Rambagh Palace

The former residence of the Maharaja of Jaipur, and it has never once forgotten it.

Rambagh's arcaded west wing at blue hour, domed chhatris and latticed balconies lit from within, a flight of stone steps dropping to the darkening lawn.

The gates open onto a drive lined with the old royal guard, and a liveried retainer raises a hand in the Rajput salute as you pass. The palace performs it without a trace of irony, because for 200 years it was simply true: Rambagh was the home of the Maharaja of Jaipur. The marble corridors, the cusped verandahs and the 47 acres of Mughal garden still behave as though a durbar might be called at any hour.

Carved cusped arches in white plaster above tables laid on a deep red carpet, a portrait of a woman in a saffron sari lit in the alcove between them.

The historical suites look out across the formal gardens, and at dusk the peacocks come down onto the lawns to call the light away. Inside, the room is all hand-painted friezes and gilt-edged mirrors, a four-poster dressed in Sanganeri block-print, and long windows that fill slowly with the gold of the setting sun. You ring for chai, and it arrives on silver, and the day ends the way the palace has always ended it.

This was a royal household once, and the staff still quietly behave as though it is one. The formality never tips into stiffness: the bow is real, and so is the memory for your preferences. You have been folded, for a few nights, into the private life of a dynasty.

The house

The inner courtyard at dusk, a slim fountain set between two mirrored wings, votive lamps tracing the hedge beds toward a rose-violet sky.

A round bed beneath a gilded dome, its ceiling painted with a spray of peacocks and vines, rust-silk drapes gathered from a single brass crown.

Breakfast laid beneath scalloped umbrellas on the east lawn at dawn, a peacock crossing the grass before the arcaded facade still soft with morning haze.

Drink and Dine

2 restaurants and 2 bars

The old royal banquet hall
Suvarna Mahal
When
Dinner, 7pm to 11.30pm
Dress
Formal; jackets preferred for men
Tables
By reservation
Dinner in the room the palace held its state occasions in — gold-leaf walls, painted ceiling ovals, chandeliers the size of small trees. The kitchen draws on 3 regions — Rajasthan, Awadh and Punjab — which is a narrower and more particular thing than 'Indian food': dishes that were written down for one family and then stayed there. Come hungry and let the evening take its time.
The menu (PDF, opens in a new tab)Full entry →
All day, under the arches
The Rajput Room
When
All day, 6.30am to midnight
Tables
Walk in
The room the palace actually lives in — breakfast that runs long past its official end, a club sandwich at 4, supper after the theatre. European and Indian menus side by side under cusped plaster arches, and a window table that looks straight down the length of the gardens. The one thing this room does not do is high tea; that is laid on the Verandah.
The menu (PDF, opens in a new tab)Full entry →
A Victorian locomotive, restored
Steam
When
6pm until late; closed Mondays
Tables
Worth booking
A genuine 1900s steam engine and its carriage, brought onto the lawn and turned into a bar, with the platform beside it laid out as a station of the period. It sounds like a folly and is one, and it is also the most purely enjoyable hour on the estate — a wood-fired pizza, a cold drink, and a train that is not going anywhere.
The menu (PDF, opens in a new tab)Full entry →
Trophies, and the men who won them
The Polo Bar
When
Noon until late
Tables
Walk in
Wood panelling, deep chairs, and walls hung with the silver and the photographs of the Jaipur polo team at the height of its fame — a side that beat everyone in the 1930s and never quite let the room forget it. The single malts are serious and the bartender has been here longer than most of the guests have been alive.
Full entry →

What is here

The Gardens. 47 acres of formal Mughal garden — fountained parterres, peacocks, and lawns kept the way a royal household kept them.

The Pool. A walled plunge pool under climbing ivy, loungers drawn up to a yellow-trimmed pavilion at the water's edge — the garden's quietest corner rather than its grandest.

The Jiva Grande Spa. Royal Ayurvedic rituals in a marble spa, drawn from the wellness traditions the Rajput court itself maintained. The treatment room is tented in pleated shamiana cloth, the way a durbar pavilion would have been.

The Polo Bar. A wood-panelled room hung with the trophies and photographs of Jaipur's polo dynasty, and still where the city's polo crowd ends its evening.

The rooms

A Palace Room, or a named suite

Rambagh began as a garden house in 1835, became a Maharaja's residence, then a hotel, and the rooms still show those layers.

Palace Room, King Bed and Palace Room, Twin Bed are the even, quiet end of it: 46 square metres, hand-painted walls, a marble bathroom, and windows onto the gardens or the courtyard.

Historical Suite is one of the named apartments the family lived in, restored with its frescoes and its verandah in place. The rooms are the easier stay; the suites have the history, and the quirks that come with it.

The named suites are not interchangeable

A Historical Suite is a particular apartment, not one of a set. The Mountbatten and the Pothikhana have different ceilings, different light and different views over the 47 acres. Say which one you want when you book. They are not handed out on arrival like a standard room.

Above the garden, or inside it

Almost everything here looks onto the formal Mughal garden, and the peacocks are loud at dawn, in the best possible way. Rooms on the first floor sit above the parterres and see the whole garden laid out below. Ground-level rooms sit inside it instead. Neither view is better — one is a plan seen from above, the other is a place to walk out into before breakfast.

Side by side

Room	Size	Sleeps	View	Floor	Layout
Palace Room, King Bed	46 m²	2 + 1 child	Mughal gardens or the courtyard	First floor	One room
Palace Room, Twin Bed	46 m²	2 + 1 child	Mughal gardens or the courtyard	First floor	One room
Historical Suite	65 m²	3	Mughal gardens or the courtyard	First floor	Bedroom, dressing room and a sitting room
Royal Suite	102 m²	3	Mughal gardens or the courtyard	Palace floors	Bedroom, dressing room and a sitting room
Grand Royal Suite	139 m²	3 + 1 child	Mughal gardens	Palace floors	Rooms opening into rooms, and a dining table
Grand Presidential Suite	167 m²	4	Mughal gardens and the front lawn	Palace floors	2 reception rooms, dining and dressing rooms