Hotel Index
Premium Hotels Across India
Every real premium hotel we book, across every region — pick a destination below or see the full spread.
Pahalgam, Kashmir
Pahalgam Hotel
★★★★☆
The Pahalgam Hotel opened in 1931, and it is a Pahalgam institution. It sits in the heart of the main market, on about two acres of lawns and chinar trees, with the Lidder river a short walk away. The rooms are spread across a few blocks, and many look toward the river or the snow line. The style is old-fashioned in a good way: warm, well kept, family-managed. There is a restaurant known for its Kashmiri food, a bar, a garden and a spa. The taxi stand for Betaab, Aru and Chandanwari is close, and so is the riverbank path. It is the premium choice in the centre of Pahalgam, for travellers who want to walk out of the door into the town and the valley.
Srinagar, Kashmir
Taj Dal View, Srinagar
★★★★★
Taj Dal View sits on Kralsangri hill, above the Brein shore of Dal Lake. It opened in 2011 and was refurbished and reflagged as a Taj hotel. The setting is the point. The hotel is built along a clifftop across about six acres, and most rooms and the pool deck look straight down over the lake to the old city, with the Zabarwan range on the far side. Inside there is careful Kashmiri metalwork and woodwork, an outdoor pool, a spa, and three restaurants, including a Pan-Asian room. The airport is about half an hour away, and the Tulip Garden is a five-minute drive. It is the premium choice for a Srinagar stay with a big view, and an easy first or last night around a flight.
Alleppey, Kerala
Punnamada Resort
★★★★☆
Punnamada Resort sits on the edge of Punnamada Lake, which is the stretch of water the Nehru Trophy Boat Race is rowed on every August. For most of the year it is quiet. Fishing canoes cross it in the morning and houseboats drift out in the afternoon. The resort is laid out low and wide across the waterfront. Accommodation is in Kerala-style blocks and cottages with tiled roofs and wooden detail, set among coconut palms and lawns that run down to the water. Rooms face either the lake or the gardens. The lake-facing ones are worth asking for. Interiors keep to local materials — wood, stone, woven cane — without tipping into theme. There is a pool, an ayurvedic treatment centre and a restaurant that leans on Kerala backwater cooking: karimeen from the lake, coconut, curry leaf, kokum. The practical advantage is the jetty. Houseboat cruises leave from the water in front of the resort, so a backwater day does not begin with a transfer. Alleppey town, the beach and the canal network are all close by.
Kochi, Kerala
Eighth Bastion
★★★★☆
Eighth Bastion takes its name from the old Portuguese fort that once ringed this shoreline. Fort Immanuel had bastions along its wall, and the eighth of them stood near this spot. The hotel is built on that history rather than around it. The property belongs to CGH Earth, a Kerala group that has spent decades running small, place-specific hotels instead of large ones. It shows in the scale here. This is a compact hotel on a Fort Kochi street, not a resort behind a gate. The architecture reads Dutch and Portuguese from outside — tiled roofs, deep verandas, shuttered windows. Inside, the rooms are calm and contemporary, with dark wood against white walls. The two periods are allowed to sit next to each other. There is a pool in the courtyard and a restaurant that cooks Kerala coastal food, including the day's catch from the harbour a few streets away. Fort Kochi is a walking neighbourhood, and that is the real reason to stay here. The Chinese fishing nets, St Francis Church, the Dutch Cemetery, Jew Town and the Mattancherry spice godowns are all reachable on foot or by a short auto ride.
Kumarakom, Kerala
Taj Kumarakom Resort & Spa, Kerala
★★★★☆
Taj Kumarakom is built around a bungalow put up in 1881 by an English missionary, Henry Baker. The estate he planted has grown into a small resort next to the Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary, on the edge of Lake Vembanad. There are twenty-eight rooms, cottages and villas, set among old rain trees and a lotus lagoon. The original bungalow is now a suite and a restaurant. Some villas have a private plunge pool. Because the resort shares a boundary with the bird sanctuary, the dawn chorus here is loud and genuine. The J Wellness Circle spa runs Ayurveda alongside the usual treatments. This is the value tier for Kumarakom against the heritage resorts nearby, and it is still a full Taj property on a rare piece of ground.
Munnar, Kerala
Windermere Estate
★★★★☆
Windermere Estate is a family-run resort set on a working cardamom and coffee plantation in Pallivasal, just outside Munnar. Just eighteen rooms are spread across plantation villas, cottages, and garden rooms. Red cedar accents and simple, tasteful furnishings run through every category. Many rooms open onto private sit-outs facing the estate's terraced hills. Daily life here follows the rhythm of the plantation. A guided walk each afternoon takes guests through the cardamom fields and up to caves on the property. From Windermere's viewpoint, the 360-degree outlook takes in tea gardens, misty hills, and the estate below. Food is served across a handful of characterful spaces. Pine Top handles everyday meals, The Barn hosts fine dining, and Boulder Garden is reserved for outdoor barbecues. The Hut offers snacks and tea through the day. Fire pits and hammocks are dotted through the gardens for quieter evenings. For travellers who want Munnar's tea-estate scenery without a large hotel footprint, Windermere Estate delivers exactly that. Its plantation setting, family ownership, and genuinely local rhythm make it one of the hill station's most distinctive stays.
Thekkady, Kerala
Spice Village – A CGH Earth Experience
★★★★☆
Spice Village is a CGH Earth resort built as a recreation of a Kerala spice-growing village, on the edge of Periyar Tiger Reserve in Thekkady. Fifty-two cottages sit among real spice gardens, built from coir matting, thatch, and other natural materials. Each cottage keeps a separate sitting area and en-suite bathroom, with organic toiletries in keeping with the resort's sustainability focus. The resort's own paper-making centre shows guests how it turns plantation waste into handmade paper. Two restaurants serve Keralan and international dishes, largely using produce grown on site. An outdoor pool, a children's pool, and a spa tub sit within the gardens, alongside massage and Ayurveda treatment rooms. Thekkady itself is best known for wildlife. Spice Village puts guests within easy reach of Periyar's boat safaris and forest walks, as well as working spice and cardamom plantations nearby. An indoor tennis court and business centre round out the facilities for longer or working stays. Spice Village suits travellers who want Thekkady's forest and plantation setting matched by a resort that takes sustainability seriously. Its village-style layout and spice-garden grounds set it apart from a standard hotel stay.
Wayanad, Kerala
Vythiri Village Resort, Wayanad
★★★★☆
Vythiri Village sits in thirty acres of rainforest near Vythiri town, at about 2,600 feet. A mountain stream runs through the grounds and more than 150 bird species have been recorded here. Rooms range from garden rooms up to cottages in traditional Kerala style and pool villas with an eight-metre infinity pool. The forest is dense enough that the villas feel well separated. The resort runs an activity list most days: a canopy zip-line, a rope bridge sixty feet up, guided nature walks, cycling, archery and a fish spa. The Nawa spa handles Ayurveda. It markets itself as five-star. We seed it as the premium tier for Wayanad, the value option against Taj Wayanad, and it earns that on setting alone.
Kargil, Ladakh
Hotel The Kargil
★★★☆☆
Hotel The Kargil sits in the middle of Kargil town, off the main market on Hospital Road. It opened in 2017 and was the first fully air-conditioned hotel in Kargil. There are thirty rooms and three suites, all heated, with modern bathrooms and hot water around the clock. The upper floors look out over the town and the surrounding hills. There is a restaurant serving Ladakhi, North Indian and Kashmiri food, a coffee shop and a travel desk that arranges permits and cars. Kargil has no luxury hotel. This is the best in town, and it is the property both our premium and luxury western-Ladakh trips use for the Kargil night.
Leh, Ladakh
Stok Palace Heritage
★★★★☆
Stok Palace is the home of the Ladakhi royal family. It was built in 1820 and sits in Stok village, about 14 kilometres from Leh, on a ridge above the Indus valley. The family still lives in part of it. A few of the palace rooms are let to guests, each one furnished with old Ladakhi pieces, painted woodwork and family objects. This is a heritage stay, not a hotel. There is no television, no air conditioning and limited Wi-Fi, by choice. Meals are Ladakhi and are taken with the family or in the palace kitchen. The palace museum, one of the best collections of Ladakhi royal art and thangkas, is on the same site. Stok is quiet, rural and dark at night, a complete change from the town.
Sham Valley, Ladakh
The Apricot Tree
★★★★☆
The Apricot Tree stands just outside Nurla village, on the road between Leh and Lamayuru, looking down on the Indus. It is a modern hotel built in the Ladakhi style, with carved wood, stone walls and warm interiors. The rooms are large and well heated, and most face the river and the mountains beyond it. There is a garden, a terrace restaurant and a quiet lounge. Nurla is a good base for the western Sham valley. Alchi is a short drive one way, Lamayuru the other, and the hotel sits low enough that guests sleep well. It is the sensible premium choice for a night or two in Sham, a real hotel with hot water and heating rather than a basic guesthouse.
Cherrapunji, Meghalaya
Jiva Resort, Cherrapunjee
★★★★☆
Jiva Resort sits above Saitsohpen, the old part of Cherrapunji, with hills on every side. The rooms are large and well finished, in a range of suite grades, and the bigger ones have wide views over the valley. There is a restaurant, a grill, a small golf lawn and a jacuzzi. Bicycles and board games are there for a slow afternoon. It is close to Nohkalikai Falls and to the start of the root-bridge trek, and the staff arrange guides and packed breakfasts for an early walk. It is the premium option in Cherrapunji for travellers who want a full-service resort and space to spread out, rather than a room right on the canyon edge.
Kashmir to Kanyakumari
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