VILLA PALLADIO JAIPUR

Jaipur's newest boutique property is a ruby-tinged jewel box of a space, writes Divya Mishra.

- Divya Mishra.

About 15km eastward from Jaipur, the city finally loosens its hold on you. Fluorescent lights make way for starlight, turning the sky a soft navy velvet, against which the smaller Aravalli hills loom like benevolent giants. As you get closer to Sumel village, concrete is replaced by jungle scrub; cars, by the occasional camel. Here, tucked into the nook between Sumel Doongri and the Kanota Lake is Villa Palladio Jaipur, the city’s newest boutique hotel.

The nine-room property sits on a little more than three acres of land, enclosed within a strikingly white, crenellated boundary wall that increases its sense of hushed solitude. Built-in the 1980s, it began life as a typical Rajasthani haveli. Its bones are traditional, but its rejuvenated spirit appears to have travelled all the way from Europe.