"Ninety-eight rooms and seven suites in an 1890 palace built for the commander of the Bhopal State Forces, with a 25-metre pool and a riding track, Shamla Hills"
The palace was built in 1890, during the reign of Nawab Sultan Jehan Begum, commissioned by her second son General Obaidullah Khan, Commander in Chief of the Bhopal State Forces, and named in her honour. After the General died the palace changed hands: his sons used it as their secretariat until 1952, when Jagirs were abolished, and the family leased it to the Government, which ran it as a hostel and then as the Geological Survey of India's office until 1981. His grandsons reopened it as a hotel in September 1983, and in 2000 it was classified a Heritage Grand Hotel, the first in Central India.
The white building on the slopes of Shamla Hills mixes British Colonial, Italian Renaissance and Classical Greek work, with arched walkways, colonnaded verandahs and lawns in the courtyards. There are 98 rooms including 7 suites, opening onto courtyards or balconies over the trees, the pool and the riding track. The 25 metre open air pool sits below the balconies of the Imperial Rooms, and the thoroughbreds are exercised on the track beside it. There are four restaurants and two bars, among them Shahnama, La Kuchina, Cafechino and Under The Mango Tree.