Jain Temple, Ranakpur

• Ranakpur is 50 miles from Udaipur. A private vehicle will be handy to cover nearby Kumbhalgarh Fort as well in a single day. Start early.
• The Jain Temple does not allow entry in shorts or half pants hence dress fully. The campus also offers delicious thali at bare minimum charges.
• Do take an SLR to capture the intricate marble work. You need to pay nominal camera charges along with entry fee, all of which goes to maintain this magnificent structure.

The next morning we started for Ranakpur. It's 90 km from Udaipur through a tortuous but smooth road mostly into hills. The place is famous for Ranakpur Jain Temple which has exquisite carvings on marble. Whatever we had heard about this place was going to be dwarved by what we were going to witness.

Elaborate ceiling carvings @ Ranakpur

Udaipur

Jaipur - Ajmer - Chittorgarh - Udaipur

• Book a hotel on the lake side preferably facing the palace. This would also mean you are in the old part of Udaipur which has a different air about it.
• The City Palace is among the most preserved ones I have seen. The paintings and even utensils are kept for view. Area around palace is also full of artistic work.
• Go for Monsoon Palace for the sunset. There is a restaurant at the top that serves good snacks which along with the location makes it very special.

We reached Udaipur by noon and started searching for a suitable hotel. It was serendipitous for us to find Hotel Lake Pichola at such short notice. It is one of the hundreds of hotel adjacent to Pichola Lake but also has a view of palatial complex across the lake. Our room was modest in a royal fashion.

City Palace across Hotel Lake Pichola @ Udaipur

Gandhinagar

Trip: Bangalore > Pune > Lonavala > Mumbai > Gandhinagar > Udaipur > Ranakpur > Chittorgarh > Ajmer > Jaipur > Delhi

Gandhinagar was an unplanned stopover. We explored couple of hotels and settled in one that was on the far side. Actually nothing is far in this small diplomatic setup of a city twined to Ahmedabad.

Akshardham Temple @ Gandhinagar