Jai Mahal Palace
Jaipur, India
A 260-year-old palace and eighteen acres of Mughal garden in the middle of the Pink City.
Jaipur is India's palace-hotel capital, and while the Rambagh gets the headlines, the Jai Mahal quietly offers a lot of the same romance for rather less. The building dates to 1745, its facade a fine piece of Indo-Saracenic architecture, and its eighteen acres of formal Mughal gardens are among the loveliest hotel grounds in the city.
Rooms are traditional and comfortable rather than cutting-edge, but the setting does the heavy lifting. You are minutes from the Hawa Mahal, the City Palace and the chaos of the bazaars, then back behind the walls to green calm.
The Verdict
A wonderful, well-priced introduction to the Rajasthani palace experience. Save the splurge for a suite at the Rambagh another time; start your love affair with the Pink City here.
A gin and tonic on the lawn at dusk as the palace facade turns amber and peacocks pick their way across eighteen acres of clipped Mughal garden.
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