GEM ON LAKE PICHOLA
IT’S ONE of the dreamiest sights in India – the scalloped arches and graceful domes of the long white marble palace that seems to float on the still waters of Lake Pichola in southern Rajasthan. It was built in 1746 and used as the guest house and summer palace of the Maharanas of Udaipur. Since 1971, it’s been owned by the Taj hotel group, who’ve repuffed the old Rajput elements while giving it a mostly successful modern sheen.
Guests and their luggage take a small boat from a shoreline jetty to be greeted at the palace by a turbaned commissionaire, a cascade of rose petals fluttering from an upstairs roof, and a ballerina shimmying through a hip-shaking welcome accompanied by a bloke on a hurdy-gurdy.
Through the airy lobby, bluetiled games room and modest bar, you reach the main attraction – a gorgeous courtyard, laid out like a lily pond with walkways, lanterns, tinkling fountains, fancy umbrellas, metal parrots and herons. Beyond lies a jungly section where a waterfall, bamboo trees, ferns, fronds and millions of chirping birds surround a couple of small tables for canoodling couples.
There’s a charming sun-trap swimming pool and a Jiva Spa that offers specifically Indian therapies, scrubs and beauty treatments. Upstairs, guests can use a handsome billiard room with a bar. If you want to advertise your elevated status, you can rent a vintage car (a 1948 Jaguar or Land Rover) to go sightseeing.
Three restaurants are available, in varying levels of poshness and price. The Jarokha is an all-day, multi-cuisine eaterie that doubles as a café. You can take breakfast in the lovely courtyard. The dinner menu is serviceable, if not sensational. The Neel Kemal (“Blue Lotus”) offers superior Indian food, based on the flavours and wood-fired cooking techniques of royal Mewar family cuisine, and very fine it is.
If money’s no object, try the rooftop Bhairo restaurant. The name means “gust of wind”, unfor- tunately, and the price is steep (£50 – R925 – for three courses, £60 for four) but the food – contemporary European – is excellent and the 360degree views are utterly magical.
The service at the hotel is phenomenal: every member of staff smiles and namastes you as you walk by. Everyone is solicitous of your welfare and happiness without undue fawning. They really do treat you, appropriately, like royalty.
The palace is on Lake Pichola, one of several lakes in Udaipur. A second island palace, Jag Mandir, is used mainly for wedding celebrations. Dominating the shoreline is the imposing (if chaotic) pile of the City Palace complex, comprising several palaces built over 430 years, two hotels, a museum, a crystal exhibition, a “durbar” meeting chamber and the official residence of the Maharana and his family. It’s well worth visiting. The region around the lake was the setting for Octopussy, the 1983 James Bond movie, whose hilarious car-chase scene plays on screens every evening in some hotel bars.
The Palace has 66 rooms and 17 suites. They range from Luxury Rooms (the smallest) to the madly ornate Presidential Suite with its vast pillars, inlaid escritoires and long balcony. It’s like walking into a 1950s theatre set.
All the rooms have magnificent views across the lake, free wi-fi and a choice of 10 pillows. The decor is mostly white and brown tones enlivened by floral designs. Some suites feature a beautiful ornamental swing that dangles from the ceiling. If you’re lucky enough to occupy Room 116, the Khush Mahal Suite, you’ll wake to an astonishing sight.
The eastern wall was constructed in 1746 with six panels of cunningly wrought plaster, enclosing bits of red, blue, yellow and green glass. The dawn light shines through them, casting sweetie-coloured shapes on the far wall. And when the sun is above the horizon, its light bounces off the lake and through the glass, to form an irides- cent green shimmer that climbs the wall and dances across the ceiling in a psychedelic extravaganza.
It’s easy to imagine you’re in the most beautiful bedroom in the world.