City Palace rises like a white-and-gold fortress above Lake Pichola, forming a long cliff of palaces, courtyards and balconies. Inside, it feels like many palaces stitched together – mirrored halls, coloured-glass windows, peacock mosaics, marble courtyards and tiny passageways that suddenly open to grand terraces with lake views. From the upper levels you see ghats, havelis, island palaces and the old city clustered around the water. Today, the complex is divided between museums, royal residence and luxury hotels, but it still feels like the beating royal heart of Udaipur, where festivals, processions and religious rituals meet tourism and hospitality.
About this place
History & highlights
City Palace was begun soon after 1559, when Maharana Udai Singh II, ruler of Mewar, founded Udaipur as his new capital after leaving the besieged fort of Chittorgarh. Built on a ridge above Lake Pichola, the main palace was expanded over about 400 years by successive Maharanas of the Sisodia Rajput line – roughly 22–23 generations – creating an agglomeration of 11 smaller palaces, gateways and courtyards that still read as a single complex. The palace reflects Udaipur’s changing politics: from a fiercely independent Rajput kingdom resisting Mughals, to a princely state under British paramountcy, to a heritage symbol in independent India. After 1947, parts of the palace were opened as museums and heritage hotels by the royal family (House of Mewar), turning the complex into one of India’s most-visited royal residences while still retaining private royal quarters.
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