Udaipur: Private City Tour by Tuk-Tuk or Car, Lake Pichola & Palace

4.87

(129 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I’ll be honest — I picked the tuk-tuk option for this Udaipur sightseeing tour mostly because I’d never ridden one before. Turns out, my scarf did try to escape in the first five minutes (windier than it looks), and our driver, Ramesh, just grinned and handed me a safety pin like he’d seen it all before. We zigzagged through the old city’s tangled lanes, horns beeping, the smell of frying snacks mixing with incense from tiny shrines tucked into walls. It was chaos but somehow gentle — everyone waving or calling out “Namaste!” as we passed.

We stopped at City Palace first. The marble under my sandals felt cool even though the air was already warming up. Our guide pointed out details I would’ve missed — faded murals in a side hallway, a balcony where queens used to watch festivals. At Jagdish Temple, I tried ringing the bell (it’s heavier than it looks) and an old man smiled at my clumsy attempt. Later at Saheliyon Ki Bari, a group of school kids giggled when I asked what the fountains were called in Hindi. They told me but I’m pretty sure my pronunciation made them laugh harder.

Lunch wasn’t fancy — just dal and roti at a little spot near Fateh Sagar Lake — but it tasted better than any hotel buffet. Maybe because there was a breeze off the water and you could hear boat engines puttering somewhere far off. In the afternoon we wandered through Gulab Bagh’s rose-scented paths (Ramesh picked a petal off his shoe and shrugged) and then poked around the Vintage Car Museum, which honestly surprised me by being more fun than expected. There was this old Cadillac that looked straight out of an old Bollywood film.

The sun started dropping as we rode up to Karni Mata Temple by cable car — my hands got clammy on the way up but wow, that view over Lake Pichola is something I still think about. The city turns gold for just a few minutes before dusk really settles in. We ended with folk dances at Lok Dharohar Haveli; I couldn’t follow all the stories but there was so much color and laughter it didn’t matter.