A lake older than the city
Udaipur did not find a lake and build beside it. A lake was here first, made by traders, and the city came two centuries later.
Our grandmother, who visited Udaipur often, used to say you could judge the mood of the city by the height of the lake. When the rains are generous, families walk down to the ghats just to look, and the local papers report how many feet of water have come in.
A made lake: like almost every sheet of water in Mewar, Pichola exists because someone dammed a stream that runs only in the rains.
The first dam: tradition dates it to 1362, in the reign of Maharana Lakha, and credits a Banjara, one of the travelling grain traders whose bullock caravans crossed Rajasthan.
At a glance
- Built
- First dammed in the 14th century, by tradition 1362
- Built by
- A Banjara trader; enlarged by Udai Singh II
- Open
- Ghats always; boat times vary by season
- Allow
- An hour by boat, or a whole day
- Best time
- The last hour of light, October to March
- Photography
- First and last hours; ask on the ghats
- Getting there
- Boats from the City Palace jetties and ghats
- Why a dam: it let the caravans ford the stream and gave water to their animals.
- The name: from the village of Picholi, which stood near the shore.
- Udai Singh II: two centuries later, looking for a capital safer than Chittor, he found the lake here, with a ridge on its eastern shore and the Aravallis all round.
- Enlarged: after founding the city in 1559 he strengthened and raised the old dam and built a stone embankment at Badipol, which greatly enlarged the lake.
- Defence and pleasure: an army from the plains met hills and water, while the court on the ridge looked over a lake that cooled the summer air.
- Its size today: roughly four kilometres north to south and about three across at its widest, though the shape changes a great deal with the rains.
- Fed by: mainly the Sisarma stream from the hills to the south-west, and in good years by water passed down from the lakes above.
- A ring of water: channels and arched bridges link it to Swaroop Sagar, connected by Maharana Swaroop Singh in the nineteenth century, and on to Fateh Sagar in the north.
- Never taken for granted: in bad monsoon years Pichola shrinks. In the drought years around the turn of this century people walked across mud around the Lake Palace.
The islands, one by one
From the shore the islands look like boats moored in the lake. Each one was built by a ruler for a different pleasure, and each has its own story.
Jag Niwas, the Lake Palace
Built: between 1743 and 1746 as a summer palace for Maharana Jagat Singh II.
It seems to float: it covers nearly all of its small island.
- A hotel: Maharana Bhagwat Singh turned it into one in the 1960s, and in 1971 the Taj group took over its management.
- Why it's calm: only hotel guests may land, plus outside diners when the hotel accepts them (we check).
- From the boat: you pass close by on any ride, and at night its lights shimmer across the water towards the City Palace.
- On screen: it appeared in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy, a story every boatman will tell you.
Jag Mandir, the island of refuge
The older palace: at the southern end, begun by Maharana Karan Singh around 1620 and completed by Maharana Jagat Singh I, who gave it his name.
- A prince's shelter: in 1623 the rebel Mughal prince Khurram, the future Shah Jahan, took refuge in Udaipur and is said to have stayed here.
- Today: a garden court, a terrace restaurant and eight stone elephants guarding the landing stage. Many boat rides stop for half an hour.
Mohan Mandir, the festival pavilion
Where: a small pavilion in the north-east of the lake, near the shore below the old city.
- Royal grandstand: the Maharanas are said to have watched Gangaur from here, as the women of the city brought the goddess to the water.
- Easy to miss: ask your boatman to point it out as you pass Gangaur Ghat.
Arsi Vilas, the bird island
A tiny island: near the City Palace, once an ammunition store and later given a small pavilion for watching the sunset.
- Now: quiet, wooded and a winter resting place for water birds.
- Look for: cormorants drying their wings on the stones and egrets in the shallows.
The ghats at dawn and dusk
At six in the morning you hear the ghats before you see them: the slap of wet cloth on stone, a temple bell and the splash of a boy jumping in.
What a ghat is: a flight of stone steps leading down to water. Pichola's shores are lined with them.
The old city's living room: where people wash, bathe, pray and gossip.
Early morning: women come down with brass pots and bundles of clothes, and men bathe and offer water to the rising sun.
The ghats to know
- Gangaur Ghat
- Arches, Bagore ki Haveli, the spring festival
- Bansi Ghat
- Palace boats, below the City Palace
- Lal Ghat
- Rooftop chai, Lake Palace view
- Hanuman and Ambrai
- The classic dusk view of the palace
- Chandpole bridge
- Kingfishers, and a walk between halves
- Later: children swim, and in the evening families sit on the steps to watch the light go.
- Gangaur Ghat: its triple-arched gateway stands beside Bagore ki Haveli, and in spring women carry images of Gauri to the water here.
- Lal Ghat: in the lanes south of Gangaur Ghat, crowded with guest houses, rooftop cafes and small hotels in old havelis.
- Across the narrows: linked by the Chandpole bridge, Hanuman Ghat and Ambrai Ghat face the City Palace directly, and photographers gather at dusk as its lights come on.
- Natni ka Chabutra: a platform linked to the legend of a tightrope walker promised a reward to cross the lake, who fell when the rope was cut. It is told in several versions, and ends sadly.
- Shrines everywhere: small temples sit on almost every ghat, with flowers left on the steps each morning.
Local tip
Walk the ghats quietly at dawn and keep your camera lowered when people are bathing. You will see the city at its most private and most beautiful.
Taking a boat, and timing it right
The same boat ride can be ordinary at two in the afternoon and unforgettable at half past five. On Pichola, the hour is everything.
Public boats: pleasant enough, but often full and on a fixed route.
Our private boat: set off as the sun drops towards the western hills and drift past the ghats, the Lake Palace and Jag Mandir.
The colour change: the City Palace turns from cream to gold and then to soft rose. We time it so you are mid-lake as the sun goes down.
Facts to know
- Public boats
- From City Palace jetties and a few ghats
- Private boats
- Last hour of light, or early morning
- Usual stop
- Jag Mandir
- Lake Palace
- Guests and dining bookings only
- Routes
- Set by operators, change by season
- How it works: our page on a boat on Lake Pichola.
- The other good hour: early morning, which almost nobody uses. The water is often perfectly still, winter mist may lie on the lake and the birds are busy.
- For whom: photographers, and anyone who would rather hear oars than engines.
- A stop at Jag Mandir: walk the garden court and have a cold drink on the terrace.
- A meal on the water: we arrange rooftop and terrace dinners facing the lake, or a private dinner in a palace courtyard reached by boat.
- Low water: after a poor monsoon some routes are shortened, so we confirm rules and timings a day ahead.
Local tip
Bring a shawl for a winter morning boat. It is colder on the water than you would expect.
Birds, boatmen and the life of the lake
Watch the water for ten minutes from any ghat and you will see a kingfisher dive. The lake is a city landmark, but it is also a living place.
Winter birds: cormorants fish the open water and dry their wings on the islands' stones.
In the shallows: egrets and pond herons, with coots and migrant ducks in the quieter bays.
Kingfishers: pied and white-throated, hunting from the bridge railings.
- The wild south: beyond Jag Mandir the lake is quieter, with hills coming down almost to the water. Ask for a slow morning boat with binoculars.
- The boatmen: many come from families who have worked the lake for generations, and know every ghat, temple and story.
- Their tales: which island is haunted, which hotel was in which film, and where the water stood in the year of the great drought.
- Tipping: tipping well is kind. Our money and tipping guide gives a sense of what is usual.
- A drinking-water source: the lake has had its troubles with sewage, weed and building along the shore.
- Getting better: water hyacinth, which once choked parts of the lake, has largely been cleared, and the city has worked to keep sewage out.
- How to help: throw nothing in the water, avoid hotels that pour waste into the lake, and refuse plastic on boats. See sustainable travel in Rajasthan.
Pichola and Udaipur's ring of lakes
Pichola is the oldest and most famous of Udaipur's lakes, but it is not alone. Knowing its neighbours helps you plan your days, and explains why the city feels so green in a dry state.
All man-made: Pichola, Swaroop Sagar, Fateh Sagar and Udai Sagar were all dammed, and several are linked by channels.
Water passed down: in a good monsoon, water from the lakes above helps fill Pichola, so the whole chain rises together.
The city's lakes
- Pichola
- 14th century, the lake of palaces
- Swaroop Sagar
- Linked by Swaroop Singh in the 19th century
- Fateh Sagar
- Rebuilt in the late 1880s, the people's lake
- Udai Sagar
- Where Raffles Udaipur stands
- Badi Lake
- A quiet lake for a picnic breakfast
- Pichola belongs to palaces: its shores hold the City Palace, the island palaces, the ghats and the grand hotels.
- Fateh Sagar belongs to the city: families on the embankment, roasted corn and boats out to the island garden. Read our Fateh Sagar guide.
- Two moods in one day: dawn on Pichola's ghats and an evening on the Fateh Sagar embankment show you both.
- For a second visit: a picnic breakfast at Badi Lake, or a night at Raffles on Udai Sagar, shows a quieter, wilder side of the lake city.
Festivals on the lake
Twice a year the lake becomes a stage. On those nights the whole city comes down to the water.
Gangaur and the Mewar Festival, March or April
The procession: women carry images of Gauri to Gangaur Ghat in their brightest clothes, praying for good husbands and long marriages.
- The Mewar Festival: held at the same time, with music, dance and boats on the lake.
- Lovely and busy: one of the best times to be in the city, and one of the most crowded.
Diwali, in October or November
Lamps everywhere: on the ghats and hotel terraces, each one reflected in the water.
- Fireworks: over the lake late into the night.
- Your room: if you are staying on the lake, ask for one facing the old city.
Teej and the monsoon, July and August
The rains arrive: the lake rises, the hills turn green and the city celebrates Teej.
- What you'll see: women in green leheriya on swings hung from trees, and families crowding the ghats to see how much water has come in.
- Our secret season: our favourite time on the lake.
The best places to see the lake from land
You can see Pichola from a boat, but you understand it from above. These are the viewpoints we use, and the hour for each.
Amar Vilas in the City Palace, in the morning
- The view: from the arches of the highest garden, the whole lake lies below, with the Lake Palace in the centre and Jag Mandir beyond.
- When: at opening time, before the crowds.
Ambrai Ghat, at dusk
- Where: on the western shore, facing the City Palace.
- When: half an hour before sunset, staying until the palace lights come on one by one.
The Karni Mata ropeway, in the late afternoon
- The ride: a ropeway climbs Machhla Magra hill above the eastern shore to a small temple to Karni Mata.
- The view: the old city, the ghats and the length of the lake.
The Monsoon Palace, at sunset
- The widest view: from Sajjangarh on its western hilltop you see Pichola, Fateh Sagar and the Aravallis together.
- What it shows: how the lakes fit into the hills.
A day around the lake, at the lake's pace
Pichola is not a sight you tick off in an hour. It is the thread that runs through a good Udaipur day, from first light to the last boat.
- For couples: this day is the heart of our Rajasthan honeymoons, and our proposal ideas in Udaipur explain a quiet proposal on a boat, timed for sunset.
- For families: children love the boats, the birds and Jag Mandir's stone elephants, and the afternoon rest keeps everyone cheerful.
Dawn, the ghats and the bridge
Before six: walk down to Gangaur Ghat while the women are washing and the shrine bells ring.
- Sunrise: cross the Chandpole bridge to Hanuman Ghat as the sun comes up behind the City Palace, and watch the kingfishers.
- Chai: on a rooftop above the water before the city wakes.
Morning, the palace above the water
- Opening time: climb straight to Amar Vilas in the City Palace, where the lake lies below like a map.
- Understand it first: see how the islands, ghats and hills fit together before you go out among them.
Afternoon, rest by the water
- Udaipur sleeps after lunch: and so should you.
- On a lake terrace: a book in the shade, watching the boats and the light. Lake hotels are built for this kind of doing nothing.
Late afternoon, a private boat and Jag Mandir
- An hour before sunset: drift past the ghats and the Lake Palace.
- Jag Mandir: a cold drink on the terrace, then back mid-lake as the sun drops behind the western hills.
Evening, the lit palace
The show: walk to Bagore ki Haveli for folk dance in its courtyard.
- Dinner: on a terrace facing the lit City Palace.
- The lake to yourselves: we arrange dinner on a boat, or on Jag Mandir after the day visitors leave.
Practical notes for the lake
The lake is easy to enjoy, but a few practical details make the difference between a good boat ride and a great one.
Boarding: by stone steps and small jetties, which can be steep and slippery when the lake is high.
Limited mobility: tell us in advance, and we will choose a jetty with easier steps and a boat with a wide, stable deck.
Life jackets: provided, and we ask that children wear them.
- Sun: strong on the water even in winter, so bring a hat and sun cream for daytime rides.
- Light: best in the first and last hours.
- Lenses: a wide lens catches the whole City Palace from the water, and a longer one picks out balconies and birds.
- Drones: rules in Udaipur are strict and change often, so we don't recommend bringing one without checking.
- People on the ghats: ask first, and accept a no gracefully. See our photography tips for Rajasthan.
- Guides: you don't need one on the water, as the boatmen know the lake, but a guide on the ghats at dawn brings the stories and rituals to life.
- Our pairing: a morning ghat walk with the City Palace, and the boat in the evening.
Where to stay on the lake
In Udaipur, the right room is the one with water outside the window. Every hotel we love most is on or beside Pichola.
Taj Lake Palace, on the water
On its own island: reached only by the hotel's boats.
- Choose it for: romance, and the strange, lovely silence of sleeping in the middle of the lake.
- Ask for: a room facing the City Palace.
The Oberoi Udaivilas, on the western shore
Setting: domes and courtyards across gardens on the far shore, looking back at the City Palace.
- Pools: many rooms have semi-private pools along the water.
- Who it suits: travellers who want to retreat completely between outings.
The Leela Palace, beside it
- Setting: a grand palace-style hotel on the shore near Udaivilas, with lake-view rooms and long terraces facing the old city.
- Who it suits: travellers who like formality and spectacle.
Shiv Niwas Palace, inside the City Palace
Setting: a wing of the City Palace, built around a courtyard pool with views over the lake.
- The privilege: walk the palace grounds before visitors arrive.
- Simpler options: a few heritage havelis on Lal Ghat and Hanuman Ghat have rooms right on the water.
- Compare: our guide to luxury hotels in Udaipur.
What we tell friends before they go out on the lake
Pichola is gentle, but it belongs to the people who live beside it. A few small things make it better for everyone.
Timing: book your boat for the last hour of light or the first hour of the morning, never the middle of the afternoon.
Privacy: bathing ghats are private spaces at dawn. Watch from a distance and keep your camera down.
- Warmth: carry a shawl for early and late boats in winter, even after a warm day.
- Keep it clean: never throw anything into the lake. It is a drinking-water source as well as a view.
- Temples: remove your shoes at shrines on the ghats, and step around the offerings left on the steps.
- Dry years: ask how full the lake is before planning your days around a boat.
- On its shore: combine the lake with the City Palace, Jag Mandir and Bagore ki Haveli, and see our things to do in Udaipur for the rest of the city.
