City Palace Udaipur
- Hours
- 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM
- Needs
- 2.5–3 hours
Turn for the guide’s part →
Licensed tour guides · Udaipur, Rajasthan
Hire a tour guide in Udaipur
A licensed guide in Udaipur is ₹1,500 for a full day of eight hours and ₹900 for a half day of four, in English — 10 languages are available, from ₹1,200 to ₹3,000 a day. This page carries all 4 of the city's main monuments with their entry fees and opening hours, a half-day and a full-day itinerary, and the licence basis you can check before you pay.
Full day · 8 hours
₹1,500
Half day · 4 hours
₹900
Languages
10 available
Monuments covered
4
Guiding in Udaipur
What a guide is actually for in Udaipur
Udaipur is the Rajput city that never submitted to the Mughals, and that is the whole of its character: the Sisodia rulers of Mewar refused the marriage alliances that Amber and Jodhpur accepted, lost their capital at Chittorgarh three times for it, and built this city in the hills afterwards. A guide who tells you that first makes sense of everything you then look at. One who starts with the lake and the hotel from the Bond film does not.
Orientation. The old city wraps around the eastern shore of Lake Pichola, with the City Palace on the water and Jagdish Temple a few hundred metres up the hill. Fateh Sagar is two kilometres north. Jag Mandir and the Lake Palace are islands, reached only by boat from the palace jetty.
What it costs
Guide rates in Udaipur
The fee below is for an English-speaking guide. The guide fee is set by language rather than by city, so the ten-language table underneath applies in Udaipur exactly as it does in Delhi. The vehicle half of a bundled day is the site's published 4 hr / 40 km and 8 hr / 80 km rental package — every total here is two published rates added together.
Half day
4 hours, 40 km included
₹900guide only
With a vehicle and driver
- Sedan (Swift Dzire / Honda Amaze) — 4 seats
- ₹2,400
- SUV (Ertiga / Innova) — 6–7 seats
- ₹3,100
- Innova Crysta — 7 seats
- ₹3,700
Guide ₹900 plus the published 4 hr / 40 km rental package. Monument entry tickets are paid at the gate and are not included.
Full day
8 hours, 80 km included
₹1,500guide only
With a vehicle and driver
- Sedan (Swift Dzire / Honda Amaze) — 4 seats
- ₹4,000
- SUV (Ertiga / Innova) — 6–7 seats
- ₹5,000
- Innova Crysta — 7 seats
- ₹6,000
Guide ₹1,500 plus the published 8 hr / 80 km rental package. Monument entry tickets are paid at the gate and are not included.
The half-day guide fee is 60% of the day rate, rounded up to the nearest ₹50. Monument entry is extra and listed by monument below.
All ten languages, in Udaipur
| Language | Half day | Full day | Who it serves | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hindi हिन्दी | ₹750 | ₹1,200 | Domestic travellers from across India, and NRI families returning with relatives | Hindi in Udaipur |
| English English | ₹900 | ₹1,500 | United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa | English in Udaipur |
| Russian Русский | ₹1,500 | ₹2,500 | Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Armenia | Russian in Udaipur |
| French Français | ₹1,700 | ₹2,800 | France, Belgium, Switzerland, Québec, Morocco, Tunisia | French in Udaipur |
| German Deutsch | ₹1,700 | ₹2,800 | Germany, Austria, German-speaking Switzerland, South Tyrol | German in Udaipur |
| Italian Italiano | ₹1,700 | ₹2,800 | Italy, Italian-speaking Switzerland, San Marino | Italian in Udaipur |
| Portuguese Português | ₹1,700 | ₹2,800 | Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique | Portuguese in Udaipur |
| Spanish Español | ₹1,700 | ₹2,800 | Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, United States (Hispanic travellers) | Spanish in Udaipur |
| Japanese 日本語 | ₹1,800 | ₹3,000 | Japan — independent travellers and organised group tours | Japanese in Udaipur |
| Mandarin 中文 | ₹1,800 | ₹3,000 | Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia | Mandarin in Udaipur |
What you will see
Udaipur's monuments, and what they cost at the gate
Every figure is taken from this site's own published guide to that monument, linked from each card and row. None of them closes for a weekly rest day.
Udaipur monuments · 1 of 4
City Palace Udaipur
- Hours
- 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM
- Time needed
- 2.5–3 hours
Turn a card for the guide’s part
City Palace Udaipur
The largest palace complex in Rajasthan, still partly occupied by the Mewar family. Allow the museum and the Zenana Mahal.
Lake Pichola and Jag Mandir
- Entry
- Boat ride ₹400–800
- Hours
- Boats 10:00 AM – Boats 5:00 PM
- Needs
- 1–2 hours
Turn for the guide’s part →
Lake Pichola and Jag Mandir
The Lake Palace itself admits hotel guests only — the boat circles it and lands at Jag Mandir
Timings, fees and full guideJagdish Temple
- Hours
- 5:00 AM – 2:00 PM, reopening 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM
- Needs
- 30–45 minutes
Turn for the guide’s part →
Jagdish Temple
A working 1651 Vishnu temple a few minutes’ walk above the palace gate
Saheliyon ki Bari
- Hours
- 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM
- Needs
- 45 minutes
Turn for the guide’s part →
Saheliyon ki Bari
The garden of the maids of honour, with its fountains fed entirely by gravity from Fateh Sagar
| Monument | Entry — Indian | Entry — foreign | Hours | Closed | Time needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Palace Udaipur | Not published | Not published | 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM | Open all days | 2.5–3 hours |
| Lake Pichola and Jag Mandir | Boat ride ₹400–800 | Boat ride ₹400–800 | Boats 10:00 AM – Boats 5:00 PM | Open all days | 1–2 hours |
| Jagdish Temple | Not published | Not published | 5:00 AM – 2:00 PM, reopening 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM | Open all days | 30–45 minutes |
| Saheliyon ki Bari | Not published | Not published | 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM | Open all days | 45 minutes |
1 of 4 carry a published entry fee. Where one is not shown it is because this site holds no verified figure for it, and a gap is better than an unchecked number.
The shape of the day
A half day and a full day in Udaipur
Both plans are written against this city's own monument opening hours, which is why the start times are what they are.
Half day · ₹900 guide
City Palace and a Pichola sunset
Udaipur’s half day is best taken in the afternoon, which is the opposite of everywhere else on this list — the boats run until five and the light on the water is the point.
- 13:30
Hotel pickup
Most of the old-city hotels are a five-minute walk from the palace gate; the car matters more for Fateh Sagar and Saheliyon ki Bari.
- 14:00
City Palace
Two hours and change. The Mor Chowk peacock mosaics, the Zenana Mahal, the Krishna Vilas miniatures, and the Amar Vilas terrace at the top with the whole lake below it.
- 16:15
Jagdish Temple
Five minutes up the hill, and still a working temple rather than a monument — which your guide will brief you on before you go in.
- 16:45
Boat on Lake Pichola
The last boats leave around five. Past the Lake Palace, landing at Jag Mandir, and back as the light goes.
- 18:00
Drop
The 4 hr / 40 km package covers the afternoon as laid out.
Full day · ₹1,500 guide
Mewar in a day — palace, lakes and gardens
- 09:00
Hotel pickup
A later start than the fort cities. Udaipur’s monuments open at 09:30 and nothing is improved by being early.
- 09:30
City Palace
Three hours at opening, before the day-trip coaches arrive from Jaipur and Jodhpur.
- 12:30
Jagdish Temple and the old-city lanes
The temple, then the lanes behind it — miniature-painting studios, the Bada Bazaar, and the ghats where the city still washes.
- 13:30
Lunch on a rooftop over the lake
Paid separately. Almost every rooftop in the old city has the same view; your guide knows which ones also have the food.
- 15:00
Saheliyon ki Bari
The gravity-fed fountain garden — a short visit, and a good one in the heat of the afternoon.
- 16:00
Fateh Sagar and the Monsoon Palace road
The lake drive, and up to the Sajjangarh ridge if the group wants the long view back over the city.
- 17:00
Boat on Lake Pichola
Jag Mandir and back at sunset, which is when this city earns its reputation.
- 18:30
Drop at hotel
The 8 hr / 80 km package covers the day as laid out.
The fare, stated plainly
What is in the price and what is not
What the fare covers
- A Ministry-of-Tourism licensed Regional Level Guide for the Rajasthan
- The guide’s licence card photographed and sent on WhatsApp at confirmation, before anything is paid
- An AC vehicle with a driver on the published rental package, if you take the bundled rate
- Driver waiting at every stop for the full package duration — no re-booking between sights
- Fuel, tolls within the package distance, parking at the monuments, and the driver’s allowance
- Ticket-counter help: which tier to buy, which gate to use, and which queue is the short one
What it does not
- Monument entry tickets, paid at the gate — the Udaipur figures are in the table on this page
- Meals, shopping and any optional activity during the day
- Distance beyond the package’s included kilometres, at the published per-km rate
- Guide and driver gratuity, customary but never compulsory
- Monument camera or video charges where the monument levies them
Ministry of Tourism, Government of India
Regional Level Guide (RLG)
- Language examined in
- Ten languages
- Licensing region
- Rajasthan
- Full day · 8 hours
- ₹1,500
- Half day · 4 hours
- ₹900
Every licence card carries a photograph, a licence number, the issuing region and the languages the holder is examined in. We send a photograph of the card on WhatsApp when a booking is confirmed, before you pay anything, so you can check the number, the region and the language against the guide who meets you.
The credential
What a government guide licence is, and how to check one
A Regional Level Guide licence is issued by the Ministry of Tourism after a written examination, an interview and a training course run through the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management. It is issued for a tourism region, not for the whole country, and it names the foreign languages the holder is examined in.
Archaeological Survey of India monuments admit licensed guides and turn away unlicensed ones at the ticket gate. An unlicensed "guide" who approaches you outside the Taj Mahal or Amber Fort cannot accompany you inside, which is why the pitch is always made in the car park.
In Udaipur: Rajasthan — the state issues its own regional guide licences
Questions people ask
Guides in Udaipur
FAQs
No — the Taj Lake Palace is a working hotel and admits its own guests only. The boat from the City Palace jetty circles it and lands at Jag Mandir, which is the island palace you can walk around. Any guide who implies you will be going in is managing your expectations badly; the boat ride is worth it on its own terms, at ₹400 to ₹800 depending on the hour.
Still have questions?
Our team is here to help. Contact us for personalized assistance.
Narrow it down
By language, by city, or by everything else here
A specific language in Udaipur
Guide hire in another city
Everything else in Udaipur
Book a licensed guide in Udaipur
Send your dates, the language you want and whether you need half a day or a full one. We come back with a licensed guide, a photograph of their licence card, and the total in writing before anything is paid — from ₹900 for a half day in English.
We send the guide’s licence card before you pay anything. Nothing is charged to confirm.