Udaipur

Udaipur is one of the most picturesque places in the world, and a magnet for tourists, If you are on a tour of Rajasthan than you must visit Udaipur. Udaipur attractions include its picturesque beauty; the city is renowned for its lakes, palaces, and the lush hills of the Aravallis. Udaipur tourist places make a visit to the city a must. An Udaipur sightseeing tour can be quite an unforgettable experience indeed.

Udaipur has an ancient history. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Mewar, ruled by the Sisodias. One of the major Udaipur attractions includes the City Palace, on the banks of Lake Pichhola. The palace offers panoramic views of the lake and Jag Niwas (now Lake Palace hotel), which is right in the middle of the lake. Other Udaipur tourist places include the Fateh Sagar Lake, which was built by Maharaja Jai Singh in 1678, and Sajjangarh Fort, the summer resort of the maharajahs, located on top of a hill overlooking the lake.

Other places that figure prominently on the itinerary of an Udaipur sightseeing tour are the Jag Mandir, another palace on an island on Lake Pichhola, the ancient Jagdish Temple right in the middle of the city, and Saheliyon Ki Bari, a garden with lotus pools, marble pavilions and elephant-shaped fountains.

A modern addition to Udaipur is the Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO), located on an island in the Fateh Sagar Lake. The clear desert air makes the city ideal for solar observations. The observatory was built in 1976 on the model of the Solar Observatory at Big Bear lake in Southern California.

Udaipur City Palace

There are other places of interest around Udaipur, like the pilgrimage site of Nathdwara, the Jain religious centre of Ranakpur, Chittorgarh, the ancient capital of Mewar, with a massive fort on a hilltop, Haldighati, renowned for the famous battle battle between Rana Pratap Singh of Mewar and the Mughal emperor Akbar etc.

Jaipur

Hawa Mahal,Jaipur

Jaipur, also popularly known as the 'Pink City', is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. It was founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, after whom the city has been named. The city today has a population of 3.1 million. The unique foundations of the city's name is from Sanskrit meaning from Jay is victory and Pur is city, another well known country known as Indonesia also have a city named Jayapura that also has the same sanskrit meaning of this city that is also JayaPura but shortend to Jaypur.

Jaipur is one of the finest planned cities of India, located in the semi-desert lands of Rajasthan. The city which once had been the capital of the royalty now is the capital city of Rajasthan. The very structure of Jaipur resembles the taste of the Rajputs and the Royal families. At present, Jaipur is a major business centre with all requisites of a metropolitan city.

The major shopping zone in Jaipur is mid of the Jaipur areas like Johari Bazar, Chaura Rasta, Kishanpole Bazar, also known as Char Diwari area; some of the famous areas in Jaipur include Mansarovar, the largest housing colony in Asia; Sanganer, famous for handmade paper industry; and Sanganeri hand block-printing.

The city is remarkable among pre-modern Indian cities for the width and regularity of its streets which are laid out into six sectors separated by broad streets 34 m (111 ft) wide. The urban quarters are further divided by networks of gridded streets. Five quarters wrap around the east, south, and west sides of a central palace quarter, with a sixth quarter immediately to the east. The Palace quarter encloses a sprawling palace complex, (Hawa Mahal), formal gardens, and a small lake. Nahargarh Fort, which was the residence of the King Sawai Jai Singh II, crowns the hill in the northwest corner of the old city. The observatory, Jantar Mantar, is one of the World Heritage Sites. Included on the Golden Triangle tourist circuit, along with Delhi and Agra, Jaipur is an extremely popular tourist destination in Rajasthan and India.

In 1876, Jaipur was colored in terracotta pink to welcome the Prince of Wales, and thus the name “Pink City” was attached with the city.