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.
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.