Busy lives with busier schedules call for short breaks, which help us rewind and reboot our system. And, to help you do that, we are offering you an amazing road trip idea to Udaipur, starting from New Delhi. It is a pleasant journey of a little over 240 km, which takes somewhere between 5 and 6 hours.
Travelling via National Highway 8, which is also known as the Delhi-Jaipur Motorway, makes this journey much more exciting as you go through one of the busiest highways on this subcontinent.
Connecting the national capital to the financial capital of this country, NH8 is termed the busiest of all in India. Once you have crossed Delhi and Gurgaon, you can feel the difference in the air as you enter the countryside of Haryana. The air becomes cleaner, and the roadsides make way for farms and fields where you can see the season’s fresh vegetables growing.
As you move along this motorway, you can see several food joints, or dhabas, as we call them locally, on both sides of the highway. One among them, which is bound to catch your attention, is Hotel Highway King. With huge billboards marking “Chhook na jana King ka khana”, meaning Do not miss eating at King’s, they advertise their high-quality food and lodging services.
We stopped for our lunch break there, and no doubt the food was good. We were especially impressed with their prompt service. The place was almost full, with every table taken. Still, they didn’t make us wait any longer for our food, and we were soon back on the road towards our destination.
Udaipur sightseeing ideas
History has been extremely bountiful upon Udaipur, leaving it with millions of cultural and architectural heritages. With so many places to choose from and explore, we took the uphill challenge of selecting some of the top points of interest in Udaipur and going for them.
By the time we began exploring the city, we realised that we were nearing the closing time of the City Palace, which is a lakeside complex built over 200 years ago. So, we chose to give it a miss and go for other top tourist spots in Udaipur city.
The best way to explore the city is to ditch your car and take up an auto-rickshaw or a three-wheeler, which are always available for hire at an inexpensive rate. We also hired one where he agreed to give us a tour of the city and take us to some of the most popular places in Udaipur for some three hundred rupees. Not only were we happy to get a conveyance, but we also got ourselves a tour guide in the form of the auto driver. With his expertise, he chalked out a route map for us so that we can visit the tourist spots and enjoy them in the best way.
We began with the Moti Magri, which is a small hillock overlooking the Fateh Sagar Lake. Once you reach the top, there is a magnificent bronze statue of the local Rajput hero, Maharana Pratap, sitting atop his favourite horse, Chetak.
This complex has numerous tiered gardens which offer a magnificent view of the Fateh Sagar Lake and the valley view of the Udaipur city beyond.
At one end of this complex, you will find some ruins which are said to be of the palace where Maharana himself used to reside. It is adjoined by an abandoned temple, which shows some signs of restoration.
While coming down from the hill, we stopped at the complex museum, which is a must for one to see. Although this place hardly finds any mention among the top tourist places of the city, missing this one can mean you miss out on the miniature models of the forts in and around the city of Udaipur. These miniature models have been painstakingly handcrafted and depict the grandeur and architectural marvel of the mediaeval forts in the best way. There is also a section there, dedicated to the artillery and weapons that were used by the Rajput warriors of the bygone era.
From there, we hopped onto our auto-rickshaw to visit Sahelion-Ki-Bari, where Sahelion means ‘maiden or ladies, and Bari means garden or courtyard. It is believed that this garden was a gift from the Rana Sangram Singh to his queen and her 48 maids, who came along with her to Udaipur as a part of her wedding dowry.
This was a recreational spot for them where they were allowed to relax and gossip, away from the limits of the palace. Today, the star attraction is the Lotus Pond, which has four marble kiosks at the corners and one large fountain in the centre.
After sunset, this fountain lights up in different colours and offers a delightful view to the visitors. This complex also houses a museum which has several royal artefacts on display.
As the dusk was setting upon us, we were headed towards the Pichola Lake, which is one of the most attractive places in Udaipur. Our city tour guide, the auto-rickshaw driver, suggested we visit the Gangaur Ghat of Lake Pichola, which offers the best view of the lake after sunset. So, we agreed to go by the suggestions of our expert guide, only to find his words true.
Passing through the narrow lanes of the old Udaipur city, we came across a well-lit section from where we could catch a glimpse of the glistening water of Lake Pichola. With a majestic marble gate welcoming us, we went ahead and saw the spectacular beauty of this section of the embankment of the lake.
This artificial freshwater lake, built in 1362 AD, is said to be the reason why Maharana Udai Singh chose this place to establish a new city and call it Udaipur. He was especially taken aback by the beauty of the lake with the green hills in the backdrop, compelling him to develop this lake further. Today, we can only be thankful for his choice of settlement, as we can enjoy a beautiful water body right in the middle of the city, with four islands comprising the Lake Palace, Jag Mandir, Mohan Mandir and Arsi Vilas.
With the compelling beauty of the lake and its magnificent view at night, where the water shone with the lights ushering from the palace and the Mandir, we left with a hope to return again and complete exploring the remaining jewels of Udaipur city.
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