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Surrounded by gently undulating hills and set around peaceful Pichola lake, Udaipur is a city of impossible beauty. A boat trip to one of the islands allows breathtaking views back across the city resting gently on the shores. Sunshine-yellow buildings exude a soft glow over the glassy lake, and at sunset the hills take on a dusty lavender hue, turning the streets a powdery pink. The city is crammed with the mysterious and exotic - even budget accommodation is hopelessly romantic.

We stayed in a 500-year old mansion or havelli, studded with tiny balconies and set around a leafy courtyard. It’s high walls were draped with raspberry-pink bougainvillaea, offering shade to translucent lizards.

Udaipur’s wealth of history is at it’s most conspicuous in one of its many palaces. Many have been turned into extravagant five-star hotels, notably the Jag Niwas, now the Lake Palace Hotel on an island in the middle of Lake Pichola. As famous for its exotic exclusivity as its tarring role in the Bond film, Octopussy, the hotel is a splendid example of white marble Mogul architecture, with small dome on wedding cake turrets, its laced walls falling sharply into the water.

The city palace is the most spectacular however, moulded in butter-coloured stone and standing on an imposing outcrop overlooking the city. Inside, the walls are covered in the most detailed mosaics and ceilings are patterned with thousands of tiny mirror shards. One terrace has a giant marble pool, said to have been filled with the juice of fresh mangoes, and broad swings hover above where the maharajah’s mistresses would swing in the nude. A rather sticky affair, one would imagine.

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