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By Root 2066 0

deluxe rooms feature wood paneling and murals, lovely marble bathrooms, well-crafted furniture, opulent fabrics, and blissful Egyptian cotton linens. Best of all, everywhere you look—be it from the 263-year-old mango-tree-shaded pool, your room, or the restaurant—you have picture-perfect views: the statuesque City Palace walls and crenelated rooftops to the east, the whitewashed havelis and temples of the Old City lining the shores of the lake to the north, the Aravalli Hills to the west, or Jag Mandir to the south. The huge and opulent suites (of which nos. 116 and 117 housed the queen and the king, respectively) were thankfully left more or less as inherited from the royal family and have a timeless grandeur that the City Palace hotels could only wish for. Note that the luxury rooms with City Palace views tend to be smaller than those facing the hills, which are like miniature suites (albeit with cramped bathrooms), and be very careful to insist on a room with a view over the lake—a few deluxe units overlook the lily pond in the internal courtyard.

P.O. Box 5, Udaipur 313 001. 0294/252-8800. Fax 0294/252-7975. www.tajhotels.com. 85 units. Rs 34,650 luxury double; Rs 40,000 palace double; Rs 140,000 royal suite; Rs 192,500 grand royal suite. Taxes extra. AE, DC, MC, V. Amenities: 2 restaurants; bar; astrologer; babysitting; boat trips; currency exchange; doctor-on-call; 2 outdoor Jacuzzis; minigym; pool; reading room; room service; spa; 24-hr. water taxi. In room: A/C, TV, DVD/CD player, personal butler, minibar, Wi-Fi (30 min Rs 125; 1 hour Rs 200; 3 hrs. Rs 600).

Floating Bliss

A must-do romantic experience is to book an early evening treatment on the Lake Palaces floating spa boat, and emerge totally destressed moored in the middle of the lake, to the image of the sun setting over the Aravalli hills and the lights of the palace reflected in the water.

Eastern Shores of Lake Pichola

Fateh Prakash & Shiv Niwas Palaces The last two palaces built within the City Palace walls are now both hotels, but unless you want to overnight in what feels like a wealthy old aunt’s large but stuffy apartment, there’s only one section worth considering: the relatively new Dovecoat Wing in Fateh Prakash. Almost all the rooms in this wing, which stretches along the shoreline, have the most wonderful views of the lake and its palace, as well as views beyond the distant Aravalli Hills (perfect at both sunset and dawn); room nos. 511 and 617 even have little sitting rooms that jut over the water. By contrast, Fateh Prakash’s much pricier “Regal Suites,” while a great deal larger, are overdressed, overcarpeted, and old-fashioned—these definitely need sprucing up. Crescent-shaped Shiv Niwas Palace, built around the pool courtyard, is positioned farther south, and without the lovely Lake Palace floating before you, its views are a great deal less magical. And that’s if you get a lake view. Service will almost certainly try your patience. Overall we recommend you look elsewhere.

City Palace Complex, Udaipur 313 001. 0294/252-8016 or -8019. Fax 0294/252-8006. www.hrhindia.com. Fateh Prakash 28 units. Shiv Niwas 31 units. Fateh Prakash: Rs 24,000 dovecote doubles and regal suites. Shiv Niwas: Rs 15,000 palace double (no views); Rs 36,000 terrace suite (nos. 15 and 16 lake-facing); Rs 44,000 royal suite (nos. 5, 6, 7, and 18 lake-facing); Rs 80,000 imperial suite (no. 17 lake-facing). AE, MC, V. Amenities (shared by hotels): 3 restaurants; billiards; doctor-on-call; Internet (Rs 150/hr.); massage; pool; spa; squash. In room: A/C, TV, minibar.

Jagat Niwas This 17th-century haveli literally rises from the waters of Lake Pichola and is the best in its price category. Approached through a narrow street that runs into the entrance, it is essentially a cluster of buildings around a central courtyard. Rooms vary considerably, with only suites and deluxe rooms providing lake views—of these, no. 102 (super deluxe) and nos. 101, 110, and 116 (suites), are particularly pleasing options, and the latter is the most romantic. Note that deluxe rooms with lake