Kesar Bagh Palace

Chittorgarh gets plenty of day-trippers and remarkably few good beds, which makes Kesar Bagh Palace a useful discovery. The hotel bills itself as the only five-star resort in Chittorgarh, and it was built to look the part: a new palace in the old Rajput manner, with jharokhas, thikri mirror-work, hand-painted walls, arched corridors and chandeliers the hotel says were crafted by hand.

The setting

The resort sits at Village Barada on the edge of town, close to the Udaipur-Bhilwara highway. Chittaurgarh Junction and the RSRTC bus stand are both around 8 km away, and the hotel puts Udaipur's Maharana Pratap Airport at roughly 90 km. The three sights it points guests towards are Chittorgarh Fort, the UNESCO-listed giant on the hill, plus Gosunda Dam and Bassi Wildlife Sanctuary, all within a comfortable drive. Udaipur itself is about 108 km, so this works as a base for the southern Rajasthan circuit rather than a one-night fort stop.

Rooms

Five categories, from the 260 sq. ft. Super Deluxe Room with its arched windows up to the 650 sq. ft. Padmini and Meera Suites; every category takes up to three guests. The suites and the Premiere Room come with jacuzzis, the Padmini's is a two-seater, and the details run to vintage fans, hand-painted ceilings and, in the Premiere Room, a private sit-out balcony.

The table

Kesari, the in-house restaurant, serves a multi-cuisine menu from 7am to 11pm under hand-crafted chandeliers, at marble tables with teakwood chairs. There are breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets, and you can eat indoors or by the pool.

The rest

An outdoor pool with the palace as backdrop, the Urban Nirvana Spa (single and couple rooms, massages and foot reflexology), cycling paths, sprawling lawns, a children's play area and a buggy to save your legs. Four event spaces top out at the 10,000 sq. ft. Maharana Banquet Hall, which holds up to 500, this is somewhere that takes weddings seriously.