The Jag Niwas palace in the middle of the Pichola lake in Udaipur is a big beauty. This luxury lake palace was featured in the old Bond classic Octopussy in 1983.
In the movie, the palace island is the kingdom of mystical Octopussy. Octopussy (Maud Adams), is a wealthy woman who leads the Octopus cult and is the head of a circus troupe touring around the world. Bond uses clever crocodile camouflaged submarine to sneak in to the palace and finds out how the palace and the circus are used in a big smuggling operation. Priceless Soviet treasures are being replaced with replicas, and the real versions are smuggled to the West via Octopussy's circus troupe without her knowing.

Today the Lake Palace (formerly known as Jag Niwas) is a luxury hotel, of 83 rooms and suites featuring white marble walls, located on a natural foundation of 4 acres (16,000 m2) rock on the Jag Niwas island. It has been voted as the most romantic hotel in India.

It was built in 1743- 1746 under the direction of the Maharani of Udaipur, Rajasthan as a royal summer palace and was initially called Jagniwas or Jan Niwas after its founder. The successive rulers used this cool haven as their summer resort, holding their regal durbars in its courtyards lined with columns, pillared terraces, fountains and gardens.