Hotels in India Offering the Best Immersive Experiences

As the world turns its gaze to India’s rising cohort of luxury-savvy Millennials and Gen Z, the definition of indulgence is quietly evolving. Ten years ago, luxury hospitality was all about gleaming lobbies and five-star credentials. Travel meant ticking off monuments and racking up selfies with military precision.

But for today’s discerning niche traveller, “been there, done that” feels tired. They’re after what no Instagram grid can offer: a sense of place. They crave stories that ignite the imagination, spark a late-night search spiral, and awaken a thirst for deeper, more meaningful experiences.

Here’s a curated selection of five properties across India that go well beyond plush rooms and fine dining. So, next time you’re scrolling through room categories and scanning restaurant menus, pause at the most overlooked tab: experiences. Or better yet, ring the front desk and ask what most guests don’t.

Rambha Palace, Odisha: For the Surprises

Tucked between the Sun Temple of Konark and the Jagannath Temple of Puri, Rambha Palace emerges as Odisha's most opulent secret. Set in the eponymous town on the shores of Chilika Lake, the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia, this 200-year-old palace is one of the few heritage properties in the state that redefines luxury under the quiet canopy of eastern India. Revived by Channa Daswatte, the Sri Lankan architect known for his modern tropical sensibilities and a protégé of the late Geoffrey Bawa, Rambha Palace is a colonial-era structure with a distinctly Odia soul. The philosophy behind Rambha's guest experience is surprise and delight.

One morning, you may find yourself on a silent sail across Chilika Lake and the boat anchors near a windswept island. What appears to be a forgotten structure has been freshly swept, and inside is a table for two laid with crisp linens and silverware. An English breakfast is waiting, with no one else in sight. Another afternoon, while scanning paddy fields for glimpses of blackbucks, you are taken to a watchtower. While you expect to watch sunsets and distant wildlife as you climb its creaking stairs, jazz plays softly from a radio. At the top, a table is set once again, this time with Darjeeling tea against the sun setting in perfect alignment with your view. The team works discreetly behind the scenes, phones quietly buzzing as they coordinate setups in remote locations.

But the most unexpected surprise on their list is the wilder. Between February and March, the beaches near Rambha, just a short drive from the palace, attract millions of endangered Olive Ridley turtles from the Australian coast to nest. It is not on the official schedule, largely due to its unpredictable timing, but if you enquire at the front desk, the staff will arrange a naturalist-led outing. From a respectful distance, you may watch as the turtles emerge under moonlight, dig their nests, lay eggs, and slip quietly back into the sea.

Evolve Back Hampi, Karnataka: To Time Travel

Evolve Back Hampi reimagines not just a palace but an entire ancient empire, Vijayanagara, through its architecture, cuisine, and storytelling. It is a faithful reinterpretation of what Hampi, once one of the most prosperous capitals of the world, might have looked like in its 15th-century heyday, sans the mods and cons.

The historical surroundings of Evolve Back are dotted with staggered temple roofs, intricately carved stone walls, musical pillars, grand colonnades, huge baths, and market ruins from the 14th to 16th centuries. These are just glimpses of what once stood, but they are breathtaking nonetheless. Evolve Back is a microcosm of everything above. From the outside, with several pyramidal roofs and water channels covered with lilies, it feels like a temple town. From the inside, the king's quarter with its private dip, the Zenana Mahal with Hammam-style Jacuzzi baths, the library, bazaar, and an interpretation of the Tungabhadra River (on which this great empire once flourished) as an infinity pool is like tracing the history of the royal city of Hampi.

As the first luxury resort in Hampi, Evolve Back offers guests an immersive way to explore this UNESCO World Heritage Site and return to a space that is remarkably similar to the historic sites. It blurs the line between past and present courtesy of an in-house historian, Nagaraja. He paves the way for all imagination with his stories every evening at the Deep Mahal, a dedicated storytelling room as a part of the guest experience. This same historian also leads walking tours through ancient trails, such as Vitthalapura, the Raya Trail, and the Tungabhadra trek, helping in connecting the dots of the Vijayanagara Empire to spaces within the resort itself.

Even the dining experience is part of the narrative. Experiences like Katha (meaning "story") are set in a library of texts on the empire. The culinary highlight, however, is the Vijayanagara Thali, a curated platter inspired by fragments of the region's culinary past, rooted in local traditions and native vegetation. Expect banana flower curry, millet bread wrapped in banana leaves, and a variety of locally-sourced seasonal curries. At Evolve Back Hampi, the stories, architecture, and cuisine can transport you to a bygone era, making you feel as though you are living, breathing, and dining in a different time.

Amanbagh, Rajasthan: For Culture Immersion

In the world of hospitality, Aman is known for creating incredible guest experiences at destinations that grow authentically out of their environments, allowing the landscape to take centre stage. Amanbagh is halfway between Jaipur and Agra—one, the Rajput capital; and the other, the Mughal hub of art and culture. Amanbagh takes the best of both right in the middle at Ajabgarh.

In the land of Indo-Mughal architecture, dotted with numerous forts and several palace hotels, Amanbagh has been built as one would imagine the Maharaja of Alwar would have lived. It evokes the scented Charbagh gardens of Persia, the grand domes of the Taj Mahal, the cupped arches, and its own version of pink —a pale, rather than bright, ochre, which is Aman's derivation from Jaipur.

The experiences at Amanbagh are from the desert land, whether you would like to try your hand at camel polo, a quirky take on polo, or do your bit for the local community of the cattle rearers, basket weavers, and potters that co-exist harmoniously with the luxury brand.

The Cow Dust Tour is an ode to the surrounding population. Just before the setting sun, when it is time for cattle to return home with their grazers, the hotel arranges a jeep excursion of the surrounding villages, navigating past the herds of animals and the golden dust from their hooves. The locals are now accustomed to global travellers and appreciate their interest in rural life. They happily invite you over for chai in their homes. While the hotel discourages you from offering locals money so as not to demean the community, the front office provides more briefings on Aman's community engagements for donations.

Mary Budden Estate, Uttarakhand: For Slow Luxury

Sometimes, what you have in obscurity becomes luxury. Mary Budden Estate quietly reminds you of that.

T, one of the last untouched wildernesses in the Himalayas, Mary Budden Estate was built in 1890. It is one of the few remaining colonial-era bungalows that existed long before the area was designated a protected zone. The estate, with its three-bedroom stone cottage and four wood-and-slate lodges, stands in all its British aristocracy-era glory.

Being located in the forest reserve, the estate must adhere to permaculture principles. Water is precious; waste is cyclical. You are gently asked when you would like to bathe, as the cold water inside the pipes needs to be conserved and reused. A simple ritual, such as bathing, reconnects you to the rhythm of the forest. Every trek and every meal nudges you to match your pace with the land, to reconsider what you take and what you leave behind.

On morning walks with the estate’s naturalist, you trace the contours of Darwin’s idea of evolution through Himalayan oak and pine. You learn how pine trees, found at lower elevations, are water consumers, while oak trees are retainers. Females of the villages care for the oaks like kin, knowing the forest gives back what you offer it.

The Wild Cat Brunch experience also begins after a short walk to a clearing. It's a DIY grill featuring fresh mountain ingredients, wild herbs, and spices laid out like a forager’s market. You simmer your own meal, beginning with a rhododendron, a flower that grows in abundance at this elevation.

The most immersive experience, the Hamlet in the Hills lunch, is a serious trek along the ridges leading to the smallest village in the region with fewer than a dozen people. An old cottage welcomes you with stone roofs, limewashed walls, and sky-blue windows. The setting is stark and stunning. Here, a traditional Kumaoni thaali is served, warm and earthy, cooked over fire. It is more luxurious than any five-star city property buffet because of where it is served and how 'less' truly becomes 'more'.

Sitara Himalaya, Himachal Pradesh: For a Design Pilgrimage

Back in 2004, the Bollywood film Swades gave India two gifts: it showed us that the journey itself could be the destination. And it introduced us to Mohan, played by Shah Rukh Khan, whose anchor of luxury throughout his travels was his plush caravan.

At Sitara Himalaya, Anita Lal, founder of the iconic lifestyle brand Good Earth, beautifully weaves both metaphors into the guest experience at her remote mountain retreat.

Sitara is the only luxury property in India that offers caravan transportation on special requests. The six-hour drive from Chandigarh to Rohtang Pass becomes a moving prelude to the design pilgrimage ahead, especially if you book the bespoke caravan. Think of it as a mobile salon with reclining seats, a daybed, a stocked pantry, and even a private toilet, all styled in Good Earth’s signature botanical prints and luxury textiles. It sets the tone for what awaits.

Sitara is steeped in a design language that feels both intimate and transcendent. The retreat connects you to these ancient mountains through sensory details. Voile drapes billow in the breeze, opening to starlit skies from the Stargazing Pavilion, and quiet corners blur the line between indoors and out.

Every element at Sitara has intention. Tribal textiles sourced from nearby villages, hand-knotted carpets underfoot, silk-upholstered sofas, bronze sculptures, and walls woven with Varanasi silk create a dialogue between place, craft and memory. For design aficionados, it is a space that invites inspiration.

And the best part? Much of what you see, from cushions to ceramics, can be purchased and shipped directly to your home from the Good Earth website. It's very difficult to visit the Sitara Himalayas and not feel the urge to revamp your home.