Two days is the number most people arrive with. It is a long weekend, a stopover between Jaipur and Mumbai, or the tail end of a Rajasthan circuit, and the question is always the same: is a 2 days in Udaipur itinerary enough to see the place properly, or will it feel like a checklist done at a run?
The honest answer is that two days works very well, but only if you decide how you are getting around before you decide what you are seeing. Udaipur's best sights are spread across the old city, the lake fronts, and a ring of hills and temples 10 to 25 km out. Autos and cabs handle the centre fine, but the outer ring is where a self-drive itinerary Udaipur earns its keep. The rest of this Udaipur weekend trip plan assumes you have your own wheels for most of it, points out the moments where a taxi service in Udaipur is the smarter call, and closes with how Parth Car Rental fits into both.
Why a 2 Days in Udaipur Itinerary Works Best on Self-Drive
The city is small. Most of the famous places sit within a 6 km circle, and the traffic is manageable outside the 6 pm rush around Delhi Gate and Chetak Circle. What a
self-drive car Udaipur 2 day plan gives you is control over the edges of the day: leaving at half past six for a sunrise viewpoint, staying an extra hour at a lakeside cafe because the light turned nice, or pulling over at a roadside sugarcane stall on the way back from Eklingji without explaining yourself to a driver.
The trade-off is parking in the old city, which is tight. The fix is simple. Park once near Gangaur Ghat or the City Palace car park, walk the lanes, and take the car out only for the longer runs. A scooter is even better for the old city on day one if you are comfortable on two wheels, and plenty of visitors pair a small car for the outer sights with a scooter for the lanes.
There is also a cost argument. A hired auto for a full day of sightseeing in Udaipur typically runs Rs 800 to Rs 1,200 after negotiation, and a private cab for the outer temples is more. A self-drive hatchback for two days, with fuel, lands in a similar range and gives you the vehicle for every hour of both days, including the early starts no auto driver wants to do.
Best Time to Plan a Udaipur Weekend Trip
October to March is the comfortable season, with clear skies and daytime temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees. December and January are the busiest weeks, and the old city hotels fill up early, so book both the room and the car ahead.
July to September, the monsoon, is the quiet secret. The Aravalli turns green, the lakes fill, and the Sajjangarh and Badi Lake drives are at their most beautiful. Afternoons bring short heavy showers, so this itinerary is built to keep the driving in the mornings anyway.
April to June is hot, often above 40 degrees. The plan below still works, but shift everything earlier and treat the middle of the day as rest time at the hotel.
Day 1: The Old City, the Palace and the Lakes
The first day of this 2 days itinerary in Udaipur stays close to the water. Everything here is within a 20 minute drive, so the car mostly sits and you mostly walk.
Morning: City Palace and Jagdish Temple
Start at City Palace when the gates open at half past nine. Arriving early matters, because by eleven the tour groups fill the courtyards and the mirror work in the Mor Chowk loses some of its quiet. Budget two and a half hours for the museum wing, the Crystal Gallery if you have the appetite, and the terrace views over Pichola. Tickets are sold at the Badi Pol entrance and there is a separate charge for cameras.
Jagdish Temple is a five minute walk from the palace gate. The carved elephants at the base and the pillared hall are worth twenty minutes, and it is the best place in the city to watch an ordinary morning of local worship rather than a performance for tourists.
Midday: Bagore Ki Haveli and lunch at Gangaur Ghat
Bagore Ki Haveli sits on Gangaur Ghat and takes an hour. The puppet gallery and the old zenana rooms are the highlight. Eat lunch on one of the ghat-side rooftops afterwards; the view across to the Lake Palace is the one everyone photographs, and it is better with a plate of dal baati in front of you.
Afternoon: Boat ride on Lake Pichola and Jag Mandir
Boats leave from Rameshwar Ghat inside the City Palace complex and from Lal Ghat. The afternoon ride stops at Jag Mandir, where you can walk the island gardens for half an hour. If you want the sunset ride, book the four o'clock slot in advance, particularly between October and February when it sells out by lunchtime.
Evening: Sajjangarh Monsoon Palace for sunset
This is the first time the car really matters. Sajjangarh sits on a hilltop 8 km west of the city and the last stretch is a steep, winding forest road with a gate that closes around sunset. Leave the old city by five, pay the vehicle entry at the Sajjangarh Wildlife Sanctuary gate, and drive up. The view over Pichola, Fateh Sagar and the whole Aravalli rim is the single best panorama in the district.
On the way down, stop at Fateh Sagar for an ice cream on the promenade. It is the local evening ritual and a good place to end the day. If you are too tired to drive after dark, this is one of those moments where a cab back to the hotel and picking the car up in the morning is perfectly reasonable.
Day 2: Temples, Hills and the Outer Ring
Day two is where the self-drive car Udaipur 2 day plan separates itself from the standard Udaipur sightseeing tour. The sights are 13 to 25 km out, in three different directions, and
covering them by hired auto is slow and expensive.
Early morning: Bahubali Hills and Badi Lake
Leave by half past six. Badi Lake is 13 km north-west on Rani Road, a good tar road all the way. The flat rock shelf at Bahubali Hills is a fifteen minute scramble from the parking area and the sunrise over the lake is the best photo of the trip. You will be back at the car by eight.
Mid-morning: Eklingji and Nagda
From Badi, cut across to NH-48 and head north 22 km to Eklingji. The temple complex is the family shrine of the Mewar royals and the black marble Shiva inside is worth the queue. Photography is not allowed and the dress code is conservative, so keep a scarf in the car. Darshan timings are split through the day, so check the morning window before you leave.
Almost everyone turns around here. Do not. Two kilometres further, left off the highway, sits Nagda and the tenth century Sas Bahu temples beside a small lake. The carving is finer than anything at Eklingji and you will likely have it to yourself. This is exactly the kind of place a self-drive itinerary Udaipur exists for.
Lunch: Back towards the city
Return south on NH-48 and stop at one of the dhabas near Bhuwana, or push on into the city for lunch at Ambrai Ghat if you want the lake view again.
Afternoon: Saheliyon Ki Bari and Shilpgram
Saheliyon Ki Bari, the garden of the maidens, is a calm half hour of fountains and lotus pools on the north side of Fateh Sagar. From there, Shilpgram is a ten minute drive west. It is a crafts village run by the West Zone Cultural Centre, with reconstructed tribal houses and artisans at work. Between mid-December and early January it hosts a large fair, and it gets busy, but on a normal afternoon it is an easy, unhurried couple of hours.
Evening: Ambrai Ghat and the Karni Mata ropeway
Finish with the ropeway up to Karni Mata temple from Doodh Talai, which gives you the sunset from the opposite side of Pichola to the Monsoon Palace. Then drop the car at the hotel and walk to Ambrai Ghat for dinner. If you have any energy left, the Dharohar folk dance show at Bagore Ki Haveli runs at seven each evening.
Top 10 Things to Do in Udaipur in 2 Days
If you would rather build your own order, these are the top 10 things to do in Udaipur in 2 days, taken from the itinerary above and ranked by how much they justify their slot:
• City Palace and its museum wing
• Sunset from Sajjangarh Monsoon Palace
• Sunrise at Bahubali Hills over Badi Lake
• Boat ride on Lake Pichola with the Jag Mandir stop
• Eklingji and the Sas Bahu temples at Nagda
• Bagore Ki Haveli and the evening folk show
• Jagdish Temple in the morning
• Fateh Sagar promenade at dusk
• Saheliyon Ki Bari gardens
• Shilpgram crafts village
Fit these into any two-day shape you like. The only real rule is that Sajjangarh and Bahubali are sunset and sunrise slots respectively, and the north loop to Eklingji needs a car.
A Sample Timeline for the Udaipur Weekend Trip Plan
For anyone who likes the day laid out by the clock, here is how the two days run in practice.
• Day 1, 9:30 am: City Palace
• Day 1, 12:00 pm: Jagdish Temple, then Bagore Ki Haveli
• Day 1, 1:30 pm: Lunch at Gangaur Ghat
• Day 1, 3:00 pm: Pichola boat ride and Jag Mandir
• Day 1, 5:15 pm: Drive to Sajjangarh for sunset
• Day 1, 7:30 pm: Fateh Sagar promenade, dinner
• Day 2, 6:30 am: Drive to Badi Lake, climb Bahubali Hills
• Day 2, 9:00 am: Eklingji, then Nagda
• Day 2, 12:30 pm: Lunch near Bhuwana or Ambrai Ghat
• Day 2, 2:30 pm: Saheliyon Ki Bari, then Shilpgram
• Day 2, 5:30 pm: Karni Mata ropeway for sunset
• Day 2, 7:30 pm: Dinner at Ambrai Ghat, folk show if time allows
Where to Eat Along the Route
Udaipur's food scene is built around the lake views, and the itinerary passes most of the good spots. For breakfast on day one, the cafes along Lal Ghat do decent coffee and parathas before the palace opens. Gangaur Ghat rooftops handle lunch. For dinner, Ambrai Ghat is the classic, with tables at the water's edge, and it is worth reserving.
On day two, the dhabas on NH-48 near Bhuwana serve proper Rajasthani thalis at a fraction of old city prices. If you would rather have a lake view for lunch, the restaurants on the Fateh Sagar side are quieter than the Pichola ones at midday.
Practical Notes for Driving in Udaipur
• Fuel up on Bhuwana Bypass or Chittor Road before day two. Pumps are thin on Rani Road and past Eklingji.
• The old city lanes around Jagdish Temple are one-way in practice even where no sign says so. Follow the flow.
• Keep coins and small notes for the Sajjangarh vehicle entry and for parking at Badi.
• In monsoon, from late June to mid-September, the Sajjangarh road and the Bahubali rock are both slippery. Go slower than feels necessary.
• Traffic peaks between half past five and seven in the evening. Plan your longer drives outside that window.
• Google Maps is reliable on the outer ring but occasionally routes cars through pedestrian lanes in the old city. Trust the road, not the app, inside Chandpole.
Rough Budget for a Self-Drive Car Udaipur 2 Day Plan
For two people, a reasonable working budget outside accommodation looks like this. A self-drive hatchback for two days is roughly Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,500 depending on season and model, with fuel for around 120 km of driving adding Rs 700 to Rs 900. Entry tickets across both days, including City Palace, the boat ride, Sajjangarh vehicle entry and the ropeway, come to around Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per person. Meals vary widely, but Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000 per person per day covers good rooftop dinners and roadside lunches.
That puts the two days at roughly Rs 10,000 to Rs 14,000 for a couple before the hotel, and the car is the smallest line in it.
Mistakes to Avoid on a Two Day Udaipur Trip
The most common one is doing the outer ring on day one and the old city on day two, which leaves you driving out of the city on arrival day when you are tired and walking the lanes on departure day when you have luggage. Keep the order above.
The second is missing Nagda because Eklingji felt like enough. The third is trying to drive into the old city for dinner; park at the hotel and walk. The fourth is arriving at Sajjangarh after the gate has closed, which happens to someone every evening in winter when the sun drops early.
When a Taxi Service in Udaipur Makes More Sense
Self-drive is the right choice for the outer ring on day two and for the freedom to leave early. There are two moments where a taxi service in Udaipur is the better option: the drive back down from Sajjangarh after dark if you are not used to Indian hill roads, and the evening in the old city when you will want to eat, walk and not think about where the car is parked. Many visitors book a self-drive car for the daylight hours and a cab for the evenings, and it is a sensible split.
A full Udaipur sightseeing tour with a driver is also the better format for families with elderly members, since the walk from any car park to the palace or the ghats can be steep and hot in the afternoon.
Planning It With Parth Car Rental
Parth Car Rental operates from Chittor Road in Udaipur and covers both halves of this itinerary. For the self-drive portion there are hatchbacks and compact sedans that
handle the old city parking and the Rani Road run comfortably, along with scooters for anyone who wants to do day one on two wheels. For the evenings, and for guests who would rather not drive at all, there are driver-included cabs, full-day local sightseeing packages and airport and railway station transfers.
For a two day trip, the useful part is being able to pick up a car on arrival, hand it back at the station or airport on departure, and switch to a driver for the sunset run without arranging it separately. Vehicles are handed over clean and fuelled, rates are quoted with tolls, parking and driver charges stated upfront, and support runs round the clock if anything comes up on the road.
Yes, provided you organise the days by geography. A 2 days in Udaipur itinerary that keeps day one in the old city and day two on the outer ring covers every major sight without rushing. Three days lets you add Kumbhalgarh or Ranakpur, but two is enough for the city itself.
Conclusion
A 2 days in Udaipur itinerary is not a compromise. Spend the first among the palaces and ghats on foot, spend the second on the hills and temples with your own car, and you will leave having seen the city the way the people who live here see it, from the lake in the evening and from the rock at Bahubali in the morning. Whether you want a self-drive hatchback for the outer ring or the best taxi service in Udaipur for the sunset runs, Parth Car Rental can set the right vehicle up for you before you land. Call or message Parth Car Rental to confirm your dates and rate before you travel.