Shalbha Sarda

Chain hotels are safe, stolid bets. Standard five-star service, clean white sheets, a television that works, and no real complaints. But in cities like Jaipur (arguably the most venerated vertex of the Golden Triangle), it’d be a bit of a crime to settle for a cookie-cutter stay when gorgeous boutique hotels beckon. Time-worn royal havelis, Rajput-meets-Scandi design, artisanal interiors – I can guarantee that Jaipur has hotels you won’t find anywhere else.  If that isn’t convincing enough, here’s something practical – Jaipur is India’s wedding capital, which means peak season comes with all the hectic stuff travellers may not necessarily want: baraats, fireworks, inflated room prices. This is where smaller boutiques truly shine. They help you dodge crazy prices without skimping on the good stuff: the real Jaipur, cafés, bazaars, bars and all. Here’s a list of the ones you can’t miss. 

It’s slightly unusual for travellers to peel themselves off Jaipur’s Instagram-baiting pink thoroughfares and wander into the less colour-corrected side alleys of the walled city. What they’ll find here is an assortment of time-worn havelis, some of them dating back to the city’s inception. Most are decrepit, but Padmaa’s one of the lucky ones: restored, and restored well.  Nothing about the exterior’s flashy. There isn’t much announcing its presence besides a 300-year-old wooden door, with frescoes peeking out from under layers of limewash. It’s the only thing separating Padmaa from the absolute chaos of honking scooters, stray cows, and locals loudly bargaining over groceries, but that only makes for a stunning contrast once you step inside. The ruckus outside melts into flute notes, the hotch-potch of the street’s replaced by a hush that only the thick walls of a haveli can conjure, and all around, you see stunning local motifs. The contrast happens to be the whole point, and the folks behind Padmaa know it.  Why stay at Padmaa It’s true that Jaipur has no shortage of palace hotels, plus plenty that would very much like you to believe they’re palaces, and they all come with the usual roll-call of massive gardens, fountain features and peacocks. Padmaa’s got some of that royal flourish, but placed against a much more realistic setting. It’s for travellers who don’t mind squeezing through chaotic lanes, who can tolerate a high honk-per-minute ratio, and can handle the real w

Laalee might quite possibly be the artsiest boutique hotel in Jaipur, but that’s hardly surprising given the owner, Shan Bhatnagar, is an artist. Despite that though, you’d expect art, but not the sheer quantity that Laalee houses. Right off the bat, I’m amazed by the fact that not a single wall’s left unadorned: traditional Pichwai art with lotus and cow motifs; paintings of Lord Krishna, his gopis, and the rest of the ensemble; a massive painting of Shrinathji in the double-height lobby with two staircases. It’s a full-scale flamboyance, a head-on Pichwai takeover, all courtesy of Shan.  Laalee sits at the edge of the walled city – it’s where Jaipur town first began spreading beyond the four original gates. What you get is a modern neighbourhood that harkens back to older days – it’s close to everything you’d want to visit, yet blissfully removed from the honking, dust, and relentless traffic of the city centre. It is, after all, the posher, everyday bit of Jaipur. Not touristy at all.  Why stay at Lalee Don’t mistake the artistic flourishes for a lack of competence. Though once a private residence, Laalee needn’t hide behind the lavish storytelling to prove its worth. Sham and his wife, Devyani (a stellar chef) have refined the place to near-five-star standards, and sure, you may find yourself craving a patch of neutral wall, but Laalee owns the fact that it’s a maximalist’s dream. With the candlelit terraces, rose petals flung around, and Manganiyar music drifting through

Many a traveller, upon setting foot in Jaipur, has expressed a certain disappointment at not finding the sand dunes they expected of the Rajasthan capital. Fortunately or unfortunately, the city’s long outgrown its sandy frontier days, but worry not: if the desert’s what you after, Teela offers a glimpse of it without having to travel all the way to Jodhpur or Jaisalmer.  This one’s not for the rugged camping folks. This is luxury camping, set across a vast, untouched expanse of family-owned land, framed by the Aravallis, wild pampas grass and towering cacti. It’s admittedly an hour outside of the main city, and yes, there are network issues, but Teela’s offering something that the heritage hotels in the city can’t – a break from the fort fatigue, and a fun little escape to the wilderness.  What are the rooms like at Teela? There are two types of accommodation at Teela: the geodesic domes and the Luna Airstream caravans. From the outside, the domes look fairly simple. They’re made from modular steel pipes wrapped in high-density waterproof fabric with curved PVC windows, which is also your first clue that this is very much a cool-weather escape. Inside is all very high design too. Each dome’s got a small kitchenette, a dressing area and a lounging corner set beneath the wide panoramic windows. It’s a clever balance between comfort and good design – the air-conditioning does a decent job of keeping both the hot and cold weather in check (though it doesn’t always put up the str