Raffles Jaipur: A royal retreat where luxury whispers

Inspired by the secluded quarters of royal women, Raffles Jaipur reimagines Rajasthan’s palace tradition with hidden chambers, surreal service and design steeped in quiet, sculptural splendour

Anyone who has stepped into Jaipur’s palace hotels knows the scene: a heavy spill of chandeliers stooping to kiss the upturned mouths of floral profusion, all held in the blinding embrace of cutwork mirrors and a smother of silk. But Raffles Jaipur is not a palace hotel – it’s a replicated regal residence. Not the King’s Palace, but the Queen’s Palace: the zenana. Here, Raffles offers a tribute in stone and cut glass – a quiet homage to the grace, privacy and poetry of the historic zenana quarters.

The sculptural extravagance announces itself in the pillared, fountained courtyard that first greets you at this domed abode near the fabled UNESCO-stamped Amer Fort. Then you step inside the lobby – if you can even call it that. It feels less like an entrance and more like a trespass, as though you’ve wandered into someone’s private home – a home so exquisitely personal, the language to describe it falls short.

I find myself momentarily adrift, until general manager Binny Sebastian presents himself – and his palace. He explains that while most hotels are built first and draped in a narrative later, Raffles Jaipur began with a story. Its architecture was conceived entirely around the zenana. In true zenana spirit, the property is intimate, labyrinthine and emotionally subdued – not in design, which dazzles, but in atmosphere, which hushes. Jharokhas, those iconic carved Rajasthani windows, have been cleverly deployed to summon the nostalgia of the zenana. And as in a zenana – or a Bond film – mirrored walls swing open to reveal hidden chambers, one of which houses Safir, Jaipur’s only tea and champagne lounge. Safir means ‘traveller’ and the lounge’s shooting palm trees – real ones – indeed have you feeling like you’ve voyaged afar and have landed up in Arabia, where, to my delight, the champagne flows freely.

Dining and discovery

Safir leads to Arkaa, the all-day dining restaurant with its inviting alfresco terrace. I choose to linger over lunch, sunk into one of the suave ottomans that encircle an indoor fountain, in the charming company of papadums – served with a bowl of lethally rich homemade ghee that I lay siege to. Then, a trolley manifests at our table and the white-gloved service begins: pani puri, paired with wines, catapults local street food to new heights, while the signature dessert, shahi tukda – traditionally a sugar-saturated fried sweetmeat – rarefies into something so chic it could be straight off a Parisian menu.

All that glitters

Look up in the Princess Suite and you’ll find a hand-painted ceiling flecked with 24-karat gold. The camel bone-inlay furniture? Made by Jaipur artisans and commissioned exclusively for the hotel. Even the bath products come in custom-engraved brass dispensers.

A suite fit for a Maharani

My tight-fit jumpsuit now groaning in protest, we’re escorted by an all-female team of butlers to our Princess Suite with Pool, where a canopy bed the size of a small island awaits. The suite is awash in sober hues that evoke the poise of a grande dame – a Maharani – rather than the frisky hues of a princess in bloom. The bathroom’s marble floors shine with such clarity that a supermodel could perfect her eyeliner in their reflection – when not slipping into the claw-footed silver tub, where rose-scented soaps spill from brass dispensers engraved with the palace’s cheetah crest.

We occupy the same floor as the spa, much to the delight of my mother, accompanying me on this regal stay. The Raffles Spa is the only one in Jaipur with a hammam and both hot and cold mineral pools. Treatments use Subtle Energies, a natural Australian brand known for oils and rare ingredients sourced from artisan distillers – including those in India. We experience it firsthand in the signature 120-minute Maharani Retreat.

Dining under the stars

At poolside, terrace-top Mediterranean restaurant Sehara, set against the sinuous Aravalli Hills, restaurant personnel munitioned with shawls enrobe us to combat the searing cold while heaters jumping with live coals stand sentinel beside armchairs. Cocktails as crisp and sharp as the Jaipur nights are a must-try, and the homemade ice-cream in flavours of Himalayan honey, black forest and pistachio are simply too delicious to resist.

Happily, there’s no sign of the usual buffet mayhem come morning. Raffles Jaipur doesn’t do buffets, banquets or, surprisingly, weddings – a bold move in a state where tourism hinges on lavish nuptials. Instead, this retreat is for honeymooners, romantics, writers, the reclusive, women and solo luxury travellers.

Breakfasting beside us, a group of American women are celebrating their mother’s 84th birthday. They tell us she’d taken a bad fall during her visit and ended up in hospital, and how touched they were when hotel department heads stayed by their side through the surgery – cake-bearing butlers even appeared on her birthday. When I bring this story up, the staff simply smile: Raffles Jaipur is a residence and guests are treated like family. The Americans add that their own family runs luxury hotels in the US, but care like this, they say, is inconceivable.

Most hotels are built first and draped in a narrative later – Raffles Jaipur began with a story.

Beyond the palace walls

Beyond Raffles Jaipur’s palatial walls – and royal service – the city awaits. After a visit to the Jaipur Picture Gallery – where we scrutinise paintings of age-old zenanas, the historic inspiration of the hotel’s impressive décor – we whirl around the City Palace. Then, we are dispatched in a BMW, escorted by a butler (just as zenana ladies were by ‘guardians’) for an expedition to the riotous local bazaars – a thrilling, authentic experience that has been denied to me in all the 20-odd ‘airbrushed’ Jaipur trips I’ve taken.

We find ourselves reeling in the dizzying resplendence of apparel, shoes, jewellery, handbags and hand-block sheets. The latter compels my mother to brave the 45-minute drive from the hotel to the bewitching bazaars no less than five times before finding the ideal hand-block bedspread for my brother. This is Jaipur, after all – a place where indulgence meets intention, and even shopping becomes a royal pursuit.

A royal affair

There’s no better place to celebrate this win than at the storied Raffles Writers Bar that speaks to the colonial charm of a long-gone era. Raffles Jaipur’s interpretation sports that quintessential Jaipur blue emblematic of the city’s royalty, and the bar seems sumptuously sculpted out of the sky with its brilliant billowing white clouds swirling into architectural twirls. And if you’re partial to a sunset, it comes by way of the Jaipur Sling, where Indian dry gin and pineapple juice tango with the aphrodisiac ‘royal’ liqueur, Chandr Haas – created more than 150 years ago for the Jaipur royal family and infused with 84 spices, herbs and dried fruits. When beverage manager Sagar Sarki shakes up a glass, it’s worth every drop of the US$23 (around AU$36) price tag.

Afternoon tea at Safir includes a sampling featuring brews from London Tea Exchange, purveyors of fine teas to international royals, culminating in a traditional platter laden with crumble-at-the-touch scones, finger sandwiches and pastries. But the showstopper is supper at Arkaa, which transforms as if by magic come evening, when the chandelier’s sparks of light set ablaze cut glass adorning the walls – details that go unnoticed in the glare of daylight.

Culinary director chef Jaydeep Patil – who honed his skills at French and American three-Michelin-starred restaurants – exalts indigenous cuisine to ethereal realms with his gourmet wizardry. Think ker sangri and jackfruit chaats festooned in fumes and foams, while rustic khichdi comes looking like a risotto – but contains native grains turned into udon-style noodles topped with shitake and spinach crisped like Japanese seaweed. This is food worthy of a Michelin star – maybe two.

At Raffles Jaipur, the zenana isn’t just remembered, it’s relived – in soft light, vaulted passageways and unapologetic luxury. It delivers a story, richly told in architecture, hospitality and every gilded detail.

Hotel notes

Landmark Rooms at Raffles Jaipur start from US$500 plus taxes per night. A Princess Suite with Pool starts from US$2000 plus taxes per night.

raffles.com