Exclusive Sahelion Ki Bari: Udaipur's Royal Garden Oasis

Me and my daughter visited here and it was a most beautiful garden for spending an hour or so. There are marble fountains, lotus flowers, walls brimming with bougainvillea in all colours. You can take many photos here. There’s one area where flowers such as dahlias are being grown and on another side there’s a garden with huge palms, tropical plants and flowers. It’s all very well maintained with fountains and statues. You can sit and enjoy the sun or walk around at leisure. It was well worth 100 rupee entrance foreigners charge (30 for Indians). Such a worthwhile place to spend time relaxing but ruined by an expensive photo experience before the gardens. Word of warning to travellers re photo kiosk: There are photo stalls situated at the gardens. They are near the main fountains where you can have photos taken as a traditional Maharani or Maharajah. Lots of people were doing it. It looked a fun activity and I thought it would be nice as a memory. The price started over 2600 rupees for 2 A4 photos. It was shown on a sheet but you have to watch out because the price changes depending on if you are a Westerner or Indian. Initially of course we didn’t realise this. I should’ve declined as my daughter did. After agreeing a price of 1600 rupees for 2 large photos thinking it was a good deal, we overheard a conversation with Indian ladies with our very basic Hindi. We understood that they’d paid only 300 rupees (150 rupees for one instead of 800) for the same as us. I queried it and the guy did nothing to explain why we’d been charged so much more. He was dismissive; we’d been ripped off and it’s not a good feeling to know that you have paid at least 5 times more. Money was taken in advance, so difficult to get money back. I asked for a refund but it didn’t happen, I asked for the 3rd copy which I got after being unhappy and making a fuss about it, though for goodwill he should have matched the same price and refunded. The Indian lady was still negotiating prices lower or something else to be included as we left. If you want this activity 300 should be agreed like others. Our rickshaw driver later to us to Pichola lake, where for the price of 300 rupees for 2 photos you can have the same thing done.

un havre de paix bien entretenu. Beaucoup d'arbres en fleurs et de belles photos dans la galerie . QQ peintures contemporaines