Why we love Mewar in the rain
Most visitors see Mewar in winter, when the hills are brown and gold and the light is clear. It is lovely. But the kingdom was built for the rains, and in July and August you understand why.
Built for the rains: Mewar's rulers dammed valley after valley to catch the monsoon, so that Udaipur is ringed by lakes in a dry land.
The Monsoon Palace: Maharana Sajjan Singh planned the palace of Sajjangarh partly as a place to watch the clouds gather over the hills, which is why everyone calls it the Monsoon Palace.
- Rains arrive
- Late June or early July
- Rains ease
- Through September
- Typical day
- Bright morning, afternoon shower
- Hills
- Bare Aravallis turn deep green
- Season sweet
- Ghevar, only in the rains
- Painted storms: Mewar's painters, like those of Bundi, loved storm clouds, lightning and lovers sheltering under a tree.
- When it comes: the monsoon usually reaches southern Rajasthan in late June or early July and eases off through September.
- It rarely rains all day: more often the morning is bright and humid, clouds build in the afternoon, a heavy shower breaks for an hour, and the evening is washed clean and cool.
- The hills change: the Aravallis, bare for most of the year, turn a deep, startling green.
- The countryside wakes: streams run in every valley, peafowl dance in the fields, and the farmers of the hills plough and sow their maize.
- The women's festivals: swings hang from neem trees for Teej, and women wear green and leheriya, the wave-patterned tie-dye of the rains.
- The sweet shops: they make ghevar, a honeycomb disc of fried batter soaked in syrup that we eat only in this season.
- Fairs and feasts: Udaipur holds its two-day Hariyali Amavasya fair on the new moon of Shravan, and Nathdwara prepares for Krishna's birthday.
- Not the off-season: you are not visiting in the off-season. You are visiting in Mewar's own season.
- And the quiet: with fewer visitors, the City Palace is calm at opening time, the rampart walks of Kumbhalgarh are empty, and the hotels are glad to see you.
- Room for a downpour: this journey moves slowly, with room in every day for rain, so that it becomes part of the pleasure rather than an interruption.
Day by day through the green Aravallis
- Nights
- Eight nights, nine days
- Pace
- Unhurried, with room for a downpour
- Best months
- July to September
- Good for
- Couples, photographers, repeat visitors
- Starts
- Udaipur airport at Dabok
- Ends
- Udaipur, or onward to Jodhpur
Days 1 to 3: Udaipur, when the lakes fill
Arrival: your planner meets you at Udaipur's airport at Dabok. Check in by the lake and rest.
First evening on the water: in the late afternoon, take a private boat on Lake Pichola, past the bathing ghats and Jag Mandir.
If a shower comes: the boatmen know where to shelter, and the light after rain on the City Palace is the most beautiful of the year.
- Day two, the palace at opening: enter the City Palace as it opens and climb to the top courtyards, where the view runs across full lakes to green hills.
- Then the old lanes: walk down to the Jagdish temple and through the lanes to Gangaur Ghat, and stop at a sweet shop for ghevar, still warm.
- After lunch and a rest: walk the gardens of Saheliyon ki Bari, whose fountains look exactly right with rain clouds overhead.
- Fateh Sagar: then the embankment of Fateh Sagar, where students eat corn roasted over coals and families come out to look at the water. The Hariyali Amavasya fair happens here, with swings, stalls and music.
- Sunset, cloud permitting: drive up to the Monsoon Palace an hour before sunset and watch the weather roll across the hills.
- Day three, the temples of the north: the Sas-Bahu temples at Nagda beside their lake, then Eklingji for the morning prayers, and on to Nathdwara for a darshan of Shrinathji with your guide.
- Pichwai of the rains: in the monsoon the temple's care turns to the rains, and the pichwai, the painted cloths behind the image, change with the season.
- A slow afternoon: return to Udaipur for a long lunch. Our Udaipur itinerary has more ideas for wet days, from painting studios to the vintage car collection.
Days 4 and 5: Deogarh, a palace above the green fields
The drive north: about three hours, past Rajsamand, the great lake that Maharana Raj Singh completed in 1676 partly as famine relief.
Rajsamand in a good year: it is full to the marble steps of its embankment.
- Arrival: at Deogarh Mahal, a seventeenth-century palace still run by its family, for lunch on the terrace and an afternoon of rain on the lakes below.
- Day five, the hill train: if it is still running in your year, take the old metre-gauge train through the Aravalli ghats, one of the last of its kind in Rajasthan.
- Goram Ghat: near it the line passes waterfalls and green cliffs, and in the monsoon this is the favourite outing of every family in the region.
- Not a luxury train: it is a slow passenger train, and that is the charm. We ride with you and the car waits at the other end.
- The afternoon: look at the paintings of the Deogarh school with your hosts, and walk through the villages as farmers come home from the fields.
- Read ahead: our Deogarh guide explains the town and its painters.
Day 6: Kumbhalgarh, the palace of clouds
The drive: south-west through the hills, about two and a half to three hours.
The fort: Kumbhalgarh is Rana Kumbha's fifteenth-century fortress, whose wall runs for about 36 kilometres over the ridges. Check in below the fort and rest.
- Around four: go up with your guide to Badal Mahal at the summit. Its name means the palace of clouds, and on a monsoon afternoon the clouds really do drift through its windows.
- The view: from the terraces you look over the wall, the forest and the plains of Marwar.
- After dark: stay for the light and sound show if the weather allows, and for the lit walls afterwards.
- The next morning: walk a stretch of the wall at first light, when mist fills the valleys and the wall seems to float above it.
- Wet stone: it is slippery after rain, so we choose the stretch and the shoes with care. Read our Kumbhalgarh wall walk before you go.
Days 7 and 8: Ranakpur and Narlai, marble and granite
Down through the forest: drive through the Kumbhalgarh sanctuary, about an hour, to Ranakpur.
Temple timing: the Jain temple keeps its mornings for worship and opens to other visitors later, so we arrive as visiting hours begin.
Ranakpur in the rains: low clouds sit over the spires, streams rush through the valley, and the marble of 1,444 carved pillars looks cool and grey.
- Inside: leave leather in the car and spend two unhurried hours.
- On to Narlai: less than an hour to Narlai, a village beneath a granite hill crowned by a white elephant, for a late lunch and a long rest.
- Day eight before breakfast: climb the granite hill if the rock is dry, and drink tea beside the elephant as the light comes up over the green Godwar country.
- The cave shrine: Shravan, the main monsoon month, is the busy season at the small Shiva cave inside the hill, and villagers come up to pray, especially on Mondays.
- Late afternoon: walk the village, when peafowl display in the wet fields.
- Dinner in a stepwell: if the evening is clear, dinner is laid by lamplight in an old stepwell outside the village. If it rains, it moves indoors, and nobody minds.
Day 9: Onward
- Back to Udaipur: after breakfast, about two and a half hours by road for your flight.
- Or into Marwar: the same distance north to Jodhpur, where the journey can continue.
Where you'll stay
Udaipur: on or beside Lake Pichola
Taj Lake Palace: floats on its island and is reached only by boat, which in the monsoon feels like sailing to a ship in a storm.
- On the western shore: The Oberoi Udaivilas and The Leela Palace spread along it, with rooms that look back across the lake.
- Inside the palace complex: choose Fateh Prakash Palace or Shiv Niwas Palace.
- The quietest of all: Raffles Udaipur, on its own island in Udai Sagar.
Deogarh: Deogarh Mahal
What it is: a seventeenth-century hill palace in the town, run personally by the family who own it.
- The rooms: painted suites, terraces and views across the lakes.
- Which room: ask for an older suite with a window seat, and be ready for stairs.
- Why we choose it: it is our favourite place in Mewar to listen to the rain.
Kumbhalgarh: below the walls
Heritage-style resorts: a handful sit on the slopes below the fort, a few minutes from the gate, with gardens and views of the forest.
- Honestly: they are comfortable rather than grand.
- Why stay here: you get the lit fort and the misty dawn without a drive.
- If you would rather have a palace: RAAS Devigarh at Delwara is a fine alternative, and it moves the Kumbhalgarh visit to a long day.
Narlai: Rawla Narlai
What it is: a seventeenth-century hunting lodge of the Jodhpur royal family, now a family-run heritage hotel.
- The setting: courtyards, rooftop terraces and the granite hill behind.
- Which room: heritage rooms in the old building have the most atmosphere, and garden rooms more space.
The festivals of the rains
- Rath Yatra
- June or July, Udaipur
- Hariyali Amavasya
- July or August, Udaipur
- Teej
- July or August
- Raksha Bandhan
- August
- Janmashtami
- August or September, Nathdwara
Jagannath Rath Yatra, June or July
When: in the month of Ashadh, at the very start of the rains.
- What happens: the Jagdish temple in Udaipur sends its god out through the old city on a great silver chariot, pulled on ropes by devotees.
- How we see it: the procession is long, crowded and joyful, and we watch it from a balcony above the lane.
Hariyali Amavasya, July or August
When: on the new moon of Shravan.
- What happens: Udaipur's municipal corporation holds a two-day fair at Fateh Sagar and Saheliyon ki Bari, with swings, food stalls, crafts and folk music.
- The second day: by long custom it is for women and girls only.
- A green festival: it is a celebration of greenery, and many families plant trees.
Teej, July or August
What it marks: Hariyali Teej celebrates the reunion of Shiva and Parvati and the arrival of the rains.
- How it looks: women dress in green and leheriya, hang swings from the trees and sing the songs of the season, and ghevar appears in every sweet shop.
- Elsewhere: in Jaipur a royal procession carries the goddess through the old city, and in Bundi a little later comes Kajli Teej.
- Read more: our Teej festival guide explains the rituals.
Raksha Bandhan, in August
What happens: sisters tie a thread, a rakhi, on their brothers' wrists, and brothers promise to protect them.
- The bazaars: they fill with bright threads and sweets for weeks beforehand.
- A light day: our guides will be busy with their own families, so we plan a quieter day.
Janmashtami at Nathdwara, August or September
Krishna's birthday: the great night of the year at Nathdwara, an hour north of Udaipur.
- What happens: the celebration of the birth at midnight, and the joy of Nandotsav the next day.
- Be ready for crowds: it is very crowded and extraordinary to witness. Read about Janmashtami in Nathdwara.
The four months of the rains
Monks stop walking: Jain monks and nuns, who spend the rest of the year walking from town to town, stay in one place so that they do not tread on the small creatures the rains bring out.
Chaturmas: this is the name of that pause. At Ranakpur, Narlai and the Jain towns of Godwar, the guest houses beside the temples fill with white-robed monks and the families who come to hear them teach.
- Chaumasa
- The four months of the rains
- Chaturmas
- Jain monks stop travelling
- Paryushan
- August or September
- Farmers sow
- Maize, pulses and sesame
- Paryushan: the most important period of fasting and reflection in the Jain year falls in August or September, near the end of the season.
- Wildlife: peacocks spread their tails in the wet fields, frogs sing in every tank after dark, and egrets follow the ploughs.
- The forest: on the Aravalli slopes around Kumbhalgarh and Sajjangarh the dry forest turns dense and green within weeks.
- New streams: seasonal streams appear where there was only stone.
- In the villages: farmers sow maize, pulses and sesame, and women in bright odhnis work bent over the fields.
- Ask your chauffeur to stop: a conversation about the rain is the easiest way to start one anywhere in Rajasthan.
What Mewar eats when it rains
Pakoras: when the rain comes down, every tea stall in the old city starts frying them, vegetables dipped in spiced gram-flour batter.
Mirchi vada: fat green chillies stuffed with potato and fried crisp.
How to eat them: standing under an awning, with chai in a small glass, watching the lane turn into a stream.
- Corn at Fateh Sagar: vendors on the embankment roast fresh cobs over charcoal, rub them with lime, salt and chilli, and hand them to you hot.
- Hill maize: the maize of the Mewar hills is sown with the first rains, and by late summer the season's first cobs are in every market.
- Ghevar, the sweet of the season: a disc of batter poured into hot ghee, where it puffs into a honeycomb, then soaked in syrup and often topped with thickened milk, saffron and pistachio.
- A family custom: families buy ghevar for Teej and send it to married daughters, and by the time the rains end it vanishes from the shops until next year.
- A monsoon thali: ask at your hotel for dal baati with plenty of ghee, gatte ki sabzi, seasonal greens from the hill farms and kadhi, with a sweet churma to finish.
- Prasad at Nathdwara: buy the temple's prasad from its own counters and share it with your driver and guide, as everyone does.
- Read more: our food of Udaipur guide and our journal piece on ghevar and Teej.
The rains, honestly
Every year is different: some years the monsoon is generous and some years weak, and nobody in Mewar can tell you in May which it will be.
A good year: the lakes overflow and the hills are green from July.
A poor year: the green comes later and the lakes stay lower.
- Full lakes
- August is the safest bet
- Greenest
- September, as rain tapers
- Midday
- Warm, humid, sometimes sticky
- Tiger parks
- Core zones close for the monsoon
- Drives
- In daylight, with extra time
- The safest months: August is usually the safest bet for full lakes and green hills, and September brings the greenest countryside of all, with the rain tapering off and the air starting to clear.
- The heat: between showers it is warm and humid, and it can be sticky in the middle of the day.
- The roads: hill roads can be slippery and the occasional stretch floods for an hour after a heavy downpour, so we drive in daylight and allow extra time.
- Forest drives: at Kumbhalgarh they depend on the forest department and are often suspended in the heaviest rains, and the tiger reserves elsewhere in Rajasthan close their core zones for the monsoon.
- Evenings can be rained off: outdoor dinners and the Kumbhalgarh light show among them. We always have a plan for an indoor evening.
- Pack: light, quick-drying cotton, a compact umbrella, a light rain jacket and sandals or shoes with good grip for wet stone.
- Mosquitoes: bring repellent and use it at dusk.
- Carry socks for temples: wet marble is cold and slippery, and shoes come off at every shrine.
- Water and food: drink bottled or filtered water, and eat freshly cooked hot food rather than salads from street stalls. Our health and safety guide has more.
- Choose your dates: read our month guides for Rajasthan in July and Rajasthan in August.
Make it yours
A shorter version, five nights
- The shape: three nights in Udaipur with a day for Nathdwara and Eklingji, then one night at Kumbhalgarh and one at Narlai or Ranakpur.
- What changes: you lose Deogarh and the train, and keep the lakes and the fort.
Add Bundi for Kajli Teej
Bundi in the rains: the painted town of Bundi is at its most beautiful in the monsoon, with full lakes, waterfalls in the gorges and its own Teej festival.
- On the way: add Chittorgarh and the falls at Menal.
- The route: our Offbeat Rajasthan journey follows it.
Add Mount Abu in the clouds
The wettest corner: Mount Abu, Rajasthan's only hill station, receives more rain than anywhere else in the state.
- In the monsoon: the hills are wrapped in cloud and the waterfalls run.
- The trade-off: views can vanish for days, but the Dilwara temples are just as beautiful in the rain.
For couples
The most romantic season: the monsoon is the most romantic season in Udaipur, and the quietest.
- Add: a night on Pichola and a private dinner at Jag Mandir.
- For ideas: read our Udaipur romance journey.
For families and wellness
Children: they love the boats, the train and the forts, and the cooler evenings help.
- A slower trip: our wellness and slow travel journeys use the monsoon for spa days and long afternoons with a book on a veranda.
- A royal habit: that is how the Maharanas spent the rains too.
How we look after you
Your chauffeur: private, and someone who knows these hill roads in every season.
Wait out the shower: your driver will tell you, politely and firmly, when it is better to wait than to drive through.
Local guides: in each place you have one.
- Chauffeur
- Private, knows the hill roads
- Guides
- Local, in each place
- Arrival
- Met at Udaipur airport
- Departure
- Udaipur or Jodhpur
- Planner
- On WhatsApp throughout
- Prices
- Quoted after one conversation
- A boatman on call: in Udaipur we keep one we trust, so that your sunset on Pichola can move by an hour if the clouds demand it.
- Airports: we meet you at Udaipur's airport and plan your departure from Udaipur or Jodhpur.
- Your planner on WhatsApp: throughout, watching the weather and the festival calendar with you, and rearranging days when the forecast changes.
- No commission: our guides take none and will never steer you to a shop.
- Monsoon advantages: hotels are quieter and often more generous with rooms and upgrades, and we pass every advantage on.
- No prices here: we quote after one conversation, once we know your dates, your hotels and how much rain you are willing to enjoy.
Who will love it, and who should travel in winter
You want Rajasthan green: quiet and at its most local.
You love real festivals: ones made for families rather than visitors.
Your perfect afternoon: a veranda, a cup of chai and the sound of rain on a palace roof.
- Photographers: love the skies and the light after rain.
- Couples: love the calm.
- Repeat visitors: those who know Mewar in winter tell us they hardly recognised it.
- Not for a single visit: it may not suit you if this is your only trip to Rajasthan and you want the desert, the tigers and clear blue skies.
- The desert in the rains: Jaisalmer and the dunes see little rain but are hot and sticky in the monsoon, and the tiger parks close.
- Choose winter instead: if that is your Rajasthan, choose Winter in Rajasthan or Mewar Lakes and Temples between October and March, and save the rains for your second visit.
