Jagat Niwas Palace

POSITIVES: 1) Design: The hotel really is as beautiful as it looks in the pictures. Every corner is photo-worthy. It is very peaceful and a beautiful place to stay. 2) Location: The location on the water is stunning and views from all levels out on the water were amazing. It's close to the centre of the old town (5 min walk to the city palace) but peaceful at the same time. Just a heads up though - the streets in the old town are very narrow so you can only get a Tuk Tuk to the hotel, not a taxi. 3) Food: Food at breakfast and the restaurant was delicious. Really good evening menu, great cocktails and the ice is safe for westerners to drink. 4) Communal spaces: The hotel has a lot of great communal spaces, including some beautiful window seats with views right on the water. The perfect place to read and watch the world go by. 5) Comfort: Room was a good size with good furniture, storage, and a nice and large bathroom. The toiletries provided were extensive and high quality. NEGATIVES: 1) Light in room: There was a little window high in our room which didn’t have a blind and meant morning and night our room was very bright. 2) Noise: Our room was on the ground floor right on the courtyard and it was quite noisy, both in the morning but also at nighttime. 3) Business: Due to the incredible location/views the hotel was constantly full of people posing for photos which was slightly irritating. I’m not sure if anyone can wander in but I got the impression that some of them weren’t guests at the hotel or dining either. 4) Hot water: Hot water in the shower isn’t unlimited so you can’t have 2 medium length showers back to back without the water running cold. 5) Onconsistent restaurant service: We ate in the restaurant both nights. One night we had good service but the other we had terrible service. We were unnecessarily sat in the back corner with no light, the table wasn’t laid properly so we had to ask for cutlery when our food came, we were only given one menu (for 2 people), and our order wasn’t taken for a long time. Not what you expect for a fairly expensive restaurant… The next night though, the service was great? 6) Breakfast service: Service at breakfast was also mixed: our first morning we weren’t greeted so just took a table and found our own way around, and weren’t offered / didnt know we could order coffees/teas/freshly cooked items but the second morning we were offered a menu for these, so I assume that’s how the service was meant to be. The inconsistent service was disappointing. OVERALL: Udaipur is stunning and this is a very beautiful hotel in a great location. I’m nitpicking because for the price we were expecting a slightly better experience, but I would recommend booking here as it’s worth the experience.

A Heritage style hotel, arranged around a courtyard. Great views of the lake from the first floor and rooftop. Good bedroom, clean and comfortable, worth paying extra for the lake view. This is all let down by constant non-staying visitors seemingly taking hundreds of photos on their phones, and a very mediocre breakfast. We'd stay elsewhere if we returned. Cars cannot reach this hotel; you need to transfer to a tuktuk on the city's edge.

We stayed in a room overlooking the water and would recommend paying the extra for the view. Lovely room in a beautiful old palace close to all the sights. The rooftop restaurant must have one of the best views in Udaipur - a great place for a drink and meal. As others have said, it is overrun by Instagrammers who ignore signage to get pictures in guest areas and the breakfast could be improved.

We stayed in an Haveli Room which was great and not entirely certain a lake facing room carried that many benefits for the significant extra expense. The architecture is stunning and the ever attentive staff always around to help in any way with an obvious desire to enhance our stay. However, there are seemingly a never ending multitude of non-residents constantly around during the day either eating or possibly just viewing the extraordinary architecture and milling around taking selfies and posing profusely and acting completely indifferently and disrespectfully to hotel guests. There are no quality places for hotel guests and no policing by the staff to stop non-residents from imposing themselves all over the hotel. It is so awkward sitting at a table with hovering non-residents attempting to shame guests to depart their table. The restaurant was good and the quality of the food was excellent; however breakfast was a mixed bag - when going to breakfast later in the morning there is virtually no food left. Mid session availability is random and only on 1 of our 3 mornings was there a reasonable number of choices. It does certainly seem that the hotel management do not value their residents over casual visitors. When staying at a different, but similar style hotel, all non-residents were advised they would be moved if a hotel resident wanted a preferential, or indeed just a table! Minor issue needing to get used to is the access, which can only be on foot or Tuk Tuk and this information needs to be included in any pre-arrival arrangements with tour guides/operators. However, once understood, it ends up being relatively simple.

Fair to say this is, on first glance, a beautiful looking hotel in a great location. Lots of plants and bowls of flowers everywhere create a pleasant atmosphere. Although the fake plastic grass on the ground floor is an eyesore, as are the grubby mats everywhere. The hotel is a draw to the endless Instagramers who permeate the whole building. However, scratch beneath the pretty facade and there are issues with cleanliness and attention to detail, especially, but not exclusively, in the restaurant. The welcome and service from the manager are perfunctory, the menus are grubby and breakfast is a non-event with spills and stains left unnoticed.

We loved this hotel. It is a lakefront property but on the mainland (not an island) and close to the old palace. It was a lovely place at a great price. It's in old style with courtyards and nooks everywhere - even a small "library" area. Most of the hotel has lake views. The rooftop area has a small pool (could have been cleaner - always had bugs on the top of the water). This area also has great views and we ate there one night which was by candle light and a panorama of the city and lake. Staff were very friendly and always helpful. There's a tour shop/money exchange in front of the hotel which we used. We ate breakfast and lunch at the restaurant and it was all good. WiFi did not work in our room but after discussing with reception we were given a hot spot modem for our room and then the WiFi was perfect. We were not leaving until 9pm on our last day and the hotel allowed us to use the room and all facilities until we left for a small charge (it was low season so likely not very busy). Get a lakeview room otherwise why stay there?