Shri Raj Mandir (City Palace)

Shri Raj Mandir, the City Palace of Banswara, is a 16th-century palace built in the Rajput style, standing on high ground above the town.

Please read this before you go

The palace is still owned and occupied by the royal family of Banswara, and it is not a museum. Entry is by invitation only.

We have included it on this list because visitors ask about it and because it appears on every guide to the town — but it would be unfair to let you drive out expecting a tour. You will not get one, and the family should not have to turn people away at their own front door.

What you can see

The exterior, from the road. The palace’s position and its silhouette are the point: it is a proper example of Rajput palace architecture from the sixteenth century, and it reads clearly from outside the walls.

Photograph the building. Do not photograph into the grounds, and do not attempt to enter.

If you want to go inside

Access, when it happens at all, comes through a personal invitation. It is not something the hotel can arrange, and anybody who offers to arrange it for a fee should be treated with suspicion.

Getting there

Around ten minutes by road from Udaipur Road, in the town itself. Easy to see in passing on the way to somewhere else rather than as a trip in its own right.