Agra, Uttar Pradesh · luxury

ITC Mughal, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa

★★★★★

ITC Mughal spreads across 23 acres of gardens on Agra's Fatehabad Road, about 15 minutes from the Taj Mahal. Red sandstone walls, domed towers, and water courtyards echo Mughal architecture throughout the property. It remains the only Indian hotel to win the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, a recognition reserved for genuinely significant design. Walk in and the lobby, named Akbar Mahal, sets the tone immediately. Marble floors, hand-carved wooden reception desks, and a broad chandelier fill the space with quiet grandeur. Courtyards throughout the property use reflecting pools and fountains, drawing directly on Mughal garden design rather than borrowing only its surface details. The resort holds 233 rooms and suites across several categories. Mughal Rooms and Chambers offer classic comfort with rich textiles and dark wood furniture. Higher categories, including the Royal Mughal Suite and Grand Presidential Suite, add separate living rooms, private plunge pools, and dedicated treatment areas. Every category carries some version of the property's Mughal-inspired design language, from patterned wallpapers to carved detailing. Dining centres on Peshawri, one of India's most celebrated restaurants. It specialises in North West Frontier cuisine, cooked over open tandoors and displayed through a live kitchen. The restaurant has spawned a small chain across other ITC properties, but Agra's original location still draws travellers on its own reputation. Taj Bano serves refined Indian cuisine in a more formal setting, Mughal Pavilion offers poolside dining, and Maikhana rounds things out as the resort's bar. Kaya Kalp, The Royal Spa, is another genuine draw. It holds eight treatment suites, including a Royal Mughal Hamam modelled on Mughal-era bathing rituals. The spa has picked up international recognition, including a Conde Nast Traveller nod for Favourite Hotel Spa in Asia. An outdoor pool sits within its own landscaped courtyard, framed by the same red-brick architecture used across the property. Guests can also explore the resort's gardens on foot, spotting the same palm-lined courtyards and fountain pools that define its award-winning design. For travellers who want serious architectural ambition alongside genuinely excellent Indian food, ITC Mughal offers both without asking guests to choose between them. It sits slightly further from the Taj Mahal than some Agra hotels, but the trade-off is space, gardens, and a resort feel rare in a city this dense with tourism. The resort also carries strong environmental credentials, part of the ITC group's wider sustainability push across its hotel portfolio. Solar heating, water recycling, and locally sourced landscaping all sit behind the scenes, without affecting the guest experience. Event spaces and banqueting halls make ITC Mughal a genuine option for destination weddings and larger group bookings too, a role its scale and gardens suit particularly well.