Where to Stay in Udaipur — Best Hotels & Areas
Curated by Our Guild Explorers · Updated August 2026
Udaipur is the loveliest city in Rajasthan and, for an older traveller, the trickiest to book. Almost everything you have seen in photographs stands on a ghat: a stone waterfront reached by lanes no car can enter, with the best rooms at the top of steep stairs and no lift beneath them. That is worth knowing before the picture persuades you. Lal Ghat on the east shore is the walkable old city; the Ambrai or Hanuman Ghat side opposite owns the famous view back at the palace; the City Palace complex lets a car through its own gates; and the west-bank resort strip at Haridasji ki Magri trades atmosphere for level ground, lifts and a ten-minute taxi. Below are Udaipur’s most enduring hotels by style, each with an honest note and a Book Me link straight to Trip.com.
Choosing Your Neighbourhood
In Udaipur the decision is made by your knees rather than your budget. Here is the honest lay of the land.
Lal Ghat, the Ambrai side, the City Palace or the west bank?
Lal Ghat and Gangaur Ghat, on the east shore, are the most atmospheric quarters and the closest to the Jagdish Temple, the City Palace and the boat jetty — and the hardest on the body. Cars cannot reach most doors, so you are set down by auto-rickshaw and walk the last fifty to three hundred yards over uneven stone shared with scooters and cattle; lifts are almost unknown, the lake-view rooms are on the top floors, and the day begins loudly at six. Ambrai and Hanuman Ghat on the west shore, just outside Chandpole, are quieter and cooler in the evening, and this is the side that faces the City Palace, which is why every famous photograph is taken from here; the lanes and stairs are much the same, but the sunset restaurants are on your doorstep. The City Palace complex itself — Shiv Niwas and the Taj Fateh Prakash — solves the access problem better than any haveli, because cars come through the palace gates and porters carry the bags, though the palaces have their own long corridors and staircases and you share the compound with the daytime crowds. The west bank at Haridasji ki Magri is our recommendation for most American visitors over about fifty-five: level ground, car access, lifts, air-conditioned lobbies and a ten to fifteen minute taxi to the City Palace, with a private boat across the water as the pleasant way in. Fateh Sagar is modern, good value and has a flat lakeside promenade for an evening walk, but it is Udaipur’s wedding-hotel belt and can be loud in season. Put plainly: do not book a third-floor lake-view room in a two-hundred-year-old haveli on the strength of a photograph.
Luxury
One of the two most photographed hotels in the world, and the one we would actually book for a comfortable week. They are not the same choice, and the difference is a boat.
Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur
Built between 1743 and 1746 by Maharana Jagat Singh II as a summer palace and turned into a hotel in 1963: sixty-five rooms and eighteen suites on an island in Lake Pichola, reached by the hotel’s own launch from a jetty beside the City Palace, a crossing of three or four minutes running around the clock. Neel Kamal serves Mewari cooking, Bhairo sits on the roof, and dinner can be taken afloat on the royal barge. Every category faces water, but the entry-level Luxury Rooms are small and low — the suites buy space and a terrace. Think carefully before booking it if anyone in the party is unsteady: the boat is the only way on or off, the jetty steps are often wet, and an eighteenth-century palace has limited lifts. Book six to nine months ahead for November to February.
Book Me on Trip.com ›The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur
Built on a former Mewar hunting reserve and opened in 2002 on some thirty acres of the western shore, with about two fifths of the land left as a conservation area where deer and peacocks live. Rooms run from Premier through categories with a semi-private pool to City Palace View — and it is worth being precise, because the plain Premier Rooms do not look at the lake. Mewar by Vineet is the Indian dining room, and there are two temperature-controlled pools, one of them adults-only within an otherwise family-welcoming hotel. A private boat runs across to the City Palace jetty. For an older traveller this is the easiest grand hotel in Udaipur by some margin: the paths are level and wheelchair-friendly and there is not a ghat step in sight.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Boutique
Two old family havelis on opposite shores. Both are beautiful, both are excellent value, and neither has a lift — which is the single most important sentence on this page.
Jagat Niwas Palace Hotel
A Mewari merchant haveli of early seventeenth-century origin, long the best-known heritage guesthouse in the old city and recently refurbished: twenty-five or so rooms, a rooftop plunge pool set among mirrored alcoves, an open-air rooftop restaurant in the evening and an all-day room of cushioned window seats looking at the water. Lake-view rooms face Jag Niwas directly; the courtyard rooms see nothing of the kind, so specify which you are paying for. The practical picture: no lift, narrow stone stairs, no car access — an auto-rickshaw to the lane and a short walk — and parking about a kilometre away. Descriptions written before the refurbishment are now out of date.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Amet Haveli
Built in the seventeen-thirties on the west shore, on ground that is said to have supplied stone for the Lake Palace: around twenty rooms in three grades, every one of them facing Lake Pichola. The draw is Ambrai, the waterside restaurant that has been here since 1998 and owns the classic view across to the City Palace, the Lake Palace and Jag Mandir — book a table at the water’s edge several days ahead, and note that Ambrai is the hotel’s restaurant rather than a hotel of its own, a confusion the booking sites make constantly. There is a small courtyard pool and the hotel runs its own boat. Guests mention the steps repeatedly and they are right to: there are many, and they are uneven.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Budget & Value
Udaipur does inexpensive better than almost anywhere in India. One of these is the most consistently praised small hotel in the city; the other is the rare old-town house with any lift at all.
Jaiwana Haveli
Twenty-four rooms in a tightly run family house two minutes below the Jagdish Temple, and one of the most consistently well-reviewed hotels in Udaipur at any price — thousands of notices over many years, and the tone of them scarcely changes. The rooftop restaurant looks across Pichola to the Lake Palace, and the staff have a long reputation for arranging drivers and day trips honestly, which in Rajasthan is worth as much as a swimming pool. There is no pool and no spa; the rooms are plain and properly maintained. Access is the catch, and the hotel is straightforward about it: stairs only, no lift, lake-view rooms upstairs, an auto-rickshaw drop and a short walk on uneven stone. Ask for the lowest floor you can accept.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Hotel Udai Kothi
A purpose-built modern haveli of sixty-four rooms on the quieter west bank, long known as the one hotel in the old city with a proper rooftop swimming pool — which between April and June is not a luxury but the difference between a good day and a lost one. The rooftop restaurant looks across at the City Palace, and rates run from very modest in the shoulder months to several times that over the New Year. This is the practical value pick for an older traveller because a lift serves one of the buildings — but not all of it, so confirm in writing that your room is lift-served. Cars still cannot enter the lanes. Check the festive supplement if you are travelling at the turn of the year.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Family-friendly
With children, or with three generations, the old city stops being romantic and starts being a staircase. Both of these sit on level ground with cars to the door.
Trident, Udaipur
Oberoi’s middle brand, and on the same lakeside estate as the Udaivilas: a hundred and forty-two rooms in gardens, with a large outdoor pool, a spa, a children’s club, and children staying free in their parents’ room. It is one of the most consistently well-reviewed hotels in the city and the reasons are unglamorous and exactly right for a family: cars drive to the door, the corridors are level, the food is dependable, and the City Palace is a ten to fifteen minute taxi rather than a stair climb. Aravali is the main restaurant. About twenty-three kilometres from the airport. If you want the Udaivilas setting at a third of the price and can forgo the ceremony, this is how it is done.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Radisson Blu Palace Resort & Spa, Udaipur
The largest resort-style hotel in the city at two hundred and forty-four rooms, on the ridge above Fateh Sagar, and by a clear margin the strongest for children: a play area, a game zone with a bowling alley and arcade machines, paintball, electric cycles, folk-dance evenings and two outdoor pools, one of them temperature-controlled. Neel Mahal runs all day by the water and the rooftop looks over the lake. The caveat is a real one and worth checking for your dates: this is a wedding hotel, with a pillarless ballroom and lawns for fifteen hundred, and noise is a recurring theme in the reviews. Ask what is booked while you are there. Note also that the booking sites scramble its name; the operator’s own form is the one above.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Adults-only
There is no verifiable adults-only hotel in Udaipur, and we will not invent one. The landing pages you may find are filters titled ‘adults only and adult-friendly’, which sweep in ordinary hotels; the property most often mislabelled is Raffles Udaipur, which in fact runs children’s activities. The nearest real thing is Bujera Fort, a fourteen-room house about fifteen minutes from the City Palace, which welcomes children over twelve and younger ones only by prior arrangement — an age minimum, which is not the same as adults-only, and we would rather describe it accurately. The Oberoi Udaivilas has one adults-only pool inside a hotel that accepts children. The live listings are below if you would like to look for yourself.
Browse adults-only stays in Udaipur ›Pet-friendly
Both of the hotels below state their pet policy on their own websites, which is the only kind of pet listing we will print. The aggregator badges for Udaipur are unusually unreliable — one large site lists more than a hundred ‘pet-friendly’ properties here, including at least one hotel whose own policy is the opposite. Both of ours are outside the old city, which is also why they have room for a dog.
Taj Aravali Resort & Spa, Udaipur
Taj states on its own pages that the resort accepts one small-breed pet per room with advance notice, which makes it the clearest first-party pet welcome in Udaipur. It opened in 2018 on twenty-seven acres in the Aravalli foothills about nine kilometres from the old city, with something between a hundred and seventy-five and a hundred and eighty-five rooms depending on which source you believe. Tiri runs all day, Javitri does Indian, and there is a nine-room spa, an outdoor pool and a separate children’s pool. The hill setting is green and quiet and the ground is level, which suits both dogs and knees. You will need taxis for every outing into town, and the airport is about fifty minutes away.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Devra Udaipur
An eight-room family homestay on a five-acre hilltop about ten minutes from the centre, run by its owners, who invite guests to come with their pets in as many words on their own website. The infinity pool looks across fields to the Monsoon Palace on its ridge, which is one of the best sunset positions anywhere in Udaipur, and the food is traditional Rajasthani cooked to order rather than laid out in a buffet. For an older visitor the appeal is the absence of difficulty: level ground, a car to the door, not a ghat step in sight. It is genuinely rural, so budget for taxis, and email to confirm the pet arrangement before you book.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Don’t see your perfect fit?
Browse every Udaipur hotel with live prices and availability on Trip.com. Booking through our links supports Destinations Guild at no extra cost to you.
Udaipur Hotel FAQ
The questions travellers ask most before booking a room in Udaipur.
Is the Taj Lake Palace worth it, and can I visit if I am not staying?
It is worth a night or two rather than a week: the historic rooms are the point, some of them are small, and everything you do requires the boat. Non-guests cannot land on the island — access is for hotel guests and, at the hotel’s discretion, for booked restaurant reservations, which are rarely available in high season. Most visitors see it from the water, since the standard Lake Pichola cruise passes close by. Book six to nine months ahead for December and January.
Which side of Lake Pichola should I stay on?
For photographs and sunsets, the Ambrai and Hanuman Ghat side, because it faces the City Palace. For walking to the sights, Lal Ghat on the east shore. For comfort, lifts and a car at the door, neither — take the west-bank resort strip at Haridasji ki Magri or the Fateh Sagar hotels and taxi in. There is no shame in the third answer; a great many people who booked the first two wish they had chosen it.
Are the old-city heritage hotels manageable with knee or hip trouble?
Often not, and we would rather say so. Most havelis at Lal Ghat and Hanuman Ghat have no lift, steep stone stairs to the lake-view floors, and no vehicle access to the door, which means an auto-rickshaw drop and a walk over broken paving with your luggage. Jaiwana Haveli is stairs-only and says so; Jagat Niwas and Amet Haveli both draw repeated comment about steps; Udai Kothi has a lift in only one of its buildings. If mobility is a concern, book a modern hotel on level ground and visit the ghats by day — you will see exactly the same city and enjoy it considerably more.
When are the lakes at their best, and could I arrive to find them low?
They are fullest from late August through October, straight after the monsoon, and still good through the main season from November to February in a normal year. The risk window is the end of a dry year — April to June after a weak monsoon — because Pichola is a shallow, monsoon-fed reservoir and a poor year shows at once as exposed mud at the ghats, relocated jetties and reduced boating. In the severe droughts of the early two-thousands the lake effectively dried out and the Lake Palace stood on cracked mud. That has not recurred at that scale, but if the whole point of your stay is the water, ask the hotel about current levels before you book.
Can I bring a dog, and are there adults-only hotels in Udaipur?
Pets, yes, but verify with the hotel rather than trusting a badge on a booking site. Taj Aravali states on its own pages that it accepts one small-breed pet per room with notice, and Devra Udaipur, an eight-room homestay outside town, welcomes them. Several aggregator listings for Udaipur contradict the hotels’ actual policies. Adults-only: no, there is no verifiable adults-only hotel in Udaipur. Bujera Fort’s minimum age of twelve is the nearest equivalent, and the Oberoi Udaivilas has one adults-only pool within a hotel that welcomes children.