Udaipur

Udaipur is Rajasthan's great exception. Where most of the state is defined by desert, dust and the ochre of sandstone forts, Udaipur is a city of water — a chain of interlinked lakes cradled by the low green folds of the Aravalli hills, with white marble palaces rising straight out of the reflections. It is routinely called the most romantic city in India, and for once the tourism-brochure phrase is earned. At dawn the lakes are glassy and pale gold; at dusk they turn the colour of the palace walls; and in between, boatmen, temple bells, and the slap of laundry on the ghats keep the old city humming as it has for centuries.

The city was founded in 1559 by Maharana Udai Singh II of the Sisodia Rajput dynasty, and it takes its name from him. Udai Singh shifted the capital of the Kingdom of Mewar here from Chittorgarh, which had proven too exposed to Mughal siege; the new site, tucked into the fertile Girwa valley and ringed by hills, was far easier to defend. Mewar under the Sisodias prided itself on never fully submitting to the Mughals — a fierce independence embodied by Udai Singh's son, Maharana Pratap, who fought Akbar's armies at the Battle of Haldighati in 1576. Udaipur remained the Mewar capital until the kingdom entered a treaty with the British in 1818, and the Mewar dynasty's descendants still live in part of the City Palace complex today, making this one of the oldest continuously ruling lineages in the world. That living royal thread — visible in the palaces, the annual festivals, and the museums — gives Udaipur a depth that goes well beyond its postcard prettiness.

What you actually experience is a layered, walkable city built around Lake Pichola and Fateh Sagar. On the eastern shore of Pichola sprawls the honey-coloured City Palace, the largest palace complex in Rajasthan, a warren of courtyards, balconies and mirror-work chambers. Out on the water float two island palaces — Jag Mandir and the Lake Palace — while behind you the lanes of the old city climb toward the Jagdish Temple. Hilltop forts and pleasure-palaces such as Sajjangarh (the Monsoon Palace) look down on all of it. Add landscaped royal gardens, an evening of Rajasthani folk dance in a restored haveli, a crafts village on the outskirts, and some of India's finest miniature painting, and you have a destination that rewards a slow pace.

Udaipur is also an ideal base. Within a comfortable day's drive lie some of Rajasthan's — and India's — most significant monuments: the UNESCO-listed Kumbhalgarh Fort with its immense encircling wall, the intricately carved Ranakpur Jain temples, the vast hill fort of Chittorgarh, and the pilgrimage town of Nathdwara. Whether you come for the romance, the history, the food, or simply to sit on a rooftop and watch the light change over the water, Udaipur tends to be the Rajasthan city that travellers wish they had given more time. Two to three days is the sweet spot for the city itself, more if you want to fan out to the forts and temples around it.