Jagat Niwas Palace

The address says most of it: 23-25 Lalghat, directly on Lake Pichola, next door to the City Palace, with sunsets over the Aravallis thrown in. Jagat Niwas Palace is a 27-room haveli of Mewari architecture whose own page wears two dates, a mansion built in the early 17th century and an establishment year of 1834, run by the Jagat Collection, hoteliers for over forty years whose name comes from their ancestral village of Jagat.

Arrive by boat

The hotel runs its own two boats on the lake, the mirrored Jagat Sagar and the smaller Jagat Ferry, and the complimentary shuttle at check-in and check-out comes by boat and tuk-tuk. It is hard to think of a better first five minutes in Udaipur.

Check-in arrives by boat; high tea can float in the pool.

Rooms climb from four Standards in their own block (with the gym and boutique store; no direct lift access) through courtyard Haveli rooms with hand-painted walls, three compact lakefront Heritage Lakeview rooms and the Jagat Suites, up to Presidential Lakeview suites with sprawling window seats, bathtubs, a French press and turndown among the trimmings. A rooftop plunge pool is lined with mirrored alcoves, there is a lakefront spa room for in-house guests, morning yoga, an air-conditioned gym, an in-house bakery and a "Revolving Library" that swaps books one for one.

Two floors of lake-facing eating

The restaurant takes two lake-facing floors: Jharokha does all-day dining (7am to 11pm) from window seats over the water with a view of one of the city's oldest banyan trees, and Chandni is the rooftop al-fresco level from 5pm. The Global Bar mixes signature cocktails and keeps local liqueurs; Rajasthani thalis are made with organic ghee and hand-ground spices and need ordering 24 hours ahead. The set pieces are pure Udaipur: a sunset high tea of bakery items, cheese platters and sparkling wine, a bookable floating high tea served in a basket in the pool, and weekend folk nights with Kalbelia musicians and dancers around dinner.