Side by side Raffles Udaipur vs RAAS Devigarh

Book Raffles Udaipur for the island itself, not just the Raffles name on the door. It sits on its own patch of Udai Sagar, reached by a short dhow boat crossing, and almost every recent guest writes about the same thing before anything else: staff who remember a kid's food allergy, an anniversary, a father's retirement, and act on it. Named staff show up constantly and specifically — Gaurav upgrading a couple to a private pool room after learning it was a celebration, a housekeeping manager named Satya walking a lost family 40 minutes back to the property on his own time, off shift. That's the kind of detail a script doesn't produce.

The building earns its own case: colonial-trader-estate architecture, lake views from most rooms, and enough going on (archery, pottery, birdwatching, a nightly Rajasthani show) that several guests say they never left the island and didn't miss the old city. Chef Ranchhod's Rajasthani menu at Sawai gets called out by name more than once, dishes and all. The trade-off is the buffet, which more than one guest flags as repetitive across a multi-night stay, and one detailed account from July 2026 describes a front-desk and restaurant team that walked past guests without acknowledging them and left a tea service without napkins — a real miss, and worth knowing about, though it sits against a much larger stack of specific, glowing service reports naming staff by name, week after week.

This isn't a hotel for people who want to walk out the door into old Udaipur; it's for people who want the island to be the whole trip. Families and honeymooners get the most out of it, based on what's written here. Book it for the staff and the setting, and let the boat ride be part of the arrival.

A restored 18th-century fort in the Aravalli Hills, about 28km outside Udaipur, and the thing that separates it from the city's palace hotels is exactly that distance: no lake traffic, no crowds, just a green-marble pool and a dining room lit up at night. Guests keep ordering the molten chocolate cake on repeat and booking private dinners at the Sheesh Mahal. The restoration work is the headline here — original stonework, a genuine sense of history rather than a palace-style build done with modern techniques.

The kitchen doesn't always clear the bar its prices set. One family's gatta sabzi and dal batti churma disappointed, and another guest flatly called the food under par for a five-star given what it costs, with waiters pushy enough about ordering to notice. There's also a harder edge worth knowing about: a guest with a documented medical emergency was refused any refund on a cancelled stay, and at least one walk-in couple found the front desk rigid about property access and seating. Price in the cancellation policy before you book, because it isn't flexible.

None of that undoes what the place does well. The rooms split clearly: garden suites with higher ceilings and a private gazebo suit families, palace suites suit couples who want the grander, more enclosed spaces. Staff like Samrudh and Jamil Khan get remembered by name for a reason, and the pet-friendly policy, rose-petal arrivals and morning yoga sessions add up to a stay people rebook years later. Book it for the fort and the quiet, plan your meals before you arrive, and read the cancellation terms twice.