Guests at the five-star hotel, which is normally reachable only by boat, are instead being ferried to their luxury rooms by four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Set in the desert state of Rajasthan, the Udaipur Lake Palace has been visited by Madonna and Guy Ritchie, while Nicole Kidman was a guest in March. Sir Mick Jagger is also a frequent visitor and the palace was used as a setting for the James Bond film Octopussy.

But with India teetering on the brink of its worst drought in years and experts predicting a failure of the monsoon, the palace now protrudes out of cracked brown mud. Local children have been spotted playing cricket on a bumpy pitch that would normally be 10 feet under water.

Tourism, on which 40 per cent of Udaipur’s 2.5 million residents depend, has dried up as quickly as the lake.

According to the latest estimates of the India Meteorological Department, rainfall during this year’s monsoon has so far been 43 per cent below the long-term average.

The northern state of Himachal Pradesh, which rises to the foothills of the Himalayas, has received the lowest rainfall in 20 years.

“Instead of boats, four wheelers are running on the lake,” said Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, whose family owns the hotel.

“Pichola Lake has dried up, partially due to less rains in the city last year and also due to regular withdrawal of water for drinking purposes.”

With the lakes drying up, business has been hit.

“It has a huge impact on tourism, especially the hotel industry. We have slashed prices but are still unable to increase tourist footfall,” he said.

“The situation is the same across the board. After the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and recession, the drying up of lakes is weighing heavy on the industry.”