Atlas

Palaces, lakes, tiger country, and the foothills

Lake palaces in Udaipur, palace hotels in Jaipur, Amarvilas in sight of the Taj, lodges at Ranthambore and Bandhavgarh, and Himalayan retreats at Shimla and above Rishikesh.

Selected: 36
Mapped: 54

What we would choosein India.

The Oberoi Amarvilas

Agra, India

Six hundred metres from the Taj Mahal, with the monument in every room, and closed to visitors on Fridays.

Jalakara

Havelock Island, India

An off-grid hideaway on Havelock: three rooms, three suites and one villa, with no television in the room, yoga on request, and a spa in the rainforest.

The Oberoi Vindhyavilas

Bandhavgarh, India

Tents with gardens, and villas with pools, four hours from Jabalpur, beside a park they describe as one of the densest for tigers.

The Leela Palace Bengaluru

Bengaluru, India

A palace on HAL Airport Road, 45 minutes from the new airport, with ZLB 23, the Kyoto bar their 2025 note placed on Asia's 50 Best.

The Oberoi Bengaluru

Bengaluru, India

On Mahatma Gandhi Road in the old centre, a different hotel from the Four Seasons on Bellary Road.

SOUKYA

Bengaluru, India

A 30-acre organic farm in Whitefield where Ayurveda, homeopathy, yoga and naturopathy are practised as one residential programme.

The Oberoi Sukhvilas

New Chandigarh, India

A forest resort at New Chandigarh, built around Ayurveda, not a hotel in the city grid.

The Leela Palace Chennai

Chennai, India

A Chettinad palace on 4.8 acres of the Adyar sea face, where a sea-view room and a pool-view room are different keys, and the lamp is lit at dusk.

Glenburn Tea Estate

Darjeeling, India

A working Darjeeling tea estate where the factory tour, the pluck, and dinner at the bungalow are the same stay.

The LaLiT Golf & Spa Resort Goa

Canacona, India

255 suites and 8 villas on Raj Baga, with a 9-hole links of 6,303 yards.

Raga Svara

Rajkot, India

An independent Ayurveda and yoga campus at Kasturbadham, outside Rajkot: glass pavilions under the trees, a doctor who sets the day, and rooms printed as Megh Suite and Raga Villa.

The Oberoi, Gurgaon

Gurgaon, India

The airport hotel: 14 kilometres from the terminal on one line, about 25 minutes on another, and not the Oberoi beside Humayun Tomb.

The Leela Palace Jaipur

Jaipur, India

A palace at Kukas, 60 minutes from the airport, where Jamavar sits in a hall of more than 350,000 hand-cut mirrors and dinner starts with a handwash.

The Oberoi Rajvilas

Jaipur, India

Thirty-two acres outside the Pink City, where a tent, a room, and a villa are three different stays.

Mihir Garh

Jodhpur, India

Nine suites on a sacred dune in the Thar, built by the Rohet family with local craftsmen, with a village safari as the published reason to come.

Evolve Back Kabini

Kabini, India

A Kuruba-inspired safari lodge on the Kabini river, at the meeting of Nagarhole and Bandipur.

Somatheeram Ayurvedic Health Resort

Thiruvananthapuram, India

The Chowara beach Ayurveda house south of Kovalam, on somatheeram.org, with a German-Indian management, named treatment packages, and daily yoga. It is not the other Somatheeram.

The Oberoi Rajgarh Palace

Khajuraho, India

A 350-year-old palace on the Maniyagarh Hills, 25 minutes from Khajuraho, where a private pool is a category and the lakeside restaurant has been closed for work.

Fazlani Nature's Nest

Lonavala, India

A doctor-led Ayurveda and naturopathy estate of sixty-eight acres above a lake near Lonavala, where every stay begins with a physician, not a spa menu.

The Oberoi Mumbai

Mumbai, India

On Marine Drive at Nariman Point, a different hotel from the Four Seasons on Dr. E. Moses Road in Worli.

Ananda in the Himalayas

Tehri Garhwal, India

A palace estate above the Ganges valley, where the kitchen follows the programme.

The Leela Palace New Delhi

New Delhi, India

A Chanakyapuri palace, 35 minutes from the airport, where Le Cirque, Jamavar, and Megu close to non-residents when the hotel is given over to a private event.

The Oberoi, New Delhi

New Delhi, India

On Dr. Zakir Hussain Marg, looking at the Delhi Golf Course and Humayun Tomb, not at an airport hotel.

The Lodhi

New Delhi, India

A garden hotel on Lodhi Road, with a 50-metre lap pool and Perbacco in the building.

The Oberoi Vanyavilas

Sawai Madhopur, India

Twenty-eight tents on 20 acres at the edge of Ranthambhore, where a tiger drive is the reason to come and a private pool is not in every tent.

The Oberoi Cecil

Shimla, India

A heritage hotel at the quiet end of the Mall, with no butler, and a valley view only in the room that says so.

Wildflower Hall, An Oberoi Resort

Shimla, India

Twenty-three acres of cedar at 2,515 metres, 15 kilometres above Shimla, in the former house of Lord Kitchener.

The LaLiT Grand Palace Srinagar

Srinagar, India

A 1910 palace above Dal Lake, with 113 rooms, ten of them cottages, and a chinar in the courtyard.

Rajakkad Estate

Dindigul, India

Pallam Palace, an 18th-century wooden house of seven bedrooms on the old Rajakkad plantation in the Palani Hills, at 1000 metres, with a yoga platform and no resident teacher.

The LaLiT Laxmi Vilas Palace

Udaipur, India

A 1911 palace opposite Fateh Sagar, with 55 rooms. Not the island hotel on Lake Pichola.

The Leela Palace Udaipur

Udaipur, India

A palace on Lake Pichola, 45 minutes from the airport, where a plunge pool is a garden room and a balcony over the lake is a different key.

The Oberoi Udaivilas

Udaipur, India

Thirty acres on Lake Pichola, where the useful arrival is the boat and only some rooms have a private pool.

Dunagiri Retreat

Dwarahat, India

A Himalayan yoga house at Kukuchina, near Dwarahat, where Piyush Kumar still runs the stay and the Ayurvedic meals are printed as included.

Sitla Estate

Mukteshwar, India

A quiet Himalayan homestead at Mukteshwar, where Vikram Maira still lives on the land, the menus come from the orchards, and the suites look onto a reserve forest.

Soulitude by the Riverside

Bhimtal, India

Seven rustic rooms on the Kalsa at Chanfi, near Nainital, where Ratna and Manish Chandra still host, and the published film is of the river house rather than a town hotel.

The Rudraksh Retreat

Tehri Garhwal, India

A family Himalayan house above Tehri Lake, where Mahesh and Rupali still host, yoga starts at sunrise, and the kitchen is printed as sattvic and farm-to-table.

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