True to its name, this historical architectural marvel is truly a palace offering a royal experience.
The BalSamand Lake Palace is situated besides the BalSamand Lake in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. This palace is basically converted into a hotel now. People can stay there and enjoy its beauty. This is one of the best places for people who want some peace and a break from the regular city crowd and pollution. The palace is made at the end of the Lake BalSamand and it is completely surrounded by natural greenery. The Palace is spread across a huge area There are gardens made all around the palace named as Mandore gardens, various verities of trees are found there mainly of fruits like papaya, plum and mangoes, there is also a pool in the palace area. Along with the trees and garden area there are some animals who reside there too. Those animals would be jackal, monkeys and peacock. It is suggested to not carry extra stuff with you in your hands while walking in the gardens or around the palace areas because of the monkeys.
This Palace was made in 1930’s by the Rajput MaharanaUmaid Singh, son of Maharaja Sardar Singh. Maharaja Umaid Singh’s reign period was from 1918 to 1947 i.e. 29 years and he worked as a helper with the Prince of Whales in 1922. During his ruling time period Maharaja Umair Singh made some improvisations in the land revenue settlements, judicial department and Jodhpur State Forces he also started state pensions and provident fund for State employees. Maharaja Umaid Singh died in 1947 at the age of 43 years.
This was a summer palace meaning that the Royal families used to come here to spend some time during summers. The reason for this being a summer palace was the surrounding. The high number of trees and gardens all around makes the atmosphere cooler and gives shade from sunlight outside, so that one can enjoy being outside without getting affected by the heat. The plus point is the BalSamand Lake at the side which makes the overall feel more refreshing. There is a pool too, built within the Palace area.
Everything inside the palace will give you a royal feel. The architecture of the palace is pure Rajasthani architecture and the palace is made with red sand stone. The area of the palace is huge and the rooms available for guests are just 36 which implies that the palace surrounding can be expected to be more peaceful and less crowded. The palace was developed in antient times but after its conversion into the hotel all the modern-day facilities are made available in it. There are three types of rooms in the Palace suite, Regal suite and Double room.
Some rooms there are garden view rooms from there you can enjoy the scene from within your room itself and some rooms are garden view as well as lake view, with lake view rooms one can enjoy the delightful sight of the lake. Along with the view the curtains, decorations and the look of the room itself is imperial. There are restaurants in the gardens too with full facilities means that one can have food right in the garden enjoying the food and the nature. Now that the topic of food is on, the taste of the food at the palace have some great review. They have been known to serve various different types of cuisines. Some gardens have horse carriage to add more royalty in your experience. Visiting the place with family or by yourself is great but it is most suitable for couples.
The BalSamand Lake was made in 11th century and it is actually an artificial lake. This lake was made by BalakRaoParihar and the reason for construction of this lake was to preserve the rain water into it and to provide sufficient water for people of Mandore. The length of the BalSamand Lake is around 1 km, its width would approx. be 50 meters and depth of the BalSamand Lake is 15 meters.
There is a government Museum of Mandore which is a must visit place while staying in the BalSamand Lake Palace. The museum is at about 3-4 kilometres of distance from the palace. Also, there is a historic monument named JaswantThada at a very distance from the museum. Maharaja Sardar Singh constructed this monument in the memory of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II who was his father. This monument was built in 1899. This cenotaph has portraits of various Kings and royal families of Jodhpur at display. The architecture of this monument is beautiful, and the walls pillars even the exteriors are minutely carved.
