Udaipur · Lake Pichola
A palace of white marble that looks as though it was poured onto the lake.
There is no drive, no porte-cochère, no gravel underfoot. You come to the Taj Lake Palace the only way anyone ever has, by boat from the City Palace jetty into the middle of Pichola. For the 4 minutes of the crossing you belong to the water. Then the marble rises ahead of you, and a man in a Mewar turban scatters rose petals across the landing as though your arrival were a small monsoon.
The lake is flat silver all afternoon. At dusk it starts throwing the sunset back through the fretwork of the jharokha, and the white walls catch it and hold it — first apricot, then rose, then a deep bruised gold. You do not turn on a lamp. You sit in the window seat with the hills going dark across the water and let the room go dim.
The service here anticipates without watching. Your boat is waiting before you have thought to ask for it, and the butler knows you take your morning chai on the west terrace before you have said so twice. It is the old Rajput idea of hospitality — the guest as a form of deity — carried across 3 centuries and delivered without a trace of performance.
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The Boat. Every arrival, departure and trip ashore is by the palace's own launch. Dinner in town begins with a crossing of Pichola, which is not a bad way to start an evening.
The Jiva Spa Boat. The Kalpavriksha is a restored royal barge with a treatment table on it. The Ayurvedic therapist works while the boat crosses the lake, and the hills slide past the porthole.
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The palace has 83 rooms in a building that was never designed to hold them, so no 2 of them sit the same way. Almost everything is on the piano nobile, with arched windows onto Pichola.
Only the Grand Royal Suite sits at lake level, closer to the water and to the courtyards. Higher is not better here — the lake looks different from every floor, and from the lower rooms you can hear it.
A Luxury Room has the lake through a window seat set into the marble.
A Grand Royal Suite has it on 3 sides, and a terrace that steps down almost to the water. What separates them is not floor space, it is how much lake you get. If you came to sit and watch the light move, take the suite.
It is the old Rajput idea of hospitality — the guest as a form of deity — carried across 3 centuries and delivered without a trace of performance.
Taj Lake Palace
Pichola
Udaipur, Rajasthan 313001
India
Rates are quoted for your dates.
Room
27 m² · Sleeps 2 + 1 child
Lake Pichola
A high-ceilinged room in the historic wing, its window seat set into the fretted marble so the lake is always in the frame. Silk at the windows, a hand-knotted carpet, and a writing desk that has almost certainly outlived several dynasties. It is 27 square metres — not the largest room in the palace, and arguably the one with the purest view. A double bed; the twin is listed on its own.
Room
27 m² · Sleeps 2 + 1 child
Lake Pichola
A high-ceilinged room in the historic wing, its window seat set into the fretted marble so the lake is always in the frame. Silk at the windows, a hand-knotted carpet, and a writing desk that has almost certainly outlived several dynasties. It is 27 square metres — not the largest room in the palace, and arguably the one with the purest view. Two beds; the double is listed on its own.
Suite
84 m² · Sleeps 3 + 1 child
Panoramic lake and City Palace
The suite the Maharana kept for himself: 84 square metres at lake level, with cusped arches opening the living room to the water on 3 sides. The bedroom is hung with gold-threaded Mewar miniatures, and a private terrace steps down almost to the waterline. Wake up here and the City Palace is floating in your front window.
Room
21 m² · Sleeps 2
The lily pond and the inner court
The one room in the palace that does not face the lake. It looks inward instead, onto the lily pond and the marble court — quieter, cooler in May, and closer to how the building was actually lived in. It is 21 square metres, the smallest room in the house. Take it if what you want is to be on the island, and accept that seeing the water means walking 20 steps. A double bed; the twin is listed on its own.
Room
21 m² · Sleeps 2
The lily pond and the inner court
The one room in the palace that does not face the lake. It looks inward instead, onto the lily pond and the marble court — quieter, cooler in May, and closer to how the building was actually lived in. It is 21 square metres, the smallest room in the house. Take it if what you want is to be on the island, and accept that seeing the water means walking 20 steps. Two beds; the double is listed on its own.
Room
28 m² · Sleeps 3
Lake Pichola
Hand-painted panels floor to ceiling, mirrored insets, and a different palette in every one of these rooms. It is 28 square metres — a metre more than a Luxury Room — and it takes a third adult, which the Luxury Rooms do not, so this is where a family of 3 ends up. The lake is on the window side, always. A double bed; the twin is listed on its own.
Room
28 m² · Sleeps 3
Lake Pichola
Hand-painted panels floor to ceiling, mirrored insets, and a different palette in every one of these rooms. It is 28 square metres — a metre more than a Luxury Room — and it takes a third adult, which the Luxury Rooms do not, so this is where a family of 3 ends up. The lake is on the window side, always. Two beds; the double is listed on its own.
Suite
42 m² · Sleeps 3
Lake Pichola
There are 3 of these and they have names rather than numbers: Rang Mahal, Sandhya, Sisarma Darshan. It is 42 square metres, and what the extra floor buys is a sitting area you can properly occupy rather than a chair by the window, a four-poster bed, and a walk-in wardrobe cut into the thickness of the wall. Marble underfoot, sheer fabric at the windows, and the lake at 6 in the evening. Ask which of the 3 is free before you book; they are genuinely different rooms.
Suite
53 m² · Sleeps 3
Lake Pichola and the Aravallis
There are 4 of them — Basant Bahar, Machla Magra, Jag Mandir Darshan, Aravali Darshan — and the stained glass is the thing. Late in the afternoon the west windows throw coloured light across the floor and up the far wall, and it moves for about 40 minutes before it goes. It is 53 square metres, with a separate sitting room, and in 3 of the 4 the lake is on two sides.
Suite
161 m² · Sleeps 4
Lake Pichola on 3 sides
The top of the palace: 161 square metres with Lake Pichola on 3 sides of it. A drawing room, a dining room, a terrace that steps down almost to the water, and a bathroom with a window onto the lake big enough to climb through. There is one. If the reason for coming to Udaipur is to sit still and watch the light move, this is the room the whole argument is about.
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