Udaipur is one of the most popular getaways in India and rings a bell for luxurious travel. It’s a big wedding destination and honeymooners seem love this place. I, on the other hand, had other plans. The more I was travelling, the better I was getting at planning my trips. Udaipur was my first big opportunity to give budget travel a shot. I targeted this 2 night 3 days trip under 10k and much to my surprise, accomplished it just over 8k. In this practical post, I will tell you how I went about this trip, keeping my budget tight, and how you can too…
Reaching Udaipur
If you have ample days at hand, you should obviously opt for a train journey. A sleeper class ticket for a 16 hrs trip would cost around 500 bucks. If you want to travel more comfortably than a 3AC train ticket would cost around Rs. 1300 one way.
As corporate slaves we didn’t have the luxury of many days, so we opted for a flight from Mumbai to Udaipur. I managed to get a direct flight on a low cost carrier for a decent price after booking a month in advance.
Flight from Mumbai to Udaipur: Rs. 3140 per head
Accommodation in Udaipur
We spent absolutely nothing on accommodation as we crashed at a friend’s relative’s place; and not just one relative but two relatives over 2 nights. The biggest advantage (apart from saving money) was that the house was in the heart of the city, and chatting with the family gave us insights on what to see and what to skip. I even got a taste of true Marwadi hospitality.
If you have no relatives or friends or friends’ relatives in Udaipur, there are other cheap stay options too. Zostel is a travel backpacker’s hostel in the heart of Udaipur city and was supposed to be my back up plan just in case we were unable to crash at my friends’ relatives’ place. A dorm style room at Zostel should easily come between Rs. 500 and Rs. 800 per night.
Accommodation in Udaipur: Free
Things to see in Udaipur
The star attraction of Udaipur is the City Palace, built by Maharana Udai Singh in 1559, that overlooks the Lake Pichola. Entry ticket to the palace is Rs. 250 and you can spend a good 3-4 hours here. We skipped the Crystal Gallery adjoining City Palace, although if you have time, do check it out (additional cost).
Next, we moved towards the Bagore ki Haveli Museum near Gangori Ghat that adjoins the Lake Pichola. The entry ticket was Rs. 40 for Indians. Bagore ki Haveli Museum is a peaceful palace with 138 rooms, built by the Prime minister of Mewar – Amir Chand Badwa.
In the evening, we took the ropeway to visit the Karni Mata temple (cost Rs. 81). By the time we reached the mountain top, it was dark and we had a beautiful view of Udaipur at night with shimmering city lights and cool breeze.
The next day, we headed to Chittorgarh Fort, 120km away from Udaipur. Entry to the fort was Rs. 10 per person. We spent the entire day exploring the ruins at Chittorgarh fort, distinguished as India’s largest fort.
On day 3, we visited Saheliyo ki Baadi (entrance Rs. 10). Saheliyo ki Baadi was built by Rana Sangram Singh for his queen and forty other maids so they could hang out amidst greenery.
We then checked out Moti Magri (entrance Rs. 50) that overlooks the Fatehsagar Lake and offers a surreal view of the landscape. Moti Magri has a memorial of Maharana Pratap Singh and his favourite horse Chetak. One can take a long walk along the Fatehsagar Lake promenade later and enjoy street food at the many stalls or go boating.
Sightseeing Entrance charges + other miscellaneous expenses: Rs. 500
Travelling around
The most expense we incurred was during airport transfers.
Cab to Mumbai airport: Rs. 300
Dabok Airport, Udaipur to Udiapole (where we stayed): Rs. 600
On day 1, we zipped around the streets of Udaipur on an Activa, courtesy the very kind Marwadi family with whom we were living. Apart from that, we ditched luxury and travelled around in rickshaws and state transport buses instead of private cars. We even took a shared rickshaw to the Udaipole bus stand on day 2 for our trip to Chittorgarh and paid only Rs. 5 per person :D
The Rajasthan State Transport bus from Udaipur to Chittorgarh was a total of Rs. 285 after a 30% discount for women travelers. Yes. They do that! In Chittorgarh, we struck a deal with a rickshaw to tour us at the fort for the entire day for Rs. 400. At the fort, we hired a separate guide who travelled with us from point to point for Rs. 300.
Our guide was a professional photographer and he clicked some fun shots of us at the Chittorgarh fort for which we tipped him an additional Rs. 30. The same rickshaw dropped us back to the bus stand from where we took a non AC bus back to Udaipur (Rs. 160 for the two of us).
Other rickshaw expenses in Udaipur on Day 1 and Day 3 was approximately Rs. 500
Total: 300 + 600 + 285 + 400 + 330 + 160 + 500 = 2575
Since, we were two of us, the expenses were split here. So, 2575 / 2 = 1287
Food in Udaipur
We roamed around Udaipur city during the day, so our lunches were mostly out. Dinners used to be at home with our hosts. Lunch, snacks, tea and miscellaneous expenses for the whole trip went to Rs. 1000. This included buying some Gajak (traditional sweet) from Udaipur for our folks back home.
Food and miscellaneous expense: Rs. 1100 / 2 = 550
Getting out
The flight tickets from Udaipur to Mumbai were quite expensive on our chosen date. So we decided to take an overnight bus from Udaipur to Ahmadabad and then fly down to Mumbai, next morning. The bus dropped us off a kilometer away from the Ahmadabad airport and we walked the distance at 3am for the experience. Our flight from Ahmadabad to Mumbai was at 5:35am and we were well in time to head back to our work monotony.
Udaipur to Ahmedabad by Bus: Rs. 550 + Flight from Ahmadabad to Mumbai: Rs. 2163 = Rs. 2713
Total cost of the trip:
Flight to Udaipur - 3140
Accommodation - Free
Sightseeing Entrance charges (including Chittorgarh) - 550
Airport Transfers and Travelling around - 1287
Food and Miscellaneous expenses - 500
Getting out of Udaipur - 2713
Total - 8190
Important Budget travel tips:
• Solo Travel is fun but can be expensive. If you can find someone to travel with, expenses like food, transport, accommodation, etc can be shared and the burden reduced. Of course, travelling with the right kind of person who matches your style of travel is as much important.
• Udaipur is a tourist hub so your bargaining skills have to be sharp. A big way to save money is by ditching private vehicle and travelling in buses and rickshaws. Of course, you have to bargain there as well. There are no meter systems in rickshaws and they charge you two to three times more.
• Club two-three attractions in the area and then walk it out to save cash. For example: we took a rickshaw to Moti Magri and then walked down to Fatehsagar Lake. In the same way, the City Palace can be clubbed with Jagdish Temple, Ganghori Ghat and Bagore ki Haveli Museum.
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