The Bir Singh Deo Palace — also called Govind Mahal or Datia Palace — is a seven-storey structure built around 1620 that stands as one of the finest examples of Bundelkhand Rajput architecture in India. The design is remarkable for its period: a completely self-contained structure built on a square plan, with no load-bearing interior walls in the conventional sense, the upper storeys connected by corridors and overhanging balconies rather than internal stairs. Atlas Obscura has noted it as one of the finest examples of Indo-Islamic architecture in India, and it is largely ignored by international tourism, which makes visiting it all the more rewarding.
The palace sits on a rocky outcrop above the Lala Ka Talab lake, and its reflection in the water is the view that most photographers come for. The interior is empty and partly ruinous — no furniture, no museum — but the spatial complexity of the plan reveals itself as you climb through the storeys. The carved sandstone details on the facades — jali screens, chhatris, balconies — are elaborate and well-preserved. Entry is managed by the Archaeological Survey of India; there is a small fee.