Many visitors come to Udaipur to see Lake Pichola, an artificial lake, created in the year 1362. Later, Maharana Udai Singh, impressed by the charm of the lake, founded the city of Udaipur on the banks of the lake and he also enlarged the lake. Lake Pichola is now one of several contiguous lakes developed over the last few centuries in and around Udaipur.
Lake Pichola's surroundings and the several islands within the lake have been developed over the centuries, with palaces, marble temples, family mansions and bathing ghats. In the heart of the lake, on Jag Niwas Island, Lake Palace was built in 1743-1746 of marble as a royal summer palace that seems to be floating on the lake. Lake Palace spreads across the 1.6 ha (4 acres) island and is claimed to be as impressive as the Taj Mahal. Now the palace is a five star luxury hotel, Taj Lake Palace Hotel , accessible by boat from the City Palace which overlooks it.
Standing on the east bank of Lake Pichola is the City Palace, a massive series of palaces built at different times from 1559. The City Palace overlooks the lake and is the largest palace in Rajasthan. City Palace has several gates known as "Pols". "Bara Pol" (Great Gate) is the main gate to the City Palace complex and will take you to the first courtyard. On passing "Bara Pol", you will come across a triple arched gate, which is known as "Tripola". Between these two gates are eight marble arches or Toranas, where Kings used to weigh themselves with gold and silver. Besides Tripola is an arena where elephant fights were staged. The City Palace comprise 11 wonderful palaces all with many interesting things to see.
