The Gold List 2023 - Our Old Time Favourite Hotels

The editors' all-time favourite hotels

THE LEELA PALACE BENGALURU INDIA

Aesthetically. The Leela Palace is an exuberant, contemporary mish-mash of architectural styles and interiors. Its Art Deco design has colonial touches, and South Indian temple art meets Rajasthani artisanal craft. No holds are barred with the 20-foot sandstone pillars, 24-carat gold-leaf accents, crystal chandeliers, floral frescoes, hand-tufted carpets, and elaborate flower arrangements. Ever since I have been visiting in the mid-2000s, the atmosphere has always been festive, quite unlike the idea of a standard business hotel. But then again, The Leela has never fit that mould. This is a slice of Bengaluru writ large, from the shorts-wearing founders holding Zoom meetings at breakfast to the lively conversations and packed tables at Jamavar, the hit Indian restaurant, and friends brunching for hours on Sundays at Citrus. The Leela's all-day diner. There is also a gentleness to life here, with guests soothed along by an unobtrusive butler service, the possibility of strolls around the lush, verdant grounds, and live music accompanying rare single malts in The Library Bar. Pleasingly, not much has changed since the hotel's opening in 2001, but some shifts are welcome, including the recent meticulous touching up of the famous gold on the ceilings. The Leela generates almost all the electricity it needs from its own wind farms, and a bottling plant is in the works, too-proof that its future is green as well as gold. PRASAD RAMAMURTHY Doubles from about ₹28,743; theleela.com

THE TAJ MAHAL PALACE, MUMBAI INDIA