Guide to Visiting the Monsoon Palace – Udaipur, India
Udaipur was one of my favorite cities in India to visit – the palaces, the markets and the beautiful views of Lake Pichola make this a great city for tourists to visit while traveling the state of Rajasthan. The Monsoon Palace overlooks the city of Udaipur and Lake Pichola from on top of a hill and was actually featured in the James Bond movie, “Octopussy.”
Here is everything you need to know about visiting the Monsoon Palace in Udaipur, India – how to get to the Monsoon Palace, how much time is needed, how much it costs, my thoughts and more. Let’s begin!
Quick history of the Monsoon Palace
The original name of the Monsoon Palace was “Sajjangarh Palace.” Built in 1884, it’s a rather “young” building in India! The Monsoon Palace had two purposes – it was to be a hunting lodge for the royal family and to serve as place where the monsoon and its weather patterns could be tracked.
Where is the Monsoon Palace?
The Monsoon Palace is located about 2 miles west of the city of Udaipur. Depending on where you are in Udaipur, you may be able to see the palace up on the hill. It’s located at the top of a hill, in the Aravalli Hills, and overlooks Lake Pichola and the city.
How to get to the Monsoon Palace?
To get to Udaipur itself, the city is quite popular on the tourist route – you can reach Udaipur by train, plane or car. We traveled to Udaipur via plane from Delhi, since it was the fastest way here.
We hired a driver that was hanging out by our hotel to take us out here. Drivers are everywhere, willing to take you, well, anywhere! Once you get used to traveling in India, you’ll see how easy (and cheap) it is to get a ride. If you’re staying in Udaipur, it’s a bit too far to walk. The Monsoon Palace is open every day from 9:30am until sunset.
Visiting the Monsoon Palace
Once you arrive at the Monsoon Palace, you’ll see that it shares the same area with the Sajjangarh Wildlife Sanctuary. A separate entrance fee is required for each one – but we only were interested in the Monsoon Palace.
Once you arrive at the gates, you will need to exit the car or rickshaw in which you drove over, as your driver is not allowed through the gates. You will be asked if you want to take a shuttle. I definitely suggest you do this, as it’s a steep uphill, 1 mile (one way) climb, which could be brutal in the heat. It was only 100 rupees (about $1 USD), so cheap and worth it!
The actual entrance fee to the Monsoon Palace is Rs300 (which is about $3-4 USD).
Once we arrived at the Monsoon Palace, I definitely noticed that, although it’s made of white marble, it’s pretty dilapidated and neglected. The whole feeling of this place seemed very run down.
Inside the palace wasn’t very interesting either – there wasn’t much of anything to see. The real attraction of the Monsoon Palace are the viewpoints of the city.
But the view comes with a caveat – air quality tends to be pretty poor in India, so you likely won’t get a complelty clear view from up here. It’s still a nice viewpoint and probably the best place to watch a sunset in Udaipur.
Overall, we only spent maybe 45 minutes to an hour here. Including travel time, it was about 2 hours.
Tripods are not allowed here so if you come at sunset, keep that in mind!
Where to stay in Udaipur?
When you visit Udaipur, I think it’s very important to stay at a hotel that gives you a view of the lake, as it’s absolutely beautiful. We stayed at the Jagat Niwas Palace and it was amazing – I highly recommend it. We had a rooftop restaurant, rooms with lake views, and nightly entertainment. Book a stay at Jagat Niwas Palace.
The building you see in the middle of Lake Pichola is the Taj hotel – it’s quite expensive to stay there, but if you want to splurge, it looks fabulous and a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Book your stay at the Taj here!
Otherwise, here is a list of all the hotels in Udaipur if you’re interested in booking. Udaipur offers accommodation for all types of traveler budgets.
Monsoon Palace in Udaipur – Final Thoughts
Overall, this was a nice stop on my visit to Udaipur, but if you’re pressed for time, I would skip the Monsoon Palace, as there’s just not a lot to see and the palace itself is in need of repair.
Pros:
- Cheap to visit
- Offers great views of Udaipur, even if the air quality is less-than-perfect (as is typically the case!)
Cons
- Palace is in need of restoration – seems very run down
