{"id":86218,"date":"2021-05-07T11:10:44","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T05:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/?p=86218"},"modified":"2021-05-19T19:18:12","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T13:48:12","slug":"royal-palaces-which-are-converted-into-hotels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/travel\/unusual-india\/royal-palaces-which-are-converted-into-hotels","title":{"rendered":"Royal Palaces which are Converted into Hotels in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Numerous emperors have ruled over India in the last few millennia, right from the Mauryan Empire in the ancient Magadha to the Mughal Sultanate in north India from the 16th to the 19th century. Each empire had its own heritage and culture, marvelously captured in diverse forms of architecture and engineering. After India became a republic in 1950, the status of royalty was abolished and the royal privileges were gradually withdrawn. Since then, some of the exquisite royal residences have been conserved and converted into luxurious heritage hotels.<\/p>\n

Top 5 Royal Palaces Converted to Luxury Heritage Hotels are:<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

1. Rambagh Palace, Jaipur (Rajasthan)<\/h1>\n

\"Rambagh<\/a><\/p>\n

Rambagh Palace is an iconic palace that is also popularly referred as the \u201cJewel of Jaipur\u201d. This palace was built in 1835 in Rajasthan. It used to be the home of Kesar Badaran, the favorite handmaiden of Maharani Gayatri Devi. It later became the royal guest house as well as the hunting lodge, and eventually transformed into the residence of the Maharaja.<\/p>\n

It was initially built moderately but was later refurbished to make it suitable for the royals. The palace was named as Rambagh Palace after the then reigning Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II. It was his grandson prince Sawai Man Singh II who took inspiration from the Mughal and Rajasthani architecture to convert the palace to a magnificent palace. This marvelous palace became Maharaja of Jaipur\u2019s permanent residence in 1925. After Indian independence, the Maharaja became the governor or the Raj Pramukh and the concerned palace was converted to the Government House or Raj Bhavan.<\/p>\n

The royal family lived in the Rambagh Palace till 1957, when the palace was transformed into a luxury heritage hotel. It was initially managed by the royals themselves. However, The Taj Group of Hotels, Resorts and Palaces started managing this marvelous palace hotel from 1972.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2. Lake Palace, Udaipur (Rajasthan)<\/h1>\n

\"Lake<\/a><\/p>\n

Lake Palace in Udaipur has been immortalized across the world by the famous James Bond thriller ‘Octopussy’, which was filmed in this beautiful heritage property in Rajasthan. This palace was built by Maharaja Jagat Singh II in 1746 and the then prince named it Jag Niwas. This beautiful palace is located inside Udaipur\u2019s Lake Pichola and is situated on one of the four islands in the lake. Legend has it that the young prince built his own pleasure palace on one of the four islands on the Lake Pichola after his father found out about his escapades with the ladies of Zenana on moonlit nights in one of the then Lake Island palaces.<\/p>\n

By the middle of the 19th century, Jag Niwas almost got deserted, especially during the reign of Maharaja Sir Bhopal Singh. It was Maharaja Bhagwat Singh who refurbished the almost ruined palace and converted Jag Niwas to the first luxury hotel of Udaipur in 1963. The management of Lake Palace in Udaipur was transferred to the Taj Group of Hotels, Resorts and Palaces in 1971.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3. Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur (Rajasthan)<\/h1>\n

\"Umaid<\/a><\/p>\n

The Umaid Bhawan Palace is located in Jodhpur in Rajasthan. It was built during 1929-1944 and was named after the late Maharaja Umaid Singh. This palace has been the royal residence since 1944. The royal family of Jodhpur still resides in a section of the palace.<\/p>\n

The Umaid Bhawan Palace<\/a> was converted to a luxurious heritage hotel in 1972. Its management was transferred to ITC Hotels in 1978. Taj Group of Hotels, Resorts and Palaces acquired the management rights of heritage property in 2005. The artifacts, arms, priceless China vases, antique furniture, clocks, and other items from the personal collection of the Maharajas of Jodhpur are displayed in a private museum here.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

4. Ahilya Fort, Maheshwar<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\"Ahilya<\/a><\/p>\n

Ahilya Fort is located in Maheshwar town of Madhya Pradesh\u2019s Khargone district. This 250-year-old palace sits above the Narmada River. Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar ruled here during 1765-1796. She also constructed Ahilya Wada (which includes her personal residences, offices, and darbaar audience hall) within Ahilya Fort.<\/p>\n

This fort rests on a cliff, giving its residents a spectacular view of the Narmada River and the Ghats. Inside the fort, you will find shaded courtyards, verandahs on different levels (which are again linked by stone walkways), hidden terraces, numerous gardens, buildings (that are centuries old), and ancient turrets\/battlements.<\/p>\n

This picturesque ancient fort was converted to a luxury guest residence by Prince Richard Holkar, the only son of the last Maharaja of Indore (Maj Gen HH Maharaja Shrimant Yeshwant Rao II Holkar). Today this luxurious heritage hotel is known as Ahilya Fort Hotel.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

5. Gajner Palace, Bikaner<\/h1>\n

\"Gajner<\/a><\/p>\n

Gajner Palace was built during the early decades of the 20th century by Maharaja Sir Ganga Singh of Bikaner in Rajasthan. Speciality of this palace is that it was constructed from red stone and was located just beside Gajner Lake, giving a spectacular view to its residents. Gajner Palace is spread over 6,000 acres of land and is just 30 minutes drive away from Bikaner city.<\/p>\n

During the British era, this sprawling palace was used by the former Maharajas to serve the visiting British dignitaries. It was used especially as a hunting resort, which was used with grandeur by Maharaja Ganga Singh for grand shoots as well as lavish entertainment.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are many more royal palaces that were converted to luxury heritage hotels. Some of those luxury palace hotels include Devigarh Palace (Udaipur), Neemrana Fort (Neemrana), Fort Chanwa (Jodhpur), Jhalamand Garh (Jodhpur), Ajit Bhawan (Jodhpur), and many more.<\/p>\n

Related Links:\u00a0<\/strong>The Top Five Luxury Hotels of India<\/a> |\u00a0Heritage Hotels in Rajasthan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Numerous emperors have ruled over India in the last few millennia, right from the Mauryan Empire in the ancient Magadha to the Mughal Sultanate in north India from the 16th to the 19th century. Each empire had its own heritage and culture, marvelously captured in diverse forms of architecture and engineering. After India became a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19737,"featured_media":86219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4474],"tags":[745,7552,284,2426,7553,5764,2714,2425],"class_list":{"0":"post-86218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-unusual-india","8":"tag-bikaner","9":"tag-hotels-in-india","10":"tag-jaipur","11":"tag-jodhpur","12":"tag-luxury-hotels-in-india","13":"tag-palace","14":"tag-udaipur","15":"tag-umaid-bhawan-palace"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19737"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86218"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105286,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86218\/revisions\/105286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}