat was Mewar Motel at 135Km before Udaipur.
Also, after Ajmer, there is single-lane road for about 110Km but the road condition is quite good and there is a lot of greenery to enjoy the route (best to travel in monsoons).
It was raining throughout the drive, so we came at low speed and finally reached Udaipur at 1:30PM.
Our stay was booked at Hotel Panna Villas, which is located on the bank of Lake Fateh Sagar. It is a heritage hotel and the one thing I loved was that it is situated on a comparatively quite road. All other tourist area roads are much more busy and narrow.
We booked a lake view room. But, on the day we reached, the only lake-view room which was vacant was on ground floor (which gave an obstructed view of the lake). So, we requested the manager to shift us on upper floor (which was done the next day). The positive point was that we got to stay in two different types of rooms.
Some points about Hotel Panna Villas
No lake-view rooms have bath-tub in their washrooms.
There is only one room on first floor, which has both lake-view and a balcony (luckily we got this one on day 2), all the lake-view rooms are without balcony, lake-view rooms on the ground floor have a common sit-out area, there is common lobby with vintage items and seating arrangement on first floor too.
Fateh sagar lake is across the road.
Ground floor rooms have marble interior and better washrooms and first floor rooms have wooden interior and smaller washroom.
The hotel also has a restaurant in the same name. We went there for lunch. They have top-covered and full covered areas for seating on the roof. Food was quite delicious. We had their special Chicken Rajputana and garlic naan.
All the rooms have guiding pamphlets about the city (places to visit and their timings), from which we decided to attend Darohar (Cultural show at Bagore Ki Haveli) in the evening.
Bagore Ki Haveli is situated on the bank of Lake Pichola and the route is very busy and narrow with market on both the sides. There is a big masonry-gate before the market and most of the vehicles are parked there. You can walk further 500m to the haveli. Bagore Ki Haveli also has a museum which opens till 5:30PM. The cultural show is an hour long (from 7 to 8PM) and the ticket window for that opens at 6:00PM. We waited for it to open on Lake Pichola. We were late, so didn’t get a chance to visit the museum.
Initially, we were not sure about watching this show, but let me tell you, it is a must watch. Please see a short video on our YouTube channel. The ticket for this show is INR 90 and if you want to make video or click pictures of the show, the charge is INR 150
Later we did some shopping on our way back to hotel and went to Bombay Market (located on other side of Lake Fateh Sagar) to eat at night. It is a street with many small food joints where you can have chinese, south Indian, street food, maggi, coffee etc. It was raining like hell, but still there was no space to park a car.
Day 2
For next day, we planned to visit City Palace, Jag Mandir palace and Shilpgram.
We booked our stay with breakfast. They don’t serve it as a buffet, but they have many options and you can order anything in any quantity (milk, tea, coffee, juice, aloo poori, stuffed paratha, bread butter and jam, boiled egg, masala omelette, cheese omelette, half-fry, poha). I think this much was enough for breakfast and it was all well prepared and you can even customize them as per your liking.
Later, we got ready and headed to City Palace. The route is same as that for Bagore Ki Haveli. After walking a bit beyond the masonry-gate, there is a division, from where the left path goes to Bagore Ki Haveli and the right one goes to City Palace.
The ticket for City Palace museum is INR 300 for adults, for children (from 5 to 18 years) is INR 100, for students (with ID) is INR 100, for teachers with group of students is INR 100, for senior citizens/defence/paramilitary/police force is INR 200 and free for handicapped and children below 5 years.Also, there is an entry of INR 30 for just palace (you don’t have to pay this if you buy the ticket for museum), but if you came out of the palace once and want to go inside again, then you have to buy this one (as the way to boat terminal for Jag Mandir palace goes from inside the City Palace).
There is also a sound and light show, which was cancelled due to rains.
CITY PALACE
As soon as you enter the palace, there are state handicraft shops on your left and the palace and museum on your right.
Whole of the palace is converted into a museum and it was big enough to take minimum 2 hours, even if you make it too quick. It has all the sign boards for where to start from and where to go next. It give you a thorough information about all the rulers of Mewar dynasty and many antiques from that time. It is not at all boring even for people not interested in history.
There is also audio tour facility with per hour tariff. See the tariff board picture for details.
JAG MANDIR PALACE
The ticket for normal boat ride (both sides) to Jag Mandir Palace is INR 400. This tariff varies with the time of the day and type of the boat, like boat rides for sunrise and sunset have higher values etc. It was cloudy anyways, so we booked tickets for normal boat ride. It’s a 15 minutes ride to the palace.
This palace has a small museum (it will take you 10-15 min to cover it). There is also a lakeside restaurant and a bar (a bit over priced due to obvious reason). The one thing, we were not aware of was that they provide accommodation facility too (tariff ranging from INR 15000-19000). But the best part was their garden- The Jag Mandir Gardens. It was a more-than-perfect place to have a romantic walk in such weather, with lush green area and surrounded by lake. We spent our maximum time there roaming around, sitting quietly and clicking of course. There is no time limit to stay at Jag Mandir. Ferry facility is at regular intervals till 11:00PM for visitors.
From there, we went for some high-tea at Jheel’s Ginger Coffee Bar & Bakery (searched via Zomato). It is in one of those narrow market lanes and is on the 4th floor in a tiny building through very tiny stairs. They have seating on two levels with a view of Lake Pichola. We had tomato soup, ginger tea and garlic bread (out of which tea was awesome, rest was not bad too).
SHILPGRAM
Later that evening we went to Shilpgram. The entry ticket for adults (Indian) is INR 55, for children (Indian) is INR 30, for foreigners (adults and children) is INR 120.
You will enter a completely different world when u get beyond the entry gate. It is all mud roads, wildly growing trees, village houses, handicraft shops, calm and quiet. There is also a rural folk performance from five different Indian states in the evening. Some part of it was good (Rajasthani part) but not engaging enough to sit throughout. We bought some clay pottery items and went back to hotel to have some rest.
AWESOME DINNER EXPERIENCE
It may sound like I am promoting it, but believe me, if you want to have authentic Rajasthani food, do go to Traditional Khana for dinner buffet. We also searched it via Zomato but it was an awesome expeience.
First time in my life, I ate whole food with hands (they don’t give you any spoon). They also have ala carte but to try everything you have to try their unlimited thali. This thali has four types of chatni (dry ginger, mango, mint and garlic), five gravy dishes (kadhi, chana dal, urad dal, gatte ki sabzi and chakki ki sabzi), ker sangdi (a herbal dish with two roots and three fruits), moong dal pakore (lentil fritters), chhaach (buttermilk), besan sweet dish, choorme ka laddoo, aate ki poori, bati and pakore ki khichdi.
The owner of the restaurant will come at your table and tells you about various traditional combinations of these items to eat (what to eat, when to eat and how to eat). Everything was too delicious and we stuffed our tummies like it’s our last day on earth.
Day 3
Next day we went to Saheliyo Ki Baari and then headed to Ajmer.
SAHELIYO KI BARI
The entry ticket for Saheliyo Ki Baari is INR 10 for Indian adults and children and INR 50 for foreign visitors. You can also get yourself clicked in traditional outfits here for INR 200 (if you just want a soft copy) and additional charges if you want a printed photo.
The entry has mini welcome fountains on both the sides and there is large fountain pool inside. There is also a museum “Kalangan” (where photography is not allowed). After visiting the museum, you exit into a beautiful and huge garden with a lotus pond.
Later, we started our journey back to Ajmer.
We reached at our hotel (The Royal Melange Beacon Hotel) in Ajmer at 5:30PM. The hotel was good according to the city with on road location. It was hardly 400m from the road with good restaurants, 1.2Km from Dargah Sharif , Adhai Din Ka Jhonpda, Ana Sagar Lake and 300m from Nasiyan Jain Temple.
It was raining heavily and was impossible go take your own vehicle into those miniature lanes. So, we booked an auto for Dargah. Coincidently, the one we booked was also into getting people VIP visit to Dargah. Still we thought to do it on our own, but after entering those lanes we went ahead with him. He was a decent guy and didn’t ask for any extra money.
He also told us to visit Ana Sagar Lake (we weren’t aware about any lake in Ajmer till then). So, we went there and it was unbelievably huge. The best part was that there were no food stalls along it, so it was clean and not too busy. The weather was perfect to walk on wide footpath build along the lake.
We went to Mango Curry (rated 4.5 on Zomato) for dinner. They have two adjacent restaurants, one for veg (Mango Masala) and non-veg (Mango Curry) and a bakery too. We had their special-Rara chicken and garlic naan and monchow soup. Soup was not at all like 4.5, rest was okay.
Day 4
Next morning we had our inclusive breakfast buffet and went to visit Adhai Din Ka Jhopda. It is one of the oldest mosques and quite damaged due to lack of maintenance. It is also located in the same narrow lanes near Dargah.
Later we went to Nasiyan Jain Temple. It opens at 7:00-8:00AM for Jain people and after 8:00AM for others. The main chamber of this temple is called “Swarna Nagri” or “City Of Gold”, where 1000Kg gold is used to carve out depiction of Ayodhya. It is constructed in two floors. The entry fee is INR 10 for Indians and INR 25 for foreigners.
We departed for Gurgaon at 10:00AM. We were accompanied by two of our friends from Jaipur. We took a lunch break at Highway King and two tea breaks and reached home at 6:00PM.
NOTE - Please drop us a query in Contact section for any other information required and get a glimpse of the trip on our YouTube Channel.
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RovitaS
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