Jaipur - Rambagh Palace
Spring 2008
Frank's view 
'style, luxury and a taste of historic India'
I love an arsy camel, and Jaipur is packed with them.
Convoys of camels pulling rickety wooden carts through stinky traffic, jostling for position with tankers, bikers and tuk-tuks. No wonder they’re arsy.
To add to the woe of the camel, he does not benefit from the divine protection enjoyed by his fellow road mammal, the lumbering sacred cow.
I was apprehensive before we arrived at Rambagh Palace.
Described on its web site as ‘The Jewel of Jaipur’, this former royal palace, which offers its guests ‘a taste of royal living’, sounded too grand by half and guaranteed to disappoint.
Built in 1835, the structure gradually evolved until it was developed into a Palace in 1925 and became the home of the Maharajah of Jaipur until 1957, when it was converted into a luxury hotel.
My first impression as we turned through the hotel gates, was of the size of the place; huge for only 79 rooms. I’ve seen smaller establishments with three times the number of rooms.
We were shown directly to our suite, a Historical Suite, and one of the smaller accommodations on offer. It was certainly not small, with a separate dining area and small private terrace. It is encouraging to see a hotel give guests space rather then cramming in the rooms as do the Ramabagh’s big city sister hotels, The Taj Mahal in Mumbai and New Delhi.
The good sized bathroom with separate bath and walk in shower, but only one wash basin, was constantly well stocked with Molton Brown toiletries.
The butler service was very attentive, with ice and a selection of ‘petit fours’ delivered each evening at around 6pm, and endless supplies of complementary bottled water throughout the day.
The swimming pool and Spa complex is a few minutes walk to the right of the hotel, next to a beautifully restored Royal railway engine and carriages. There are two swimming pools, the large indoor one being very grand, and an outdoor pool with good sunbathing facilities. The service by the pool is extremely attentive with offers of complementary raspberry sorbets, cooling Evian face sprays and bottles of water, regularly replaced by chilled ones.
It’s worth noting the contrast with our experience of Oberoi hotels, where, at their Amarvilas resort in Agra, complementary water was limited to two small bottles each day.
The Verandah, which hosts a sofa seating area and tables for two to dine, is a cool, shaded setting for a drink, lunch or a light evening meal, with extensive views of the gardens. Early evening entertainment consists of a local girl balancing seven pots on her head, whilst dancing, on stilts, with a lightly disguised pantomine horse, all to the frenetic drum accompaniment of India’s answer to Phil Collins.
Suvarana Mahal, the Rambagh’s Indian restaurant was good, and is reviewed separately.
Venturing out of the hotel on foot is not a good option. One afternoon we decided to wander along to the Polo field close by. As we walked through the hotel gates we were bombarded by offers of Tuk-Tuk rides, requests for money and generally stared at by all, as if we had just been teleported down to an alien planet from the SS Enterprise.
We managed to make a dinner reservation at the local Oberoi Rajvilas hotel, which actively turns away non residents. A wet fish moment of realisation of the rationale behind this policy smacked us when we walked into the Rambagh’s Polo Bar early one evening. Crowded, with standing room only at 6.45pm, the flustered bar staff frantically attempted to find a free table. From our corner perch we watched and wondered at the bar’s huge popularity, when a figure stood up, marched to the door and everyone followed. Before you could say ‘Where’s the bus?’, they were in it and coasting through the gates, the guide, microphone in hand, no doubt telling them tales of the Raj and ‘mint sprig tea’.
We settled to a larger table in our new found private bar and ordered another Apple Martini.
Rambagh Palace
Jaipur
+91 141 2211 919
http://www.tajhotels.com
Convoys of camels pulling rickety wooden carts through stinky traffic, jostling for position with tankers, bikers and tuk-tuks. No wonder they’re arsy.
To add to the woe of the camel, he does not benefit from the divine protection enjoyed by his fellow road mammal, the lumbering sacred cow.
I was apprehensive before we arrived at Rambagh Palace.
Described on its web site as ‘The Jewel of Jaipur’, this former royal palace, which offers its guests ‘a taste of royal living’, sounded too grand by half and guaranteed to disappoint.
Built in 1835, the structure gradually evolved until it was developed into a Palace in 1925 and became the home of the Maharajah of Jaipur until 1957, when it was converted into a luxury hotel.
My first impression as we turned through the hotel gates, was of the size of the place; huge for only 79 rooms. I’ve seen smaller establishments with three times the number of rooms.
We were shown directly to our suite, a Historical Suite, and one of the smaller accommodations on offer. It was certainly not small, with a separate dining area and small private terrace. It is encouraging to see a hotel give guests space rather then cramming in the rooms as do the Ramabagh’s big city sister hotels, The Taj Mahal in Mumbai and New Delhi.
The good sized bathroom with separate bath and walk in shower, but only one wash basin, was constantly well stocked with Molton Brown toiletries.
The butler service was very attentive, with ice and a selection of ‘petit fours’ delivered each evening at around 6pm, and endless supplies of complementary bottled water throughout the day.
The swimming pool and Spa complex is a few minutes walk to the right of the hotel, next to a beautifully restored Royal railway engine and carriages. There are two swimming pools, the large indoor one being very grand, and an outdoor pool with good sunbathing facilities. The service by the pool is extremely attentive with offers of complementary raspberry sorbets, cooling Evian face sprays and bottles of water, regularly replaced by chilled ones.
It’s worth noting the contrast with our experience of Oberoi hotels, where, at their Amarvilas resort in Agra, complementary water was limited to two small bottles each day.
The Verandah, which hosts a sofa seating area and tables for two to dine, is a cool, shaded setting for a drink, lunch or a light evening meal, with extensive views of the gardens. Early evening entertainment consists of a local girl balancing seven pots on her head, whilst dancing, on stilts, with a lightly disguised pantomine horse, all to the frenetic drum accompaniment of India’s answer to Phil Collins.
Suvarana Mahal, the Rambagh’s Indian restaurant was good, and is reviewed separately.
Venturing out of the hotel on foot is not a good option. One afternoon we decided to wander along to the Polo field close by. As we walked through the hotel gates we were bombarded by offers of Tuk-Tuk rides, requests for money and generally stared at by all, as if we had just been teleported down to an alien planet from the SS Enterprise.
We managed to make a dinner reservation at the local Oberoi Rajvilas hotel, which actively turns away non residents. A wet fish moment of realisation of the rationale behind this policy smacked us when we walked into the Rambagh’s Polo Bar early one evening. Crowded, with standing room only at 6.45pm, the flustered bar staff frantically attempted to find a free table. From our corner perch we watched and wondered at the bar’s huge popularity, when a figure stood up, marched to the door and everyone followed. Before you could say ‘Where’s the bus?’, they were in it and coasting through the gates, the guide, microphone in hand, no doubt telling them tales of the Raj and ‘mint sprig tea’.
We settled to a larger table in our new found private bar and ordered another Apple Martini.
Rambagh Palace
Jaipur
+91 141 2211 919
http://www.tajhotels.com
Be Frank: agree or disagree? What do you think?
