Alila Fort Bishangarh
"How did it strike you on arrival?High atop a hill, the hotel's exterior is dramatic and eye-catching, and they’ve maximized the wow factor by constructing an arrival area at the foot of it. Your first stop is the Haveli, a modern house inspired by the traditional villas of Rajasthan, where the spa, pool, gym, and kids club are located. There’s also a beautiful open air tented pavilion where you can gaze upon the fort—it’s particularly stunning at night when it’s all lit up—and then you take a jeep up to the top of the hill to check in. Nice. What’s the crowd like?Mostly well-to-do Indian families—it’s too new to have made a major impact on the international circuit yet, but wealthy Indians have been descending to see what it’s all about. Politicians, film-industry luminaries, and even the royal family that owns the fort, have been known to drop by for a night. The good stuff: Tell us about your room.While my room was nice and spacious, it didn’t have a lot of the character features the other rooms had. However, I really liked room 406 in the same category type (Royal), which had a separate seating area and a beautiful window, while the bed was nestled into the turret. But my favorite was room 408, a Regal Suite category, which came with a huge circular bathtub in the center of the room and is commonly used as a honeymoon suite. What about the mini bar and the shower goodies? Anything find its way into your suitcase?There were decent bathrobes, nice bedding, and a mini-bar featuring snacks from Jaipur dessert shop English Vinglish (almond straws, spiced cashews, stuffed dates). Absolutely nothing was missing, but nothing screamed "I must steal this now," either. Worth sticking around for the restaurant?Restaurant-wise, Nazrana is only open during the evening, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., while Amarsar is all day, from morning through 11:30 p.m. Nazrana specializes in traditional Rajasthani “hunter cuisine,” or dishes made over a fire pit, like zamini aloo (potatoes) and fennel-flavored paneer tikka. Amarsar, meanwhile, has an elaborate range of breakfast options—from western dishes like bagels and eggs to full Rajasthani thalis to South Indian dosas—as well as global flavors inspired by the Silk Route on its all-day menu, like deconstructed chilli chicken with chilli vinegar jelly, tempura pearls, pepper puree, and chilli caramelized onion jam. Go to the Haveli restaurant by the pool for delicious flatbreads and salads, a nice change from the heavier fare at the main fort. Bottom line: worth it, and why?This is a really unique hotel for India. As the country’s only warrior fort turned hotel, they had their share of challenges—the restoration and conversion into a hotel was a 10-year process—and the end result could have been very dark and foreboding (it is an imposing fortress with a maze of hallways and eight-foot-thick walls, after all). Yet while the original structure has been restored and many original features and details have remained, the place is airy, light, and contemporary. And the location, in the famed Aravalli Hills near Jaipur, is much more accessible than many of Rajasthan’s more remote palace hotels, so it’s an easy add-on during a Golden Triangle itinerary." - Sarah Khan
