SUJÁN The Serai

The Manganiyars, bard musicians of the western desert with a history the camp traces back thirteen centuries, first played for the Singh family in the 1960s. Their descendants still perform under the stars at SUJÁN The Serai, the family's tented camp on a 100-acre private estate of desert scrub about 40 minutes from Jaisalmer. Open since 2009 and modelled on the royal caravan sites of Rajputana, it is a camp about the desert itself: no tigers or leopards here, just the Thar, which the site notes covers nearly a tenth of India's landmass.

Twenty-one tents on Jaisalmer stone

The arithmetic is simple and honest. Fourteen Luxury Tents in hand-stitched canvas sit on bases of local Jaisalmer stone, each with an outdoor veranda and an inner tented lounge. Six Luxury Tented Suites repeat that footprint and add a private heated plunge pool. And one Royal Tented Suite occupies its own large private encampment with plunge pool, massage area and pergola tents for dining. Writing desks and bespoke stationery come as standard, which tells you the intended pace.

Camel to the dunes at sunset, sundowner in hand, dinner on a private dune under lanterns.

Days built around the desert

The signature evening is the Great Thar Sundowner: out by 4x4 through the villages, then onto a camel for the final crossing to the dunes. Mornings belong to the organic farm, where guests watch the milking, collect eggs and pick vegetables for a farm-to-fork breakfast; the kitchen runs on the Relais & Châteaux principle of cooking from its own terroir. There is a spa in a walled garden with daily yoga, artisans demonstrating pottery and weaving on the sand deck, Kalbelia dancers, and guided jaunts into Jaisalmer's fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Site the camp fairly calls India's only living fortress. Daily flights reach Jaisalmer from Delhi, Mumbai and Jaipur in high season, so the desert is closer than it looks.