Chunda Palace

# Chunda Palace, Udaipur

Most palace hotels in Rajasthan are conversions. Chunda Palace is something rarer: a palace built from scratch by a noble family of Thana, descendants of Rao Chunda of Mewar, who spent sixteen years constructing it. The result sits 270 metres from Lake Pichola, and to our eye it is one of the most photogenic buildings in Udaipur, inside and out.

Sixteen years of painting

Hand-painted walls and ceilings in natural colours run through the interiors, with bone-inlay artwork alongside. The five room categories climb from Palace Rooms of roughly 350 sq ft, through 750 sq ft Historical Suites with heritage furniture, to Grand Historical Suites with bigger bathrooms and bathtubs; the six Royal Imperial rooms, at 650 sq ft, strike us as the sweet spot for a first stay. There are two pools, one indoor and one outdoor, a gym, and a kids' play area, which makes this a more practical family base than its looks suggest.

Embroidered with hand-painted walls and ceilings, our interiors narrate captivating stories

That is the hotel's own pitch, and for once the swagger seems earned.

Rooftops and the polo club

Dinner belongs on the roof. Square Terrace looks across to the illuminated City Palace, Jag Mandir and Lake Pichola, while Seven Alcove serves beside the rooftop pool; there is also the heritage-themed Royal Cuisine restaurant and the indoor Rang Tarang bar. The family also runs the Chunda Polo Club in Udaipur, where guests can watch a match, take a polo lesson or ride, plus a shooting range in the Aravali hills with archery and clay shooting across skeet, trap and double trap. Few city hotels anywhere offer that spread.

City Palace is 3 km away and Jagdish Temple 2 km, so the sightseeing core is minutes from the door. Book the lake-facing roof for sunset and give the painted corridors time; they reward slow looking.