Umaid Bhawan Palace
Jodhpur, India
One of the world's last great palaces, half of it still home to the royal family.
Umaid Bhawan is one of the largest private residences in the world, a colossal blend of Art Deco and Rajput design built through the 1930s and 40s. The royal family still lives in one wing, a museum occupies another, and the third is a Taj hotel of extraordinary grandeur.
The scale is almost hard to process: soaring domed halls, a subterranean pool, gardens patrolled by peacocks, and views out over the fort and the indigo sprawl of the Blue City. It is theatrical in the best possible way.
The Verdict
Not a boutique hideaway but a genuine living palace, and an experience quite unlike any other hotel in India. Come for the sheer, jaw-dropping scale of it.
Standing under the great central dome at dusk, the sandstone glowing gold, knowing the Maharaja of Jodhpur is quite possibly at home in the wing next door.
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