Vadodara in three days

Day 1

Laxmi Vilas Palace

Commissioned in 1878 by Sayajirao Gaekwad III and finished in 1890 to designs by the British architects Charles Mant and Robert Chisholm, named for Sayajirao's first wife Lakshmibai. The grounds run to more than five hundred acres, which makes it the largest private residence in the world, and it is still the home of the Gaekwad family. The style is Indo-Saracenic: Indo-Islamic massing with Renaissance detail. It cost six million rupees, and had indoor lifts and its own telephone exchange when it opened. Part of it is open to visitors; the rest is a house.