Villa Palladio Jaipur

Character and identity

Set in the village of Sumel, ten miles east of Jaipur off the Agra highway, Villa Palladio is a nine-room fantasia from Barbara Miolini and Marie-Anne Oudejans, the duo behind Bar Palladio. The 1980s haveli has been reshaped into a saturated red dreamscape: hand-painted vines climbing carved arches, candy-striped corridors, jewel-toned canopied beds, black-and-white marble courtyards with rose-petal fountains, and Indo-Persian paradise gardens within crenelated walls. There's a Tibetan-leaning spa with yoga and sauna, a circus-tent pool house, and a kitchen moving between continental breakfasts, Italian lunches, and Rajasthani thalis milled from custom flour. The mood is theatrical, intimate, and inward-facing.

Who's it for

Bottom line

This is a designed object as much as a hotel, and the all-encompassing red, hand-painted interiors are the entire point: you either surrender to the vision or you don't belong here. Book it for two or three nights as a romantic counterpoint to a city or palace stay, request the suite for space or a Torre Belvedere for the private terrace, and time it for the cooler October-to-March window.