Udaipur, Rajasthan · premium

Jagat Niwas Palace

★★★★☆

Jagat Niwas Palace sits directly on Lake Pichola, on the old Lal Ghat waterfront. The building is a 17th-century haveli, converted room by room rather than gutted. The stonework, the arches and the window seats are original. What you are paying for here is the water. The lake starts at the foot of the wall. The Taj Lake Palace floats a few hundred metres out, the City Palace rises to the left, and the Aravalli hills close the view behind. Lake-facing rooms look straight into all of it. Rooms are reached through narrow whitewashed passages and small courtyards. Cusped arch windows, carved niches and low seating alcoves come with the building. Sizes vary, because a 17th-century haveli was never built to a standard plan. The rooftop restaurant is the property's best-known room. It serves Rajasthani and Indian dishes over the lake, and it stays busy at sunset for good reason. Everything in old Udaipur is walkable from the gate. Jagdish Temple is minutes away on foot, the City Palace complex a little further, and the ghats run in both directions along the shore.