Lakshmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara. Lakshmi Vilas Palace was, built by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III in 1890. It is said that it was four times the size of Buckingham palace and at that time largest private dwelling in the world. Even in those times, it had a cost of £180,000 (₹27,00,000). It had all the modern and latest facilities like elevators and telephone communication between all the rooms. It was then and even today the largest private dwelling. It so happens that after buying the tickets you have to go to the reception. The reception room has two doors one opens on the front side of the palace and the other to the rear. It is this rear door to which you are directed. So we literally had a backdoor entry. Once in, the reception room, all are given a prerecorded audio Pendrive of the guided tour.  There are a total of 15 points covered in this prerecorded guided tour. All the points are signposted so that you know where you are. When you are going sequentially you get the information relevant to that point. The tape starts from point number 2 which is near the dried-up sunken fountain in the garden right in front of the palace. This point has a huge porcelain vase with peacocks. Once you reach there you switch on the audio and hear the information about that point. After that, as you start for point number 3, put the audio on pause and switch it on at point three which is near the portico. As you progress the audio tells you about the paintings or the statues or the artefacts on display around that point. The recorded tour guide is quite well made and gives you good information about what all you are observing at that particular point. If I remember correctly point number 15 is the Durbar Hall which s the last point of the tour. Between these points, you see beautiful paintings, statues, and artefacts one better and more beautiful than the previous one. One can only imagine how it must have felt to live amongst all those beautiful collector’s items. Wonder did they really enjoy living amid the showpieces. Palace is beautiful and worth seeing. However, one thing stuck out like a sore thumb. The man dome and at some places there was dried grass. The very fact that the grass was allowed to grow on the domes and or on any of the palace structures and allowed to remain till it dried up indicates that there was a lack of care and maintenance. The same thing goes for rotten sunscreens made of bamboo and hung across the first-floor front windows of the palace. Sorry to see that such a beautiful place is not being looked after.  Another sore point was that photography inside the palace was prohibited. Would have loved to capture all those beautiful objects in my phone.  

A great tourist destination, but not very tourist friendly, with a lot of rules, as a part of the palace is still being used as a residence. The palace is definitely one of the grandest we've visited, and beautifully maintained. Better signage would have been useful, but I guess most people use the audio guides now. Besides a magnificent exterior. Corridors of history, armoury rooms, courtyards and a large hall with statues of erstwhile Gaekwad rulers of the state. Some very pretty stained glass windows. The museum next door had A beautiful collection of yesteryear paintings especially the Raja Ravi Varma ones. And exquisite sculptures, china ware and calzone vases. The satsuma collection was unfortunately mixed in with the Chinese memorabilia and lost its unique charm among fierce dragons, Quan yings and Guan dongs. Unfortunately the combo ticket needs to be used within the same exhibition day.

Very limited places open to visit within palace for tourist. Rs. 250/- per adult found higher side wrt area available to visit by tourists. audio guide is nice concept.