The Deogarh Mahal, Rajasthan

Kipling wrote that 'providence created the Maharajas to offer mankind a spectacle'.
Tourists can experience that spectacle by staying in one of more than a hundred heritage hotels in Rajasthan - from lake palaces to desert forts, magnificent town houses, hunting lodges and city palaces.
And the number of princes throwing their doors open to paying guests is ever-growing.

The Raj Palace, Jaipur, Rajasthan

The states of Rajasthan and Goa attract the bulk of visiting foreigners; the former for its famed lake palaces, national parks and deserts, inhabited by nomads and elephants; the latter for its beaches and five hundred years of Portuguese colonial heritage.

The Ishwari Niwas, Bundi, Rajasthan

What’s more, India is finally shaking its long held reputation for unreliable transport and crummy accommodation. Budget airlines now whisk visitors from state to state and the last decade has seen a profusion of newly opened heritage hotels suiting all budgets.

The Bassi Fort, Rajasthan

Tom Vater and Aroon Thaewchatturat journeyed across India to offer irreverent reviews of some exceptional properties that may have little more in common than their relative antiquity – but, whether five star or budget, they all offer a hotel experience decidedly unique, sometimes eccentric and always fascinating.

The Bhanwar Niwas, Bikaner, Rajasthan

In 1947, when India gained independence from the British, the maharajas - the local rulers of India - had mostly gone to seed, following a hundred years of indulgence by their foreign masters. Their land and privileges gone, unable to find a new role in India’s burgeoning democracy, the former kings soon ran out of cash to maintain their vast properties and extravagant lifestyles, and the rich heritage of India’s Rajput rulers was threatened by bankruptcy and ruin.

The Diggy Palace, Jaipur, Rajasthan

But in the late 1950s, the Maharaja Mahan Singh of Jaipur, the Rajasthani state capital, and the Maharana Bhagwat Singh of Udaipur, famed city of palaces and lakes, took an audacious and life-saving decision and opened their royal properties as luxury hotels.

The Roopangarh Fort, Rajasthan

Tourists could now go beyond the museum experience and partake in the lifestyle of the richest kings in the world. And impoverished monarchs could hang on to their palaces and vices and undertake much needed renovations of these architectural treasures.

The decision proved initially controversial - many fellow royals decried these business ventures as beneath their exulted dignity and preferred to drink themselves into oblivion and the Indian government showed few signs of support. Forty years later and Rajasthan boasts more than 150 heritage properties.

The Sukhdham Koti, Kota, Rajasthan

While some heritage properties are managed and owned by large hotel chains, many former palaces are still run by the royal families who have owned the buildings for generations.

Where else in the world do tourists get an opportunity to experience a country’s vibrant culture at the table of the heirs to its former ruling elite?

The Rangniwas, Udaipur, Rajasthan

Or as Maharaj Arjun Singh, brother of the late Maharana of Udaipur, puts it, “We Rajputs aren’t much good at anything these days. But we are good at running hotels and the tourist industry in Rajasthan and beyond was practically invented by us.”

The Panjim Inn, Panaji, Goa