Stok Palace

Most palace hotels in India stopped being palaces a long time ago. Stok has not. The Namgyal family, Ladakh's old royal house, still lives here, in an old pile on a ridge above the Indus, and a handful of its rooms take guests.

The palace was built in 1820, entirely by Ladakhi craftsmen, and the family's own account traces the dynasty back to a founder in the tenth century. In 1980 the doors opened to the public with the blessing of the Dalai Lama. What you get today is a small heritage hotel folded inside a royal household that never left.

A monk on the top floor

The Lhakchung, the palace's own Buddhist temple, sits on the uppermost floor. A monk, deputed from Chemrey monastery for a year at a time, keeps the daily prayers going, and guests are welcome to sit in as quiet observers. The same monk makes sacred amulets, and you can ask for one to carry home (a contribution of 500 rupees is urged).

There is also the family museum, which the palace calls the only private museum of its kind in the western Himalayas. Inside are ancient coins, royal seals, costumes and thangkas, some of which the palace says are over 400 years old, along with the queen's perak, a headdress set with 401 lumps of uncut turquoise, coral and gold nuggets, and a crown said to be more than a thousand years old. The object we'd cross the room for is a sword tied in a knot, bent, the story goes, by the king's oracle in a show of supernatural power.

Sleeping in a living palace

Rooms are few. There are four Standard Suites, the Royal Suite, which keeps some of the museum's artefacts in the room with you, and the Queen's Room, recreated with the queen's curios and photographs, its balcony hanging over the Indus valley. The newest additions are the Heritage Rooms, with or without balconies facing the Stok Kangri mountains. There is no WiFi, no television and no air conditioning, and drinking water comes free in glass bottles because the palace would rather not hand out plastic. We count all of this as a feature.

Three villas in the apricot orchard

A seven to ten minute walk from the palace is Chulli Bagh, three villas in an orchard of old apricot, walnut and willow trees (chulli is Ladakhi for apricot). Each is hand built from wood and mud, with two bedrooms, a shared open-plan sitting room and a kitchenette. Come in April for the apricot blossom, or October for the autumn colour.

The practical bit

Stok village sits in the Indus valley about 17 km southeast of Leh, beneath the 6,150-metre Stok Kangri. Two kilometres from the palace is Stok Gompa, a monastery founded in the fourteenth century, and, nearby, a 71-foot seated Buddha consecrated by the Dalai Lama in 2016. Over at Chulli Bagh, Willow Kitchen & Bar cooks international food, while the traditional kitchen turns out momos and thukpa alongside the lesser-known skyu and chhutagi.