Review : Epic Birthday trip to Taj Lake Palace Udaipur

Entry to the hotel.

This is going to be the longest report I will have written after a while, at the end of this review.  My family and I arrived at Udaipur airport at 11 in the morning. There were 2 SUVs waiting for us to pick us up. The driver/guide showed us landscape of Udaipur and stopped in middle to allow us to do some shopping. He was quick to note details about our departure.  The car dropped us at a Pier where there was a speed boat to pick us up from that point for further journey. This hotel/Palace was in the middle of the lake.  Lake was calm and we reached one of the most opulent hotels/palaces of my life.

Why are you in this hotel in this city?

My family had planned a surprise birthday for a while which I finally de-coded by understanding that there was some odd pattern in it. I found out about tickets and finally I made my changes. I don’t like it when someone makes my itinerary. This was supposed to be a Birthday present for me. I was spending time with my family.

Taj Lake Palace was built under the direction of Maharana Jagat Singh II and had been treated as a pleasure palace for a long time even after Independence until it was decided to put it on rent for 99 years for hospitality purposes; Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces is in charge of looking after the palace. It is an actual palace and hence they treat you with royalty. It is really an expensive place to visit but it is totally worth it. This property, which is over 400 years old, has been well maintained. I was going to have hard time choosing my pictures.

Few days before my birthday, my family went through one of their most stressful days and we were actually planning to cancel the trip. I pushed my family to go for the trip as we had nothing to lose behind if we proceeded as it was happening on weekend and we won’t be able to do anything else either. Let’s just take a break and revitalize ourselves. I thank the almighty lord above and myself for maintaining composure and not letting plans get cancelled.

Being nominated for becoming one of the TOP 10 properties in ASIA by tripadvisor, it became kind of compulsion for Hotel/Travel aficionado like me.

Check in (Photos of lobby, Pictures of any decorative present)

When we arrived, there were ladies who brought us traditional Indian festival plate with tikka, diyas  (candles) and some flowers as a part of welcome ritual. There was a guard who brought a royal umbrella and provided us shed. Rose petals were showered on us from top when we walked in. We were asked to settle in lobby (more like veranda). In that lobby, a lady came and planned the entire stay for us. Now this palace is a destination in itself and there was so much to do here. We had well planned a stay for 2 days here. We were travelling with my niece of 1 ½ years age. She loves big open space and really enjoyed spreading her wings around. Taj offered her some soft toys to play with.

Knowing that Taj’s Inner circle points are totally valueless, I asked for miles’ option. All the points I earned from this stay were counted towards Emirates Skyward.

We all were provided with a signature spice Peach drink which tasted well.  My family were allotted rooms numbered 124,127 and 128. I stayed in room no. 128. I am only going to mention room 128 in this report. All rooms were designed with a little difference.

Journey from Reception to Room

We were provided rooms on the ground floor which appeared like suite rooms. Staff mentioned that all the features of the room remained the same and only technologies had been incorporated such as TV, Electricity, Air conditioning and Wi-Fi. Rest all were heritage features. The room was still the same as it was when Kings and Royal families had used it for themselves. Our rooms were situated in a line of periphery enclosing a small water body outside. We were informed that it used to be the pool where King held swimming competitions and winner would get a pouch of Gold coins as reward.

Room

The room was literally King sized with original King size bed (literally!). There was a sitting area near bed; there was a separate changing room, separate washroom and then a separate room for shower/tub bath. So it was like 3 rooms enclosed within 1 room with lots of space.

Events and Other pictures

On Day 1, Taj had an astrologer waiting for us. We had fun listening to whatever he was predicting. Apparently he was a 5^th generation astrologer.  I spent time playing around with my niece who had her gala time. As I said earlier she loves open spaces and was just elated to be present there.  Just watching her becoming a cynosure with so much joy filled even me with jollity. Staff frequently kept her providing one thing or the other. They gave her all the food for free. They were studying her taste of each item and once they got a positive response, we didn’t need to ask for it again. They themselves took care of her.

In evening there was a cultural dance on the veranda. I was really exhausted and went to bed early. At midnight phone calls woke me up. In the morning, there was a knock on door and a staff member delivered a flower bouquet to me.

We had 30 minutes of heritage tour where guide explained us all about the property and its history. After that we crashed at the bar and we had got somewhat like 50 mocktails to try. They just kept pouring it. As it was really hot outside, I took a break and decided to take a catnap. There was free spa in the evening. I opted for deep tissue massage as usual. The massage was very wholesome and completely relaxed me.

After the massage I went to the swimming pool and what a delight it was to swim inside that pool. It almost gave sensation like that of a private infinity pool. There was a person standing outside holding a towel for me.

Internet speed

If I could find fault in anything at this resort – It was definitely the internet which was painfully slow. I just couldn’t carry any of my work here. I couldn’t even watch basic & low quality YouTube videos here. Just come with a presumption that here you won’t be connected to any place beyond proximity of the palace. Even the telephone signals were pretty weak here.

Washroom

Washroom here was just charming. Washroom had 2 basins like those found in suites with high end luxury properties. The basin was huge with lots of space. The old taps were elegant.

The entire bathroom fittings were quaint and historic. They are well maintained and I felt really wonderful to use them. It’s like you are inside a period of distant era. There is difference in the type of romance you have.

There was a unique way to get hot water in shower where you had to pull a switch to turn it on for hot water to pass through inlet. Shower cabin was totally different from anything I have seen till date. Pressure of water flow was just brilliant.

There was this cute little bath tub and in the evening staff came and filled it up with rose water. It was one of the most relaxing baths I had in long time and got up feeling very fresh. Bath tub didn’t have big marble edges and hence there was unit that was used to keep all toiletries.

I didn’t take a proper picture of bath tub. But when you are relaxing while immersed in rose water and you can see nice beautiful lake from your window; that is itself a remarkable experience.

Toiletries

Taj had one of the richest toiletries I have ever used in my life. Shower gel had very nice aroma. They actually provided small Gillete foam bottles instead of usual sachets that you get in most of the hotels.
I ordered extra toiletries, as souvenir, to be carried to my home. Only hotel’s experience that I can matchup with this one is Hotel Jumeirah Beach’s at Dubai and Banjara Resorts’ at Ipoh Malaysia. Just take a glance at the presentation of pictures.

Food and Beverages

I had both Breakfast and Dinner here.

Breakfast

Breakfast was served in a room that made me feel like I was in the middle of the lake. The views from inside were remarkable. You could see UdaiVilas Palace on one side and beautiful lake surrounding you.

I have put picture of menu here but they would just cook any Indian recipe on request. I requested Coconut Uttapam and they delivered it. Food tasted amazing. Few things are must-try such as Uttapam, Baked Yogurt etc. They had so many options for vegetarian morning bakery unlike most 5 star hotels which doesn’t feature anything more than 2 options. This definitely appeared like a buffet having infinite dishes where you could just request for anything including even eggless vegan gluten free millet pancakes with topping of your selection.

Staffs were extremely courteous and would deliver everything at the table. I will recommend you to try Hot Chocolate here which, I felt, was ambrosial. I would let pictures do the talking.  We were travelling with an infant who required extra attention. My niece was her jubilant self when she would get her favourite dishes without even asking.

Hotel staff had been offering her free food for entire 2 days. They kept her plate under observation for 2 days and then quickly figured out what she liked. After that we didn’t have to request for anything other than milk for baby. I have never seen staff this much attentive to an infant’s tantrums and needs.

Dinner

They organized a rooftop event specially for celebrating my birthday. Initially the place looked too dark to me to have my dinner delightfully as I couldn’t see anything properly. Even my niece was scared of that darkness. On realizing that she wants the place to be brightened up, they brought about at least over 100 lamps to put us at ease.

The candle light dinner was romantic and nice with my family around.

In first round we were served delicious Badam ka Shorba and few starters. All tasted amazing. After we were done with starters, we requested for bringing food for dinner.

They brought the dinner in huge and lustrous Royal utensils. Dinner’s theme was Rajasthani Thali (Traditional royal Rajasthani feast). Just about everything tasted wonderful. It was one of the best meals I had in my life.

This is the menu card:

The Grand FINALE – My Birthday CAKE

I was flabbergasted because I have never had seen such a cake in my life. I have seen enough of decorated stuffs. I have seen computerized picture cakes. I have seen all sorts of cakes but this one totally blew me away. It was brought with laddoos surrounding its sides. There was a carving made on cake’s top by use of hands. They had made pictures of Maharaja and Elephant on the cake. It came out to be a chocolate cake so I wasn’t sure how quickly I should finish this. I did give myself an extra helping. Actually I wasn’t feeling like eating it when it came but I am glad I tried it; one of the best cake of my life. I am definitely coming back just for this cake.

Fitness Center

I didn’t even expect there would be a fitness center at this property. But all the equipments they had were simply outstanding and modern. They had 2 separate rooms. One was cardio room and the other was weight room. I can’t seem to find picture of weight room but it had all basic equipments such as bosu ball, dumbbells, barbells etc.

Trade mills had so many options on its panel. You could do military workouts, watch TV on it or listen to radio. The headphones provided were just wonderful. They cut out all the external noise easily. The view, of infinity pool in front of trade mill, was perfect. It was a picturesque place to get your workout done.  I had a moment of Zen. Stationary bikes were modern too. There was an attendant who brought towel and water for me when he saw me catching my breath after a swift run.

Service

I have no words to describe the service I got at this hotel. It was hospitality at its best. We had a baby with us who was having incredible amount of fun; thanks to staff. They were always attentive and did everything for us. It felt like they were feeling honoured to offer us service. Our wish was command for them.

During the dinner, waiters were going downstairs and to bring every back up so that we could have a perfect evening. The number of stairs they had to take on, walking up and down, made us wonder if we were taking too much advantage of them.

They took incredible care of the infant. She was in her most joyous mood. She is a person who is finicky at eating and still ate like a queen at this hotel. Staff took their time to figure out her taste and would automatically bring food for her time to time. Everything was complimentary for the baby.

Bottomline

It was one of the most expensive stays of my life. We could make it affordable; thanks to Rs 40,000 coupons that we had access to & to American Express Charge card.  I had one of the most wonderful stay and I will go back whenever opportunity comes. I will definitely recommend young couples to visit this place. The resort is a destination in itself and you don’t need to go anywhere leaving it. You can obviously opt for different sightseeing around here. Hotel provides many different opportunities for photographers to flaunt their skills. I have not even put half of my photographs here.

I will recommend everyone to try this hotel just once in their life. If it wasn’t on your bucket list till now, you should add it quick. Virtuoso has great deals available if you stay here.