The stays

Casa Jaali

Rocky peninsula. Patnem Beach. Dolphins at sunrise. Casa Jaali is where you actually want to be in Goa. Authentic Goan architecture, locally crafted rooms, 35 meters from the beach. The real thing.

SUJÁN The Serai

Twenty-one tents on the golden edge of the Thar: private plunge pools, Manganiyar bards by firelight, and dunes running to the horizon. Jaisalmer's living fortress is up the road.

Guleria Kothi

A restored 18th-century sandstone kothi on Guleria Ghat — no road to the door, you arrive by boat

Palais de Mahe

A mansion-style stay in Pondicherry's French Quarter where whitewashed arches and high ceilings meet the salt-air bustle of the Tamil coast just outside the door.

Eighth Bastion

A CGH Earth property in Fort Kochi that wears its Dutch East India Company history lightly: think spice-trail dinners, a shipwreck story at reception, and a genuine effort to tread softly on the town around it.

SUJÁN JAWAI

Ten tented suites among billion-year-old granite, where leopards live openly alongside Rabari herdsmen. Twice-daily drives, Marwari horses, and candlelit brass baths under the stars.

SUJÁN Sher Bagh

Twelve campaign-style tents on the edge of Ranthambhore: brass bathtubs, a Tatler-listed jungle spa, campfire cooking, and India's most celebrated tigers a game drive away.

Seclude Shimla Taraview

A colonial-era home above Old Shimla, all glazed verandahs and lime-plastered calm: six galaxy-named rooms, none alike, and a garden made for lingering.

Udai Kothi

Sixty four rooms above Hanuman Ghat and the oldest rooftop pool in Udaipur, by the house's own telling. Dusk up there outshines the palace bars.

Rohet Garh

A classified heritage hotel at Rohet near Jodhpur, held by the same family since 1622 and receiving guests since 1990. Frescoed rooms, a courtyard pool, a family kitchen with its own cookbook, and a Marwari stable the family calls among the country's finest.

Six Senses Fort Barwara

A 14th-century walled fort near Ranthambhore, restored over more than a decade into 48 contemporary Rajasthani suites, with two palaces, two temples and a 30,000 square foot spa inside the ramparts.

The Source at Sula

A cream-and-terracotta villa on the site of Sula's first winery, by the house's own telling, with rooms named after the world's wine regions and views running over the vines towards Gangapur Lake.

Malji ka Kamra

A century-old Shekhawati haveli in Churu, restored into a heritage hotel. Aquamarine stucco, carved balconies and muralled rooms, with the painted town and the desert on the doorstep.

The Project Café Goa

In Aldona, inland North Goa, The Project Café has turned a 150-year-old Portuguese villa into an art-first boutique hotel with a pool, gallery, art bar and shop. Rooms are named after Goan places, and and, the hotel says outright, what catches your eye can be bought and taken home.

Amrapali House of Grace

A Portuguese house of around 1919 at Siridao bridge in Goa Velha, lovingly restored from 2014 by local artisans and reborn as a six-room boutique hotel. Expect a courtyard pool between red arcaded wings, a waterfront cafe with a pastry chef they say is Le Cordon Bleu certified, five resident dogs and the sort of quiet that North Goa's beach belt forgot.

Ekaa Agra

A 13-room boutique hotel in Agra's Taj Nagri, built by three friends with deep roots in the city. Rooms borrow from the Taj's arches and inlay work, the kitchen serves family recipes from within 50 km, and the tours go where day-trippers never do.

Jagat Niwas Palace

Lake Pichola on your doorstep, the City Palace next door, and a rooftop where the tables look straight across the water to the Lake Palace at sunset. Jagat Niwas is a 27-room heritage haveli in the old city of Udaipur: Mewari arches, a mirror-ceilinged lake-view dining room, a rooftop plunge pool and a lakefront spa. A boutique address in the heart of the City of Lakes.

The Laxmi Niwas Palace

A red-sandstone palace on the edge of the Thar, raised by the Maharaja of Bikaner in 1904 and famous, even then, for guests who never quite wanted to leave. Domes and cupolas, deep-carved friezes, filigree stonework and latticed screens, set in formal lawns. The Laxmi Niwas Palace is the royal house of Bikaner, now a heritage hotel.

Ahilya Fort

High above the ghats of the sacred Narmada, in the weaving town of Maheshwar, stands the 18th-century fort-palace of Ahilyabai Holkar — still in the family, and now opening its courtyards to a handful of guests. Nineteen rooms across six old buildings, three walled courtyards, a garden pool, and a daily table grown in the fort's own beds. One of central India's great stays.

Samode Haveli

Down a lane in the old walled city, behind high gates, the Samode family's Jaipur townhouse hides a run of painted courtyards, frescoed halls, and a lotus-fountain garden you dine around by candlelight. Around 225 years old and still family-run — one of the loveliest heritage stays in the Pink City.

Isola di Cocco

On the banks of the Poovar River at the far south of Kerala — where river, beach and backwater meet — Isola di Cocco is a coconut-grove retreat of Kerala-style villas, a private beach, and a proper Ayurvedic centre on site. Its name means the Island of Coconuts. Days go slowly here: the pool, the sand, or the long calm of an Ayurveda treatment.

Fort Tiracol

On a headland at the very top of Goa, where the Arabian Sea meets the Terekhol River, a small 17th-century fort keeps a whitewashed chapel and a handful of rooms above the water. Cross on the little ferry, climb to the ramparts, and Goa empties out below you. Fort Tiracol is the quiet, old-Portuguese Goa most people never find.

Hotel Diggi Palace

A 19th-century thikana palace in the middle of Jaipur, still run by the Diggi family who built it — some eighteen acres of courtyards, arched gateways and lawns behind the city walls. Home of the Jaipur Literature Festival since 2006, and a genuinely warm, unstuffy heritage stay the rest of the year.

Stok Palace

Above the Indus near Leh, the Namgyal family's home of two centuries takes guests — a monk on the top floor, the royal museum, and three villas in the apricot orchard.

Mharo Khet

Mharo khet is Marwari for 'my farm'. On 40 acres outside Jodhpur: ten raga-named cottages, a nine-course dinner in the guava orchard, and a spot on TIME's World's Greatest Places list.

Chambal Safari Lodge

An hour from the Taj: a family seat traced to 1472, fourteen rooms in regrown forest, and slow boats past wild gharials on a river that bandit legend and an ancient curse kept blissfully undisturbed.

Brij Atmanya

A sanctuary of stone and wood at five thousand feet in Bhowali, heart of the Kumaon Lake District, with Kumaoni cooking from its own herb garden and treks from the door.

Brij Casa Susegad

A seven-room Indo-Portuguese villa hidden in Loutolim's forested heart, named for Goa's unhurried way of being — slow days of river fishing, nature walks and birdsong.

Brij Villa

A 130-year-old colonial cottage atop Moti Tiba's deodar-clad heights, a kilometre from Dalhousie's Gandhi Chowk, with bay-windowed rooms and dining at Cedar.

Brij Anayra

Heritage suites named for Viceroys on a 161-year-old tea garden estate, its 16 acres of plantation rolling towards the Dhauladhar range above Dharamshala.

Brij Paraiso

A Goan garden retreat in the forested lanes of Saligao, its nine village-named rooms, pool and outdoor showers 4–5 km from North Goa's beaches.

Brij Sone Bagh

Folk-art villas — Gond, Dhokra and Bagh print — at the edge of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, where safaris, Baiga kitchens and bush dinners follow the jungle's rhythm.

Brijrama Palace

A 200-year-old palace on Darbhanga Ghat — the second-oldest in Varanasi, reached the old way, by boat

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WelcomHeritage Badi Kothi

A lantern-lit heritage kothi near the bank of the Ganga — carved balconies, stained-glass courtyards, a rooftop pool above the river and the Triveni Sangam just up the road.

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Villa 33

A small bed-and-breakfast base in Delhi — Deluxe and Superior rooms with breakfast included.

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Nuo Justa

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Khatu Haveli

A mid-19th-century haveli inside Jaipur's walled Pink City, lived in by six generations of the Khatu family — three courtyards, carved arches, and terraces looking up to Nahargarh Fort.

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Mount Valley

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Samode Safari Lodge

The Samode family's safari lodge sits on 35 acres next to the Bandhavgarh buffer zone, about 25 minutes from the reserve's three entry gates. Twelve villas each get a private courtyard, deck and outdoor shower, with an infinity pool and spa shared between them. The build takes its cues from Mardari, the village next door, which is why it doesn't shout.

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Aramness

A lodge laid out as a Gujarati village on the edge of Sasan Gir, home of the Asiatic lion. Eighteen double-storey kothis line a cobbled street, each with a shaded courtyard, a first-floor veranda facing the teak forest and a small pool modelled on an Indian stepwell. Hand-carved sandstone jali screens throw dappled light over the rooms; the kitchen leans farm-to-table Gujarati.

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Reni Pani Jungle Lodge

A conservation-minded lodge from Bhopal's Jehan Numa family, in teak country near Satpura Tiger Reserve — the park where safaris go on foot, by canoe and by cycle as much as by jeep. Sleep in cottages set among nallah, forest or hill, or in tents ringed round a perennial waterhole that draws wildlife to the doorstep. The name comes from the reni berry trees here, a favourite of sloth bears.

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Sundarban Tiger Camp

On Dayapur Island opposite Sundarban National Park, this camp has been running cruise safaris into the mangrove waterways since 2004 — you arrive by boat from Gadkhali along the Pitchkhali River. The 21 rooms, each hand-painted by a local artist and kept free of televisions, all have private balconies. Evenings bring a sundowner at the Mangrove bar and, some nights, a Bonobibi Jatra — the local play of the forest goddess.

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Jamtara Wilderness Camp

A ten-tent camp beneath tall arjuna trees and an ancient banyan on a dry riverbed at the edge of Pench, run by the grandson of Project Tiger's first director. Tents roll up their front panels to face the forest; the furniture is reclaimed, from ship-deck timber to writing desks from the Supreme Court of India. The signature is the star bed — a night on a machan in the fields, as village crop-watchers have always slept.

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Irai Safari Retreat

A safari retreat about a hundred metres from Irai lake and minutes from Tadoba's Moharli gate, beside the tribal village of Bhamdeli. Cottages and jungle tents, with a pool and an in-house restaurant for the hours between drives. Safaris run into the Moharli, Kolara and Navegaon zones with the lodge's naturalists, and it holds TOFT certification for responsible tourism.

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Citrus County

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Bori Safari Lodge

Reni Pani's younger sibling from the Jehan Numa stable, set on a 7.5-acre farmland estate in Dhapadamal village, three kilometres from the gate of Bori Wildlife Sanctuary — an emerging tiger landscape most visitors haven't found yet. Rooms come with private viewing decks over the fields, plus a plunge pool, spa and library. Set menus lean on the village cooking of Madhya Pradesh, sourced from local farmers.

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Mela Kothi – Chambal Safari Lodge

The Mela Kothi went up in the late 1860s as the office for a zamindar family's twice-yearly cattle fair; the same family restored it from 1999 as a safari lodge in 33 acres of planted forest. Fourteen rooms and cottages sit among the trees. Boats go out on the National Chambal Sanctuary for gharials and Gangetic dolphins, and the Taj Mahal is about an hour's drive.

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Bagh Villas

A boutique jungle camp on the periphery of Kanha Tiger Reserve, styled on the Jodhpuri shikar tents of old hunting camps crossed with an African safari camp. Quarters come two ways — tented suites and lakeside cottages — each with a bamboo shower and a verandah deck facing the lake. The lake itself is rain-harvested, and the kitchen draws on the camp's own organic garden, cows, hens and bees.

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Ladakh Sarai

Founded in 1978, a few years after Ladakh first opened to travellers, and now stewarded by Ladakhis, this slow-travel base sits in Ayu village in the Indus Valley, built in traditional stone-and-mud style. Stay in a mud hut, a chalet or the duplex suite. Televisions have been removed from every room; a shared set waits in the Sarai Hall, which tells you what the place is for.

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Jim's Jungle Retreat

A small lodge at Corbett Tiger Reserve, set between the Himalayan foothills and the Shivaliks: just eighteen independent cottages and lodges in more than fifteen acres of replanted forest. Days run to safari drives, bird walks and morning river walks. Meals are farm-to-table from the retreat's own organic plot, drawing on Kumaoni, Rampur and Raj-era recipes; you can pick the vegetables yourself.

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Pilibhit House

A century-old aristocratic mansion on the Ganges at Haridwar, now a 35-room hotel under IHCL's SeleQtions flag. Rooms face quiet courtyards or the river, and there is a Jiva spa, pool and library inside the old walls. The point of staying, though, is the house's private bathing ghat on the Ganges; the hotel says it is the largest of its kind.

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Amrit Bhawan

A family home on a calmer bend of the Ganga at Haridwar, restored between 2017 and 2020 with its art deco character intact, and now run as an intimate retreat by Ekat. There are eight rooms, each named for a star of the Sapt Rishi constellation, which on clear nights appears above the terrace. Curated walks open up the old town at a slower pace.

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Sariska Safari Lodge

An eco-minded boutique lodge on 6.5 acres at the periphery of Sariska Tiger Reserve, ringed by the Aravalli range. Nineteen simply designed cottages, finished in locally sourced materials, sit in five clusters opening onto lawns; the first-floor Maharani Suite looks out to Thanagazi Fort. Safaris go after Sariska's tigers, and the buffer zone stays open year-round except Wednesdays.

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Taj Rishikesh Resort & Spa

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Jaagir Manor

An 80-year-old hunting lodge in the Terai, within the wildlife corridor around Dudhwa: country of grasslands, forest and freshwater ponds that holds tigers, rhinos and sloth bears. Suites and villas, some brick-built, surround an outdoor pool; dinner is at the Jaagir Pavilion, drinks and finger food at the Safari Club. Safaris here are notably uncrowded.

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The Blackbuck Lodge

A small lodge in the golden grasslands of Blackbuck National Park, in the Bhal region of Saurashtra. Rough-hewn stone villas, some with plunge or full pools plus one suite, look straight onto the grass, and blackbuck and bluebull can be watched without leaving your room. Guided walks and the Lettuce Eat restaurant fill the hours in one of India's emptier, stranger landscapes.

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The Chospa

A contemporary hotel on Old Leh Road, built the old Ladakhi way: thick, buttressed walls of compressed earth blocks made on site. Leh's main market is 350 metres away, Leh Palace just over a kilometre. Juniper, the ground-floor restaurant, works Ladakhi and Tibetan flavours through its menus, and the bathroom floors are heated — which, in a Leh winter, is no small thing.

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Ekaanta

A wellness retreat on the Ganges at Haridwar, its name Sanskrit for solitude, with a private ghat where Ganga aarti is performed. Rooms look over the river; programmes range from general rejuvenation to sleep, gut and chronic-pain work, built on Ayurveda, yoga and meditation. Meals are 'slow cuisine' from seasonal, local ingredients, and Delhi is about three and a half hours by road.

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Singinawa Jungle Lodge

A lodge in a hundred acres of its own forest adjoining Kanha Tiger Reserve, near Kohka village. Accommodation stays intimate: twelve safari cottages with private verandahs, plus two secluded jungle bungalows — the four-room Perch and the two-room Wildernest. The kitchen cooks with organic produce from the lodge's farms, and the on-site Kanha Museum of Life and Art rewards an unhurried hour between safaris.

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Storii Urvashi's Retreat

ITC's small-scale Storii brand in Bahang, upper Manali, at 2,000 metres with the Pir Panjal and Dhauladhar ranges around it. Twenty-two rooms and suites share two acres with a mini apple orchard and glacial brooks, which gather into a natural pool. The buildings borrow Himalayan blue pine and local kathkhuni construction, and the whole place is pet-friendly — dogs get a proper welcome.

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WelcomHeritage Tadoba Vanya Villas

A WelcomHeritage lodge of 34 rooms surrounded by the wilds of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. Premium cottages come with private gardens and living areas; the eight luxury tents run to 1,200 square feet, larger than most city flats. Two restaurants, a bar, a pool and a spa see you through the middle of the day between safari drives.

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Windamere Hotel

Darjeeling's Raj-era heritage hotel, spread across houses that include Ada Villa and The Snuggery, the latter looking over Chowrasta. Rooms carry names like Princess of Siam and Begum Aga Khan; dinner is formal, and afternoon tea remains a fixture. A two-roomed bungalow houses the DHR Club, for devotees of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

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Tiger Tops Tharu Lodge

A 12-room lodge and nine safari tents on the edge of Chitwan National Park, built longhouse-style from local materials in the Tharu tradition. The draw is the resident herd of twelve elephants: you walk the jungle alongside them and their mahouts rather than ride, then watch them cool off in the Narayani river at sundown, drink in hand. Jeep safaris go out in restored open-top Land Rovers.

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Sarangkot Mountain Lodge

A lodge on Sarangkot hill at 1,600 metres, high above Pokhara, with the Annapurna range in view from every room. Rooms and a pair of suites are done in stone and wood in natural hues, each with a private balcony — which is where the famous Sarangkot sunrise is best taken in, far from the viewpoint scrum.

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Meghauli Serai

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Barahi Jungle Lodge

An eco-certified lodge on the banks of the Rapti at Meghauli, near Chitwan National Park. Its 34 deluxe rooms are thatched huts — most strung along the riverbank, a handful tucked into the jungle — plus one suite, all with private balconies. The lodge runs private safaris into the park, including a dedicated tiger-tracking expedition, and there's a pool for the sticky hours.

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Gangtey Lodge

A lodge perched high above the Phobjikha valley, looking down on a 17th-century monastery, traditional farmhouses and mountainsides of Himalayan blue pine. Its identical 46-square-metre suites are done farmhouse-style, each with a wood-burning fireplace and a roll-top bath facing the valley. In winter more than 600 black-necked cranes arrive from the Tibetan Plateau to roost on the valley floor — they are said to circle the monastery as they come.

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Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary

A wellness-inclusive retreat in the Neyphu Valley, a fifteen-minute drive from Paro's airport. Each stay opens with a consultation with a Traditional Bhutanese Medicine doctor, and the rate folds in a daily herbal treatment, yoga, meditation and farm-to-table meals. Rooms face the valley from a private balcony or a garden terrace, and the tea bar stocks twenty herbal blends.

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Jetwing Vil Uyana

Jetwing's lakeside reserve in Sri Lanka's cultural triangle, its stand-alone dwellings scattered across five habitats of garden, paddy, water and forest, several with private plunge pools. Sigiriya rock fortress is 6.9 km away; closer still is the grey slender loris, a rare nocturnal primate that lives on the reserve and is sought out on night walks with a resident naturalist.

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Svatma

Thanjavur was the Chola capital, and Svatma is its most considered address: 34 rooms arranged like a large family home, with verandas, lounges and quiet corners given over to the arts. Aaharam, the all-vegetarian restaurant, serves Tamil cuisine as plated mini meals from a display kitchen beside the pool, and alongside the spa there is a sound spa.

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Kahani Paradise

Kahani hides in twenty acres of hillside garden directly behind the sandy bay of Paradise Beach, on the Gokarna peninsula. There are just eight rooms and suites, all looking out at the Arabian Sea, with coastal cooking and plenty to do on and off the estate. The gardens are full of butterflies.

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Barefoot at Havelock

Villas, cottages and tents of timber and thatch, built from indigenous materials in the greenery behind Radhanagar Beach on Havelock Island. Barefoot was the first sustainably designed and operated resort in the Andamans, and it keeps faith with the setting: diving, kayaking and nature trails by day, then dinner at The Swimming Elephant, a thatched restaurant named after Rajan, the last swimming elephant.

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Rainforest Athirapally

A ten-room retreat on seven acres of rainforest in the Sholayar forest, its balconies looking straight onto the Athirappilly falls. A lone treehouse sits up in the canopy, waterfall beyond the treetops. There is an infinity pool and Ayurveda, and the quieter diversions are the good ones: tribal bamboo cooking, firefly watching after dark.

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Niraamaya Retreats Samroha

Niraamaya's wellness retreat sits on a cliff above the Athirappilly falls, along the banks of the Chalakudy River. Rooms, cottages and private-pool villas, many facing the water, with the group's Ayurveda-led spa at the centre of things. Café Samsara handles the all-day dining; the Essence lounge bar keeps the waterfall view. Unusually for a retreat of this sort, it takes pets.

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Spice Tree Munnar

A small boutique resort between the Kannan Devan and Bison Valley hills, in Munnar's high ranges, with fourteen suites and two pool villas spread across the Muttukadu and Kumbappara hills. Every suite looks over the valley; some add Victorian jacuzzis, plunge pools or copper tubs. The outdoor pool is solar-heated mountain spring water, and the tea lounge is called 300 BC.

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Vythiri Resort

A 150-acre stretch of Wayanad rainforest the founders came across in 1993, six coffee-workers' row houses standing on it; today there are 36 villas and cottages, plus tree houses up in the canopy, beside a forest stream crossed by a swaying rope bridge. No TVs, no air-conditioning, patchy signal, quite deliberately. Kerala Ayurveda at the spa; the Malabar whistling thrush does the wake-up call.

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Carmelia Haven

A resort set within a working tea and cardamom plantation at Vandanmedu, in the hills near Thekkady. The stays are the draw: wooden tree houses on stilts with wrap-around balconies over the plantation, plunge-pool villas, planters' villas, even a cave room. Kolumban, the restaurant, cooks old Kerala recipes alongside the multi-cuisine spread, and days go on plantation walks, jeep safaris and a look around the cardamom factory.

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Java Rain Resort

A villa resort in the foothills of Mullayanagiri, Karnataka's highest peak, amid the estates that earned Chikmagalur the name of India's coffee country. Villas run from snug hideaways to a three-bedroom pool villa; there is an infinity pool aimed at the hills, and Crimson Peak, a bar perched fifty feet up in the treetops, which the resort calls the highest in Karnataka.

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Coco Lagoon by Great Mount

A resort in a coconut grove in the open countryside outside Pollachi, on the rural fringe of Coimbatore district. Rooms climb from compact executive rooms to pond-view suites and villas with plunge or private pools, with an infinity pool and The Palm restaurant at the centre. The excursions stay local, and are better for it: bullock-cart rides, handloom village visits, palm-jaggery tours.

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Anantya by the Lake

Anantya sits on the banks of Chittar Lake inside the Vaikundam Estate, a working rubber plantation in Kanyakumari district run by one family since 1957. Villas and cottages face the lake, some with private pools or outdoor jacuzzis; days go on plantation tours, fishing from the banks, and drives to watch the sun set at the tip of India.

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Kumarakom Lake Resort

The grand old name of the Kumarakom backwaters: a 25-acre heritage resort on the banks of Vembanad Lake, four times named India's Leading Resort at the World Travel Awards. Stays run from heritage villas with private pools to meandering-pool villas and the resort's own houseboats. Ayurmana, the Ayurveda spa, is taken seriously here; the traditional Kerala teashop is a nice touch among the restaurants.

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Saraca Hotel Lucknow

A white Art Deco house from 1936 on Lucknow's Mall Avenue, refurbished in 2016 and set in its own lawns. There are 41 rooms and suites, from the compact Awadh Room to the four-poster Heritage and Imperial Suites, most of which open onto the central courtyard the hotel calls the Sehen. Downstairs, Azrak cooks Awadhi food; there is also a pool, a spa and a rooftop lounge.

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Mizpah Delhi

A four-room bed and breakfast in a house in Safdarjung Enclave, styled, its owner Caroline says, on her grandmother's Anglo-Indian home in Calcutta. The rooms, Iris, Rose, Jasmine and Lily, take their names from the flower-named daughters and aunts of Anglo-Indian families; each is different, with its own bathroom and a balcony or terrace. The kitchen cooks home-style Anglo-Indian, Bengali and Delhi dishes, and the house is fully staffed through the day.

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Colonel's Retreat

Two bed-and-breakfast houses in Defence Colony, an upmarket, tree-lined corner of South Delhi; the doors first opened in 2008. Rooms are Standard Rooms, each with an air purifier, opening onto shared lounges hung with original art. The kitchen makes its own jams, marmalade and multigrain bread, the banana bread is the house speciality guests ask for most, and in good weather breakfast and dinner move up to the rooftop.

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Mosaic Connect Ayodhya

A contemporary hotel in Ayodhya's Civil Lines, about a kilometre from Ayodhya Cantt railway station and five from the new Maharishi Valmiki International Airport. Rooms come in three categories — Premium, Family and Deluxe Twin — above a pure-vegetarian skyline restaurant, Atithi Mangalam, open 7am to 10.30pm, and a 2,000 sq ft banquet space the hotel calls Summit.

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Castle Bijaipur

Castle Bijaipur was built in the early 16th century by Rao Vijay Singh, a descendant of Shakti Singh, younger brother of Maharana Pratap, and was converted into a hotel in 1991 by the ruling family — who still live in it. It sits at 600 metres in the Vindhyanchal Hills near Chittorgarh, surrounded by forests of Flame of the Forest and Jacaranda.

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Dera Rawatsar

Dera Rawatsar is a family-run boutique hotel in Jaipur's Bani Park, built in 1950 and run by the House of Rawatsar, who trace their ancestry to the Kandhlot Rathore clan of Rajputs. It has 16 rooms across three categories, a garden, an outdoor pool and an in-house restaurant serving home-style Indian food.

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Dhora Desert Resort & Spa

Dhora Desert Resort & Spa is a 45-acre tented camp at Gogadevgarh, Village Shekhala in Jodhpur district, about 100 km from Jodhpur. Its 15 luxury tented suites face a pond framed by sand dunes, and the resort is owned and run by a young couple who live on site, opening each year from October to March.

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Diwan House

A hand-built, artisan-decorated homestay in Tajganj, about 500 metres from the Taj Mahal near the East Gate Shilpgram parking. The multilingual hosts — fluent in French, German, English and Hindi — draw on over 30 years as professional tourist escorts.

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Fort Dhariyawad

Dhariyawad was founded in the middle of the 16th century by Prince Sahasmal, second son of Maharana Pratap of Mewar, and the family fort has been converted into a heritage hotel. It sits at the confluence of the Jakham and Karmoi rivers in southern Rajasthan, ringed by the subtropical forests of the Aravalli Hills.

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Haveli Hauz Khas

Haveli Hauz Khas is a five-room bed and breakfast in a heritage mansion in Hauz Khas Enclave, South Delhi, run by hosts Neelu and Teji, heritage enthusiasts who have written books on Indian history, architecture and travel. Each air-conditioned room follows an Indian heritage theme — Ajanta, Banni, Hampi, Kama and Neem — and breakfast is fresh and home-cooked.

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Jas Vilas

Jas Vilas is a 14-room hotel in Jaipur's Bani Park, developed by Mahendra and Rajyashree Singh from their ancestral family home. Fresh Indian meals are cooked to order and taken in the dining room or by the mural-walled swimming pool.

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Kesar Bagh Palace

Kesar Bagh Palace is a palace-style resort at Village Barada on the edge of Chittorgarh, close to the Udaipur-Bhilwara highway, and the hotel says it is the only five-star property in town. Five room categories, the Kesari multi-cuisine restaurant, an outdoor pool and the Urban Nirvana Spa sit within grounds built in the Rajput manner.

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Niravi

Niravi is a leafy boutique hotel in the historic Peelwa Gardens off Moti Doongri Road, redesigned by three Jaipur sisters who grew up in the original bungalow. Two wings — the restored Bungalow and a contemporary Estate with Tangier-inflected arches — share tropical gardens, a pool courtyard, a smaller gazebo lounge pool and an intimate spa.

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Padmaa

Padmaa is a restored 18th-century haveli in the heart of Jaipur's walled city, run by the family that has held it for seven generations and named after their grandmother, Shrimati Padmaa Devi Shah. It is an all-suite boutique hotel with 15 uniquely styled suites, a courtyard restaurant, two bars, and a rooftop pool and spa overlooking the Pink City.

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Ranbanka Palace

Part of the palace Sir Ajit Singh Ji of Jodhpur commissioned as his residence, begun in 1927 under British architect Sir Henry Lanchester and now run as a heritage hotel by his descendants. 'Ranbanka' — master of battles — was the battle-honour of Jodhpur's Rathore clan.

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Rawla Narlai

A restored 17th-century royal retreat at the foot of Elephant Hill, sitting roughly halfway between Jodhpur and Udaipur. Opened as a boutique hotel in 1996 by Rani Usha Devi and the late Maharaj Swaroop Singh, it has 32 rooms set around courtyards bright with flowers.

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Soulacia Hotel & Resort

Soulacia is a luxury eco-resort at Village Khatia beside Kanha National Park, founded in 2009 on a barren plot that held just four solitary trees and since grown into its own small ecosystem. It sits a two-minute drive from the Khatia entry gate on the Kisli side of the park, with in-house naturalists, solar power and a farm-to-table kitchen.

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Surya Haveli

Surya Haveli is a six-room boutique haveli on the main square of Amer, the old Rajput capital just outside Jaipur, directly below the walls of 16th-century Amber Fort. The family dates the building to some 300 years ago; after a three-year restoration it opened in February 2021, with interiors by designer Adil Ahmad and three dining venues including a rooftop restaurant facing the fort.

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Talabgaon Castle

Talabgaon Castle is a restored Rajput fort in Dausa district, still owned by the Kupawat Rathore family who have held the estate for over 200 years. It offers 52 rooms and suites, its own organic farms feeding a farm-to-table kitchen, and sits roughly midway between Jaipur and the Ranthambore tiger reserve.

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Royal Heritage Haveli

Built in the 18th century as a royal hunting lodge and owned by Maharaj Jai Singh of Jaipur, this small haveli on Queen’s Road has been restored into a boutique hotel of four suites, overseen personally by Angelique and Pradip Singh. Hand-painted frescoes, a temperature-controlled marble and sandstone pool, the Frangipani Spa with lapis lazuli inlays, and a kitchen that cooks from the family’s own recipes and vegetable garden.

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Umaid Bhawan

Established in 1993 by the erstwhile royal family from Borunda, Umaid Bhawan is the flagship of Jaipur's Umaid hotel group — a heritage-style boutique hotel of 41 rooms and suites in residential Bani Park. Ornate frescoes, carved balconies, courtyards and lawns carry the handcrafted work of local artisans, while evenings bring folk dance and puppet shows, in-house Rajasthani dining and a pool to cool off in. The city's sights sit within a few kilometres.

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Umaid Mahal

Umaid Mahal is a family-run, heritage-style boutique hotel in Jaipur's Bani Park, a kilometre from the railway station and within easy reach of the walled city. Built out in traditional Rajasthani style — frescos, jharokas and intricate carvings — it belongs to the Rathore family of the royal house of Borunda. Rooms run from Standard to Suites, there's a swimming pool, and the Taikhana restaurant and its gold-decked lounge bar handle the evenings; buffet breakfast and station pick-up come free.

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Umaid Haveli Hotel & Resort

Twenty minutes before Jaipur proper, Umaid Haveli sits in the green-patched Aravalli hills at Kukas — close enough that Amber Fort is a ten-minute hop, far enough that the city's noise never reaches you. The whole building was handcrafted and painted by Rajasthan's expert artisans, so the heritage here is in the walls, not just the branding. A rooftop pool and hill-view restaurant on the tenth floor make the most of the 360-degree views.

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Umaid Residency

On the Delhi–Jaipur highway at Kukas, a short run from Amber Fort, Umaid Residency styles itself 'A Regal Heritage Home' — Rajasthani decor, antique-styled furniture and 18th-century portraits in the restaurant, at deliberately affordable rates. Rooms come with VRV air-conditioning (heated in winter), electric kettles and safes; the draw is the rooftop swimming pool with Aravalli hill views, pitched for morning swims and sunset lounging. Amber, Jaigarh and Nahargarh forts all sit within easy reach.

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Umaid Farm Resort

Umaid Farm Resort is the farm-stay arm of Jaipur's family-run Umaid Hotels, set across five acres of green landscape at Geetanjali Farm on Sikar Road, near Rajawas. Just ten suites — all with private balconies — sit around a 60-by-60-foot pool, a two-acre garden and a rooftop with pool table and table tennis. Solar power, rainwater harvesting and composting make it, by the property's own account, carbon neutral, and dogs are welcomed 'like family'.

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Hotel Narain Niwas Palace

Built in 1928 by General Amar Singh, Thakur of Kanota and Commander of the Jaipur State Forces, Narain Niwas began as a peaceful family getaway and opened to travellers in 1978 with just four rooms. Today the third generation of the Kanota family runs 52 rooms and suites across 10 acres of gardens, three kilometres from Jaipur's walled city — antique furniture, hand-painted walls, an outdoor pool, a spa, a museum and four distinct dining venues included.

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Gaj Kesri, Bikaner

Gaj Kesri sits just outside Bikaner proper, a 45-room resort the operator bills as a timeless retreat blending majestic architecture with the vast beauty of the Thar. It pitches itself at travellers chasing the soul of Rajasthan beyond the famous forts — though Junagarh Fort and the Rampuria havelis are barely three kilometres away. Days fill easily: an outdoor pool, camel rides, jeep safaris, cricket and kite flying, then pure-vegetarian Rajasthani thali-style feasting at Polki.

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Killa Bhawan

Killa Bhawan sits inside Jaisalmer's living fort, discreetly nested in three bastions of the ramparts at Kotri Para. It is a small heritage hotel — eight rooms across Deluxe Heritage, Heritage and a private family wing — dressed with antiques, marble flooring and refined old furniture, with terraces for sunset drinks over the golden city and desert. Breakfast, mineral water and all-day tea and coffee are included, and the same family runs a lodge and rooftop café by Patwa Haveli below.

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Lake Pichola Hotel

Piplia Haveli, an 18th-century mansion of the nobles of Thikana Piplia, was restored by scion Thakur Chandra Bhanu Singh and opened as Lake Pichola Hotel in 1985. It sits on the quiet island of Brahmapuri on the lake's western bank, its arches and balconies looking straight across the water to the City Palace, Jag Mandir and the bathing ghats. Expect Rajputana-style rooms, Thikri mirror work, a rooftop pool and four lakefront restaurants and bars.

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Maqbara 27

A restored heritage bungalow on Maqbara Road, in a quiet, leafy pocket at the heart of Lucknow, overlooking the Sibtainabad Imambara. Two bedrooms only — Parikhana, all Awadhi motifs and handcrafted woodwork, and Firangi Mahal, colonial in mood with vintage European furniture — alongside a living room lined with books on Lucknow, a dining room under vaulted arches, and a thriving garden. The house is taken whole, sleeps four, and comes with breakfast and a house manager on site.

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Alsisar Haveli

The Jaipur mansion of the Thakurs of Alsisar, converted to a heritage hotel in 1994 and still owned by the family, a branch of the Kachawa Rajputs descended from Maharao Shekhaji. Forty-five rooms of antique furniture and carved poster beds sit around rambling courtyards, with a swimming pool ringed by gazebos and cenotaphs, a mirrored Sheesh Mahal, and a rooftop that looks across to Nahargarh Fort.

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28 Kothi

A two-storeyed house in Civil Lines with five rooms, each named after a gemstone, conceived by the late Jaipur jeweller Munnu Kasliwal and now run by his son Siddharth with hotelier Abhishek Honawar. Built by the French architect Georges Floret, with interiors by the Lebanese designer Nur Kaoukji: hand-painted murals, custom furniture from local artisans, latticed windows, a courtyard, a library and a vegetarian farm-to-table cafe.

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Jaipur Haveli

Haveli Patnawala has been the family’s home since 1921, when two brothers who became the most prominent diamond traders in northern India bought a house already 170 years old and spent a year restoring it. Eight air-conditioned rooms, no two alike, run off courtyards and rooftops covered in old and new fresco work, one alley from Johari Bazar and a 400-metre walk from Hawa Mahal and the City Palace.

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Rajmahal Palace RAAS

Built in 1729 and for many years the home of Maharaja Sawai Man 'Jai' Singh and Maharani Gayatri Devi, who wrote in her memoir of its ‘charm and character’. It is still the Royal Family's primary residence, and their photographs, polo trophies, heirlooms and a 1950s Ford Thunderbird are on show through the house. Thirteen rooms and suites including two Royal Apartments, furnished in heirlooms and modern pieces the family call a perfect example of Indian Art Deco, with gardens, a pool ringed by fountains, a spa, two restaurants and a polo bar.

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Vasant Vilas

Three kinds of room: a superior deluxe with a jarokha window over the city, a king room with a balcony over the garden, and a junior suite with its own terrace and a view across Udaipur. All air-conditioned, with a fan, an electric kettle, a flat-screen television, a wardrobe and a mini bar. There is a multi-cuisine restaurant downstairs. The City Palace, Jagdish Temple and Lake Pichola are all close by.

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Casa de Goa

Arches, laterite and sunlit courtyards a short way back from Calangute beach, with the markets and cafes of North Goa around it. Rooms run from deluxe doubles through suites and family suites to villas, and there is a spa and a restaurant on site.

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Gulaal

Built on Jaisalmer's own haveli architecture: two open courtyards, intricate jali screens, Mughal pillars and jharokhas in the Paliwal style. A traditional haveli to sleep in, with the comforts of a modern hotel, in the middle of the Thar.

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Marugarh Resort & Spa

A low-slung resort on the edge of Jodhpur: rooms and suites, a spa, a restaurant and a bar, and gardens to sit out in between the fort and the drive on to the next place.

Fateh Vilas

Fateh Vilas is the newest of the Fateh Collection's Udaipur properties, a palace-style heritage resort beside Fateh Garh on Sisarma Road, about 5 km from the city centre. Its 76 rooms and suites come in five categories, from 390 sq ft Renaissance Rooms with sit-outs to 700 sq ft suites, many with private plunge pools facing the Aravalli hills. There is a multi-cuisine restaurant, spa, pool and a vintage car museum on site.

Fateh Garh

Fateh Garh is the Fateh Collection's flagship: a heritage palace transplanted stone by stone to a hilltop on Udaipur's edge and rebuilt largely by hand from recycled stone and wood. Its 56 rooms span five categories, from 300 sq ft Renaissance Rooms to plunge-pool suites with butler service. Two restaurants, three private dining decks, two pools, a spa and vintage cars share the ridge, 5 km from the centre.

Khas Mahal

Khas Mahal Suites is the Fateh Collection's small all-suite hideaway on a quiet hill along Sisarma Road, about 5 km from Udaipur's centre. Every suite runs 600 to 650 sq ft with a king bed: Heritage Chamber Suites add a private balcony, and the two plunge-pool categories a private pool, one of them heated. Personal butler service, an indoor restaurant and a lantern-lit rooftop with Aravalli views complete it.

Fateh Niwas

Fateh Niwas is the Fateh Collection's heritage haveli-style hotel at Rampura Circle on Sisarma Road, Udaipur. Its three room categories all run 400 to 430 sq ft, each with a balcony or private sit-out looking over the city. Two multi-cuisine restaurants, a rooftop and a lobby room, sit alongside a swimming pool, spa, bar and a 1,200 sq ft conference hall, with open-air spaces used for weddings.

Rampratap Palace

Ram Pratap Palace is a 24-room heritage hotel beside Fateh Sagar Lake in Udaipur's Alkapuri district, part of the Fateh Collection. Restored Rajput architecture, marble-lined bathrooms and lake views from most rooms sit alongside Raaj Bagh, its al fresco garden restaurant across the street. City Palace and Jagdish Temple are a short drive away.

Fateh Safari Suites

Fateh Safari Suites is a suite-only boutique property in the Aravalli Hills near Qila Kumbhalgarh, perched 1,100 m above sea level with views of Kumbhalgarh Fort and the Marwar plains. Four suite categories, several with jacuzzis or plunge-pool access, use locally quarried stone and hand-blocked textiles. A lobby-level restaurant offers indoor and outdoor seating facing the fort.

Fateh Safari Resort

Fateh Safari Resort is a hilltop heritage property in the Aravalli Hills at 1,100 m, overlooking Kumbhalgarh Fort. Every room, Deluxe or Superior, comes with a private balcony and valley views. There is a swimming pool, spa and a 37-seat ground-floor restaurant serving Rajasthani and international dishes, while dawn jeep safaris head into Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary.

Chunda Palace

Chunda Palace is a purpose-built palace hotel in Udaipur, constructed over sixteen years with hand-painted walls, natural-pigment murals and bone-inlay work. It sits 270 m from Lake Pichola, with indoor and outdoor pools, four dining venues including the rooftop Square Terrace, and five room categories from Palace Rooms to Grand Historical Suites. Guests can ride, shoot and learn polo at the family's Chunda Polo Club.

Chunda Haveli

Chunda Haveli is the Chunda group's in-town hotel on Lake Palace Road, Udaipur, six minutes from Lake Pichola and eight from the railway station. Built in a blend of Rajput and Mewar styles, it has a rooftop swimming pool, a rooftop restaurant serving Rajasthani and multi-cuisine dishes with views of the City Palace and Gulab Bagh, 24-hour room service, and three room categories from 200 sq ft Studios to 385 sq ft Haveli Suites.

Chunda Shikar Oudi

Chunda Shikar Oudi is the Chunda family's countryside retreat at Kheroda near Udaipur, a former noble hunting ground restored as a 150-hectare private reserve around its own lake. There are eight 900 sq ft lake-view suites and one 5,000 sq ft villa with private pool. All meals are included, along with a daily boat ride, jungle safari, fishing session, guided walk and evening stargazing led by an in-house naturalist.

Brij Castle

Brij Castle is a 20-room hotel on Amer Road in Jaipur, 1.5 km from Jal Mahal on the way to Amer Fort. Corridors carry miniature-style paintings and an atrium rises four levels above the lobby. Kesar Restaurant serves a Rajasthani and global buffet, Flame & Fork grills skewers live, and a rooftop restaurant and bar looks over the hills. Heritage Rooms take king beds; three Historic Rooms face Nahargarh Fort at sunset.

Rawla Jojawar

Rawla Jojawar is the small fort of Jojawar town in Pali district, home to the same family since 1780 and opened by them as a hotel in 2001. Its 35 rooms, no two alike, were carved from the original buildings; a pool sits beside the old Zanana Mahal. Days go to jeep safaris in vintage vehicles among Rabari camel herders, a train ride up the Kambli Ghat pass, and horse rides from the fort's own stables into the Aravallis.

Jaisalmer Resort

The Jaisalmer Resort sits in a quiet hotel precinct of the Golden City, a short walk from Jaisalmer Fort and the marketplace. Rooms come in three sizes from 25 to 30 sq m with city or resort views; there is a swimming pool with lifeguard cover, a restaurant serving breakfast through dinner, and lawns used for weddings and events. Desert camping in the Thar is arranged through its sister Sia Resort & Camp.

Boheda Palace

Hotel Boheda Palace is a heritage-style haveli at 9 Lake Palace Road, Udaipur, near the Gulab Bagh gardens and a walk from the Old City's sights. Rooms are done in traditional haveli style, the premium categories keeping a gokhara, the carved alcove seat of Rajasthani houses. A multi-cuisine rooftop restaurant looks over the city's skyline, and the desk arranges horse safaris, cooking classes, guides and ticketing.

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Nadis

Nadis calls itself a modern Kashmir house rather than a hotel: 18 large, sunlit rooms with cedar floors, carved ceilings and locally made furnishings, set in a big garden at Harwan village, opposite the public garden and a few kilometres from the Mughal gardens. There is a dining room, not a restaurant, serving Kashmiri home food with vegetables from their own plot, kahwa poured all day, and the hotel’s own team leads treks into the hills behind, where Dachigam sanctuary and the Mahadev trail begin.

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Qayaam Gah

Qayaam Gah is ABChapri Retreats’ Kashmir property: four free-standing villas and three suites on a secluded ridge high above Dal Lake, backed by the Zabarwan hills, reached by a country road through forest and village and a final short walk or jeep ride. Cedar, glass and stone buildings with Kashmiri carving and Bukhari wood stoves; Ruh, a restaurant and library with 360-degree views; a heated infinity pool fed by mountain spring water; organic gardens; and a name taken from the highest state in Sufi thought. Listed in the Condé Nast Traveller Black Book.

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The Malabar House

The Malabar House stands on Parade Road in the heart of Fort Cochin, opposite St Francis Church and a three-minute walk from the Chinese fishing nets. The building's record goes back to 1755, when a Dutchman named Jan Herman Clausing bought it; spice traders, tea traders and bankers followed, and in 1997 it opened as Fort Cochin's first boutique heritage hotel. There are 17 rooms and suites around a courtyard with a 4m by 8m pool, the Malabar Junction restaurant, Divine wine lounge, a Purespa Ayurveda room and nightly Carnatic music on the patio stage. The hotel is a member of Relais & Chateaux.

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Old Harbour Hotel

Old Harbour Hotel is a 300-year-old building in the middle of Fort Cochin, built in the Dutch style with Portuguese touches. It was the first hotel of old Cochin, later housed employees of English tea-broking firms, then stood unused before reopening as a boutique hotel. There are thirteen rooms named after old Fort Cochin streets, with high ceilings and a view of either a courtyard fountain or the Chinese fishing nets, plus garden cottages with open-to-the-sky showers, a veranda and a private pond. A large garden holds the swimming pool and a stage for cultural performances; there is an Ayurvedic spa, a library and an open-air terrace.

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Tea Bungalow

Tea Bungalow is a heritage boutique hotel in the Fort Kochi conservation area, run by the Dempo Group of Goa. The house was built in 1912 as the workshop and office of United Carpets, a UK coir and spice exporter, and was bought in 1956 by the Brooke Bond tea company, which renamed it Brooke Bond Bungalow and housed its senior management there. Today it has two grades of air-conditioned heritage room, Deluxe and Premium, each with its own garden and balcony, a 50-seat restaurant called Cafe du Mahe that opens onto the garden, poolside tables, a library and a business lounge. Rates are quoted on enquiry.

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The Old Courtyard Hotel

The Old Courtyard Hotel is a family-owned heritage hotel on Princess Street in Fort Kochi. The house was built about 200 years ago in the Portuguese style, belonged to the Koder family, and was restored in 1999 with its original arches and pillars kept and the rooms furnished with antiques from neighbouring estates. It has nine rooms in four categories (Standard, Superior, Deluxe and one Suite) arranged around a courtyard with a lawn, a small pool and two tiers of white arches. Rates are room only with breakfast charged separately; check-in 1pm, check-out 11am.