Last weekend, from 25th to 27th, I travelled to Udaipur with my friends.
And honestly, it was a much-needed escape.
Udaipur is the city of lakes, palaces, mountains, sunsets and everything else that travel websites love to tell you. But as you grow older, you realise you don’t really travel for those reasons anymore.
Sometimes, you just need to get out.
And Udaipur happens to be a pretty damn good place to do that.
Why Udaipur?
Udaipur is probably my favourite place in Rajasthan.
Maybe it’s the mountainous terrain. Maybe it’s the lakes and scenic beauty. Maybe it’s the weather, which feels considerably more comfortable than Jodhpur.
Or maybe it’s simply the fact that Udaipur feels like an escape without actually requiring a huge amount of effort to get there.
The city is filled with beautiful properties, cosy Airbnbs, interesting cafés and scenic corners. You can spend an entire weekend doing very little and still feel like you’ve had a proper holiday.
I’ve probably been to Udaipur six or seven times now.
And somehow, I still find myself choosing it whenever I want a quick escape.
The Jodhpur to Udaipur Drive
So if there’s a chance to drive somewhere instead of taking a flight, I’m taking the car.
The Jodhpur–Udaipur drive is one of those drives that I genuinely look forward to. It’s roughly 250–300 km depending on the route and takes around 5–6 hours.
There are two main routes.
The traditional route via Desuri is around 250 km and is probably the one most Jodhpurites take. It’s more rustic, passes through smaller villages and has stretches of mountainous roads and single-lane driving.
The other route goes via Sirohi. It’s slightly longer at around 300 km, but the road connectivity is better, so the overall travel time isn’t dramatically different.
Both are scenic.
If you enjoy highways and smoother driving, I’d pick the Sirohi route.
If you enjoy the journey more than the road itself, take the Desuri route.
I personally enjoy both.
A good playlist, coffee and a long road are half the holiday for me anyway.
Where Did We Stay?
But honestly, the more important question wasn’t where we stayed.
It was who I travelled with.
We were four couples, eight people in total, and we were very clear about one thing:
We wanted a villa.
Hotels would mean four separate rooms, limited common space and, most importantly, the dreaded pool timings.
Most hotels have pool restrictions around 7 PM.
And let’s be honest, that’s when the party is just getting started.
A villa made much more sense for us.
We eventually stayed at SaffronStays Villa Rohi, a four-bedroom villa with a beautiful common area and a private pool.
SaffronStays Villa Rohi, Udaipur
And before I go any further, this is not a sponsored post.
My blog is still new enough that nobody is exactly lining up to sponsor my holidays.
We paid for the stay ourselves, and I’m mentioning Villa Rohi simply because we genuinely loved the property and it worked exceptionally well for our group.
If you’re travelling with a larger group and want privacy, a common space and your own pool, it’s definitely worth checking out.
The property also had a chef who took care of breakfast, dinner, tea and snacks, which meant we barely had to think about food.
We arrived around 5 PM and were greeted with tea and pakoras.
Honestly, that’s how a vacation should begin.
What Did We Do?
Every group has that one person who has absolutely no interest in waking up early or leaving on time during a vacation.
Yes.
That’s me.
We had planned to leave Jodhpur around 8–9 AM.
I made sure we left the city around 10:30.
Because after all, it’s a vacation.
We stopped for coffee and food along the way and eventually reached the villa around 5 PM.
The evening was mostly about settling in, swimming, eating, talking nonsense and enjoying the fact that none of us had anywhere else to be.
The rest of the night is probably too personal for a blog.
Let’s just say we eventually slept around 2 AM.
The next morning followed the standard holiday routine:
Wake up late.
Have a heavy breakfast.
Walk around the villa.
Do absolutely nothing.
Perfect.
The girls went out shopping while the four boys stayed back for some much-needed boys’ time.
We had a booking at Cafe Aosa at 4:30 PM, so naturally, we decided to take a dip in the pool around 4.
Which meant getting ready by 5:30.
And reaching around 6.
Always on time.
We had a great meal AT CAFE AOSA with coffees and matchas, which somehow turned into an early dinner.
After that, we took a drive around Udaipur and headed back to the villa.
Instead of going out for dinner, we ordered in and decided to party at the villa.
The food we ordered was horrible.
The party wasn’t.
We somehow continued till around 3 AM.
The Last Day
On the last morning, we decided to skip breakfast.
Instead, we survived on a lot of tea and butter toast.
Checkout was around noon.
From there, we went straight to a beautiful pizza place by the lake for lunch.
A heavy lunch was followed by desserts at Theobroma Udaipur.
And because apparently we hadn’t eaten enough, we packed more desserts for home.
That’s basically how the weekend ended.
Food.
Coffee.
Swimming.
Driving.
Gossip.
A lot of laughter.
And very little sleep.
It’s Always About the People
I’ve travelled with these people quite a lot.
We’ve travelled together to different places, with Vietnam probably sitting right at the top of that list.
But travelling to a different city for a weekend feels different.
We frequently meet in Jodhpur anyway.
Dinners.
House parties.
Random plans.
But when you leave the city together, even for just two days, the dynamic changes.
You spend more time together. You talk about things you normally wouldn’t. You laugh at the same stupid jokes for the hundredth time. You eat together, drive together, get lost together and create another collection of stories that will eventually become inside jokes.
And that’s probably what I love most about travelling.
Not the destination.
Not the hotel.
Not the itinerary.
The people.
I always say this, and this weekend reminded me again:
It’s not about the place. It’s always about the people.
And I’m lucky to have friends who feel more like family.
Udaipur was just the excuse.
That was it. If you want to know more about Udaipur or Jodhpur, feel free to reach out or just drop me a “Hi” on Instagram. Always happy to share a few recommendations, hidden spots or just talk travel.
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