Palace Hotels & Luxury Stays in India
Every property here has earned its place on our journeys — palaces still owned by their dynasties, shipyards turned hotels, tented camps beside tiger forest. Our curators' working notes on each.
Udaipur, Rajasthan
Taj Lake Palace
A white marble palace that appears to float on Lake Pichola — India's most romantic address.
Jaipur, Rajasthan
Rambagh Palace
The Jewel of Jaipur — the Maharaja's own residence until 1957, run today as India's definitive palace hotel.
Jodhpur, Rajasthan
Umaid Bhawan Palace
The last great palace of India — 347 rooms of golden sandstone, still home to Jodhpur's royal family.
Hyderabad, Telangana
Taj Falaknuma Palace
'Mirror of the Sky' — the Nizam's hilltop palace, reached by horse-drawn carriage.
New Delhi
The Imperial
Lutyens-era grandeur on Janpath — Delhi's great colonial hotel, and a museum that serves breakfast.
Mumbai, Maharashtra
The Taj Mahal Palace
India's original grand hotel — watching the Gateway of India since before the Gateway existed.
Agra, Uttar Pradesh
The Oberoi Amarvilas
Six hundred metres from the Taj Mahal — and every single room looks straight at it.
Fort Kochi, Kerala
Brunton Boatyard
A Victorian shipyard reborn on Kochi harbour — where container ships glide past the breakfast table.
Kumarakom, Kerala
Kumarakom Lake Resort
Rescued tharavad mansions on Vembanad Lake — Kerala's backwaters at their most refined.
Pench, Madhya Pradesh
Jamtara Wilderness Camp
Ten tents under the mahua trees on Pench's quiet edge — and a star bed out in the fields.
Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
Svatma
A Thanjavur heritage mansion tuned to music, craft and the Chola arts — the south's most cultured stay.
Benaulim, South Goa
Taj Exotica Resort & Spa
Fifty-six acres of gardens meeting Benaulim's quiet sands — South Goa at its most serene.
Mararikulam, Kerala
Marari Beach Resort
Fishing-village Kerala with a pool villa — barefoot luxury behind Marari's working coast.
Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
Suryagarh
A modern fortress on the Thar's edge — Jaisalmer's golden stone, built for this century's travellers.
Bikaner, Rajasthan
Narendra Bhawan
The last Maharaja of Bikaner's residence — eccentric, worldly and unlike any other palace hotel in India.
Jawai, Rajasthan
SUJÁN JAWAI
Tented luxury among the leopard kopjes — India's most stylish wilderness camp.
Ranthambore, Rajasthan
The Oberoi Vanyavilas
Tented ceilings, marble baths and a tiger reserve at the gate — India's most awarded jungle address.
Nimaj, Rajasthan
RAAS Chhatrasagar
Sixteen tents on a 19th-century dam wall — breakfast with flamingos, dinner with the family that built the lake.
Deogarh, Rajasthan
Dev Shree
A noble family's lakeside home in the Aravallis — Rajasthan hosted, not performed.
Ajabgarh, Rajasthan
Amanbagh
Aman's Mughal garden dream in a hidden Aravalli valley — pink marble, palm groves and a ghost town for a neighbour.
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Taj Nadesar Palace
Ten suites in the Maharaja of Benares' garden palace — silence, jasmine fields and the holy city minutes away.
Jaipur, Rajasthan
Samode Haveli
Two hundred and twenty-five years old, still lived in by the family who built it — inside the walled city, not beside it.
Bandhavgarh, Madhya Pradesh
Samode Safari Lodge
Twelve villas on thirty-five acres against the buffer — built in hand-moulded brick, in the manner of the village next door.
Kathmandu, Nepal
The Dwarika's Hotel
Fifty years of rescued Newari carving, rebuilt into Kathmandu's living heritage hotel.
Rohet, near Jodhpur, Rajasthan
Mihir Garh
Nine suites of hand-sculpted desert fantasy — a private fort with royal horses and Bishnoi country at the gate.
Jodhpur, Rajasthan
RAAS Jodhpur
A walled haveli garden at the foot of Mehrangarh — the fort filling every window.
Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
SUJÁN The Serai
A hundred private acres of the Thar, twenty-one tents, and desert ceremony perfected.
Shahpura, Rajasthan
Shahpura Bagh
Nine suites, forty-five acres, two lakes and the family's own fort on the skyline.
Deogarh, Rajasthan
Deogarh Mahal
Turrets, jharokhas and ramparts above an Aravalli town — and the family still in one wing.
Narlai, Rajasthan
Rawla Narlai
A Jodhpur hunting lodge at the foot of a single vast granite rock, with dinner served in a stepwell.
Udaipur, Rajasthan
Taj Fateh Prakash Palace
Inside the City Palace walls, looking straight down Lake Pichola at the Lake Palace.
Udaipur, Rajasthan
Fateh Garh
An 1880s haveli taken down stone by stone and rebuilt on an Aravalli hilltop above Udaipur.
Jaipur, Rajasthan
Jai Mahal Palace
Eighteen acres of walled Mughal garden in the middle of Jaipur, with a 1745 palace in it.
Ghanerao, Rajasthan
Ghanerao Royal Castle
A 1606 Rajput castle in a village between Jodhpur and Udaipur, lived in by the family who built it.
Mandawa, Rajasthan
Castle Mandawa
The fort that guarded the caravan road, with Shekhawati's painted havelis starting at its gate.
Mandawa, Rajasthan
Vivaana Culture Hotel
Two merchant havelis restored side by side, with the original frescoes left where they were painted.
Pushkar, Rajasthan
The Westin Pushkar Resort & Spa
Ninety-eight villas in the Pushkar valley, forty-four of them with their own pool.
Kumbhalgarh, Rajasthan
Fateh Safari Resort
Eleven hundred metres up on the escarpment, with Kumbhalgarh's wall running the ridge above.
Agra, Uttar Pradesh
Trident, Agra
Courtyards, fountains and gardens a kilometre and a half from the Taj's East Gate.
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
BrijRama Palace
No road reaches it. You arrive by boat, onto the ghat the palace is built into.
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Taj Mahal, Lucknow
A domed lobby, a pool courtyard and Oudhyana — the Awadhi kitchen worth the detour.
Delhi
Maidens Hotel
The hotel Lutyens stayed in while he drew New Delhi — still standing, still working.
Amritsar, Punjab
Taj Swarna
Five kilometres from the Golden Temple, and the only bed in Amritsar at this standard.
Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh
Banjaar Tola, A Taj Safari
Eighteen tents in two camps of nine, raised above the Banjaar river on the quiet side of Kanha.
Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh
Hotel Chandela
Lawns and old trees a short walk from the Western Group — the bed Khajuraho actually has.
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), Maharashtra
Gateway Aurangabad
Sixty-three keys in gardens on the Deccan, and the base for Ajanta and Ellora both.
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
ITC Grand Chola
Four hundred and sixty-two hand-carved pillars, and Avartana — the best table in south India.
Covelong, near Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Taj Fisherman's Cove Resort & Spa
Forty-eight acres on Covelong beach, built on the ramparts of an eighteenth-century fort.
Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu
Radisson Blu Resort, Temple Bay
Beachfront chalets a walk from the Shore Temple, which is the whole argument.
Pondicherry
Palais de Mahé
Eighteen rooms off a courtyard in White Town, fifty metres back from the sea wall.
Madurai, Tamil Nadu
Gateway Madurai
An 1890 house on a hill above Madurai, in sixty-two acres with the temple city laid out below.
Madurai, Tamil Nadu
Heritage Madurai
Geoffrey Bawa's Madurai Club, now seventy-two keys under old banyans.
Bengaluru, Karnataka
The Leela Palace Bengaluru
Pink sandstone, copper domes and a lotus lagoon — seven acres off Old Airport Road.
Ooty, Tamil Nadu
Savoy, Ooty
Cottage rows round a lawn at 2,200 metres, with a fireplace in every room.
Munnar, Kerala
The Panoramic Getaway
Balconies over the tea valleys at four thousand feet, and two heated pools on the roof.
Munnar, Kerala
Windermere Estate
A working cardamom estate on a cliff edge, with the buildings set into the rock.
Thekkady, Kerala
Spice Village
Fifty-two cottages thatched in elephant grass, built the way you would build a village.
Nileshwar, Kerala
Neeleshwar Hermitage
Eighteen cottages under the palms on an empty north Malabar beach — and Theyyam season outside.
Kovalam, Kerala
The Leela Kovalam, a Raviz Hotel
A Correa building stepping down a headland, with the Arabian Sea on three sides.
Chitwan National Park, Nepal
Meghauli Serai, A Taj Safari
On the Rapti's bank with the park across the water — and the Himalaya on a clear morning.
Pokhara, Nepal
The Pavilions Himalayas, The Farm
Fourteen villas in a forested valley, with the Annapurnas behind and the farm in front.