Killa Bhawan

Most Jaisalmer hotels look at the fort; Killa Bhawan is part of it. The hotel is built into three bastions of the Fort walls, and from its roof terraces the view takes in the sunset over the town, the fort palace and the desert beyond. Cars are banned inside Jaisalmer Fort, so staff greet you at the Fort gate. That arrival sets the tone for everything that follows.

Eight rooms in the ramparts

It is genuinely small: three Deluxe Heritage rooms decorated with antiques and marble flooring, two Heritage rooms, and the Heritage Family section, a private wing of three rooms with two adjoining marble bathrooms, its own lobby and its own roof terraces. The palette runs to crimson, lime and orange, and the rooms are deliberately TV-free. It reads more like a collector's home in the ramparts than a hotel.

Staff greet you at the Fort gate; cars go no further.

The practical stuff is generous for the bracket: breakfast made to order, unlimited mineral water, free tea and coffee all day, soft drinks included, free Wi-Fi, a safe box in every room, and free train-station pick-up. Daily direct trains run from Delhi, Jaipur and Jodhpur.

The rest of their Jaisalmer

The same house runs its sister concerns in the old city below. KB Lodge, four rooms directly opposite Patwa Haveli, looks straight onto it; the multi-level rooftop KB Cafe above it serves a vegetarian menu that swings from Rajasthani thali to pasta al pesto and proper Italian coffee, with the fort filling the skyline. Sonar Killa, the attached shop, sells pashmina from its own weavers, antiques and local sandstone work.

They will also take you into the Thar properly: an afternoon jeep safari through Barah Bagh, the abandoned village of Kuldhara, Amar Sagar and the Khuri dunes with a sunset camel ride, or an overnight version sleeping in a two-person Swiss tent, or simply out on the dunes under quilts, with dinner and music by the fire and a camel ride back at dawn. Half-day guided tours of the fort, palace and havelis run with multilingual guides, and a car-and-driver desk covers onward travel to Jodhpur, Udaipur and Jaipur. Come in February and the Desert Festival adds three days of camel races, music and the Mr Desert contest.