Bujera Fort

"A magical toy fort for grown-ups to play in, Bujera is a pure evocation of a story from One Thousand and One Nights, but with better plumbing. And what a story this is. Not a thousand years old, as one might think on arrival at the Elephant Gate, before turning into the serene green courtyard, but a true labor of love by Brits Richard Hanlon and Trish McFarlane, who previously worked as an interior designer and a diamond broker, respectively. Neither had experience as hoteliers when they began this project in 2008 in a rural village with views of the city’s fairy-tale lake and the Monsoon Palace. Eat breakfast in your pajamas—an irresistible purchase from the hotel shop—and wander into the kitchen to see chef Jaswant Singh at work, armed with his River Cafe cookbooks; Serena Bass, the chef whose career was launched after cooking for Andy Warhol, taught Singh to make fried chicken and an exceedingly good chocolate sauce. There’s a library containing more than 2,000 books, a garden laid out to a David Hicks design, and a stately drawing room with antique furniture and a silver grand piano, with the lingering scent of wood smoke from the fireplace. Yet this is still India: spot the woman in a brilliant sari up a tree dusting leaves; a snake catcher on cobra call, arriving on a motorbike and leaving with the snake stuck on a stick dangling from the back; the news of a leopard on the village roundabout. You’ll want to stay for 1,001 nights. Doubles from about $160; bujerafort.com" - Victoria Mather