the rooms

27 m² · Piano nobile · Lake Pichola view · sleeps 2 + 1 child

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.

27 m² · Piano nobile · Lake Pichola view · sleeps 2 + 1 child

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.

84 m² · Panoramic lake and City Palace view · sleeps 3 + 1 child

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.

21 m² · Piano nobile · The lily pond and the inner court view · sleeps 2

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.

28 m² · Piano nobile · Lake Pichola view · sleeps 3

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.

28 m² · Piano nobile · Lake Pichola view · sleeps 3

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.

42 m² · Piano nobile · Lake Pichola view · sleeps 3

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.

53 m² · Piano nobile · Lake Pichola and the Aravallis view · sleeps 3

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.

161 m² · Piano nobile · Lake Pichola on 3 sides view · sleeps 4

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.