Month: July 2024

While all eyes might be on Paris this summer, it’s London that’s stealing the spotlight. The British capital was just crowned the best city in the world by global consulting firm Resonance, which releases one of the most prestigious and comprehensive rankings of the 100 most popular urban areas to live, work, and visit globally. 

“London still reigns over all global cities. Despite crippling COVID lockdowns and economic devastation. Despite Brexit. Despite a war in Europe. The city is more indomitable and part of the global discourse than ever,” the company’s report states.

Resonance’s methodology examines data from more than 400 cities with a population of more than one million and ranks each in three core categories: livability, lovability, and prosperity. These categories comprise multiple subcategories relating to a city’s ability to “attract talent, visitors and/or businesses.” 

Two of London’s highest marks were in the educational attainment and culture subcategories, but the city also topped the overall livability and lovability categories. After Dubai and Doha, London had the third highest tourist spending in the world — a whopping $16.07 billion. With new metro stations added to The Tube, Resonance points out that public transit in the city has improved, which is great news for visitors.

However, London, just like New York City, which topped the ranking for best cities in America, is also facing challenges. The city’s banking district is currently experiencing a rising office vacancy rate of 17 percent.

Paris is second on Resonance’s list of the best cities in the world. The French capital scored perfect for walkability and landmarks but performed much worse in the prosperity category, ranking 14th, which tracks the poverty rate among its full-time residents. However, Paris remains the most visited city globally, with 44 million travelers passing through it in 2022.

Resonance named New York City the third best place to live, work, and visit in the world. 

Tokyo and Singapore round out the top five, with the Japanese capital highlighted for its excellent shopping and dining scene. Dubai, which Resonance has dubbed the “Vegas of Arabia,” is sixth, and San Francisco is seventh. The company points out that, in recent years, the Golden City has suffered economically, as well as from a lack of affordable housing and rising crime rates. Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Seoul are the last three cities in the top 10 best cities in the world.

You can read the full report on worldsbestcities.com.

Whenever I think of Kerala, the faces of my grandmothers appear before me. These two women, centers of goodness and strength in our family, frame how I see the land of my parents’ birth. I close my eyes and I’m once again seated in my maternal grandmother’s kitchen, the pampered grandchild back for the holidays, watching clay pots simmer over wood fires and inhaling the aroma of roasted cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, red chilis, and pepper. It is a soothing and quintessentially Kerala daydream, because spices are at the heart of this one state that feels so different from India’s other states, almost like another country. 

The “Spice Coast,” as it has been known since the days of ancient Greece, is a ribbon of territory on the southwestern edge of India. Just 360 miles long and 75 miles at its widest, the state sits sandwiched between the Western Ghats — a mountain range that runs parallel to the coast — and the Arabian Sea. A wonderful alchemy of geography, temperature, rainfall, wind, and soil composition allows pepper, cloves, cardamom, and other spices to grow wild on the mountains’ lower slopes. Roman soldiers brought that pepper home from the Spice Coast; later, Arab and Indian sailors made small fortunes selling the seasoning in Venice and Genoa. By the 13th and 14th centuries, the craze for spices — not only pepper but also ginger, cloves, and cinnamon — was sweeping Europe. 

Astonishing medical claims fueled the frenzy, including the assertion that ginger smeared on flagging body parts could restore virility. For all that, no one in Europe seemed to consider dry-roasting and powdering the spice, then frying it with mustard seeds, shallots, and perhaps cumin, turmeric, and coriander, to make a masala, the first step in so many Indian dishes. 

What made these spices so valuable was not so much their flavor as the difficulty in procuring them. The urgent desire to find their source (which the Arabs naturally kept secret) eventually brought the Portuguese, French, Dutch, and British to India. England enslaved and plundered the country for two centuries, first through the East India Company and then through crown rule. So many of the magnificent edifices of government and education in Britain were built on this loot. (Even the word loot is stolen from the Indian vernacular.)

My older brother and I were born in Ethiopia, where my parents were hired to work as teachers. Our holiday visits to their ancestral homes in Kerala felt like a return to a land that existed before time. At dusk, in the years before electricity arrived, the gentle glow of oil lamps enhanced the night. The unforgettable meals were all sourced from our family’s properties and nearby streams, prepared and consumed that day. During my medical-school years in Madras (now Chennai) I visited regularly, but after my grandparents’ passing and the sale of their homes, there was little reason to return. Still, over the course of the past 10 years, while I was researching and writing a novel set in Kerala, I went back multiple times. Soon after The Covenant of Water was released in May 2023, I set off on one more visit, this time to fulfill a vow. 

Related: Our Readers’ Favorite Hotels in India of 2024

My partner, Cari, and I landed at Kerala’s southern end, in the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram (formerly Trivandrum), and planned to travel north through the length of the state. It was Cari’s third trip to India, but her first to Kerala. She grew up in Hawaii, a place whose lush green foliage, coconut palms, and beaches I find so reminiscent of Kerala. 

Despite major growth and development, Thiruvananthapuram retains a sleepy, small-town feel. For centuries, maharajahs from one lineage ruled from here over “Travancore” — present-day central and southern Kerala. They worshipped at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, an awe-inspiring and beautiful shrine, making lavish offerings to the temple’s deity, especially when invaders from the north threatened. In 2011, a court-ordered inventory of the temple vaults revealed hillocks of gold jewelry, precious stones, gold coins, and stone-encrusted idols weighed down with diamonds and gold chains. The value of the temple’s treasures is estimated to be in the trillions of dollars.

We chose to stay two nights outside the city in Kovalam, a popular beach town, at the splendid Leela Kovalam, a Raviz Hotel. This sprawling property is perched on a cliff, with panoramic views of the ocean and a private beach below. Upon our arrival, the Leela’s chef took us to the hotel’s organic garden to pick produce for our thali lunch. A thali is a complete meal: rice with many small dishes, including dessert, served on a single dish or banana leaf. Ours came in a round stainless-steel tray embracing an inner circle of stainless-steel cups. These held bitter gourd in a coconut curry; red spinach and green chiles in a fiery red curry; okra fried with onions — which we had picked that morning — along with yogurt, lobster curry, fish curry, and pickle. 

The second night, the chef set a table for us near the beach. The water lapped close by as he plied us with delicacies including karimeen, or pearl spot fish, a great Kerala favorite, which he prepared by marinating it in a paste of onions, chiles, and spices, then steaming it wrapped in a banana leaf.

Related: Why Rajasthan, India, Is a Perfect Family Trip

We drove north from Kovalam to my father’s hometown of Mannar, and the nearby Parumala church, a famous pilgrimage destination for the Christian community in Kerala — my community. Dad was an altar boy at Parumala; his father, who is buried there along with my grandmother, was a deacon. Legend has it that Christianity came to India in A.D. 52 with the arrival in Kerala of Saint Thomas, “Doubting Thomas” of the 12 apostles. He converted a few Brahmin families. Today that community, the Saint Thomas Christians, has grown to 6 million, though they make up just 18 percent of Kerala’s population. Parumala holds the tomb of the first saint of our church, Mar Gregorios (1848–1902). 

Christians from Kerala put great store in prayers to Mar Gregorios, and visiting the saint’s tomb was the main reason for this trip. At one point during the 10 years I spent writing The Covenant of Water, I broke my contract with my original publisher — I felt they didn’t get the story. It was a scary time, with the fate of my manuscript uncertain, and an advance to repay. I took a vow then that I’d come to this tomb if the novel ever got published. It did. Indeed, it succeeded beyond anything I could have hoped for — a miracle, as far as I was concerned. And so now, as I stood at the saint’s tomb, shoulder to shoulder with Cari and so many others, all of whom had their own reasons for being there, I was overwhelmed with gratitude, and the tears welled up. I felt one with the faith of my forefathers; the spirit of my late mother, so instrumental to the genesis of my novel, was present. My prayers had been answered. My vow was fulfilled. 

We drove on to Kottayam, a town in central Kerala that is the epicenter of the state’s Christian community. Kottayam has many churches, some so close together that the sermon in one could serve both congregations. It is also the home of my college friend Jacob Mathew, or “Chacko,” who is part of the fourth generation of the family that has published Kerala’s Manorama newspaper since 1890. The Manorama, a daily staple of my grandparents’ lives, now has 17 million readers. Chacko’s late mother published 27 cookbooks; it’s a rare Keralan house that doesn’t have at least one of them. Chacko’s wife, Ammu, continues the great culinary tradition. At her table we feasted on my favorites: appam (a pancake made from rice flour) and fish curry; erechi olarthiyathu (a beef dish); and some dishes that were new to me, such as a dessert of tapioca and coconut milk crowned with tender toasted coconut. 

Chacko had generously arranged — indeed insisted — on having his car and driver meet us when we arrived in Kerala and stay with us on every leg of our journey. It was a huge help. Saying our goodbyes to Chacko and Ammu, we got on the road again. From Kottayam, we headed to the backwaters, hundreds of miles of natural and man-made canals, which in the pre-automobile era were Kerala’s highways, transporting goods and people across the state. Our destination was Kumarakom, a village on the shore of the vast Lake Vembanad — India’s longest and South India’s largest lake. Homestays, small hotels, and vast resorts hug the shore; bird-watchers come to visit the Kumarakom sanctuary nearby. 

We stayed at Kumarakom Lake Resort — or “KLR” — a Paul P. John property. John, a Christian from Kerala, is best known for his single-malt premium Indian whiskey, which shocked connoisseurs by winning medals internationally and capturing a sizable world market share. I think Paul John whiskey is better than any single malt (but I won’t tell my Edinburgh friends).

KLR is a “heritage” resort, at the heart of which are two large, repurposed family homes that have been transported to the property; one houses KLR’s signature restaurant, the other its superb ayurvedic spa. The buildings showcase the classic features of traditional Kerala architecture: peaked roofs with exquisitely carved and decorated wooden gables; inner and outer courtyards and broad verandas; windows, doors, and wall vents designed to maximize airflow. The guest villas are miniature versions of the two larger homes. Ours had teak walls polished to a beautiful finish, heavy wooden doors with ornate locks, and cement floors painted with red oxide. Each of these villas also has a private swimming pool. The interiors felt so familiar that on my first night I dreamed about my grandparents — their house was built by a skilled carpenter, or Ashari, following ancient Vedic principles in terms of the house’s position on the plot, its orientation to the sun, and the prescribed ratios for the support beams and roof timbers.

Chacko and his family keep a motorboat on Vembanad Lake, and he had made arrangements for us to get a backwater tour. The next morning, just before the sun rose, we met the boatman on the KLR jetty. Vembanad was as smooth as glass, and would have seemed endless had we kept going north. But we soon steered away from its center, toward a shore that unfolded to reveal the entrance to a broad channel. There were raised mud embankments on either side of this passage, beyond which flooded fields stretched away in the distance. These are the rice paddies of Kuttanad, where, for more than two centuries, rice has been cultivated below sea level, making use of ponds, reclaimed swamp, and lagoons and using an elaborate system of irrigation and drainage. 

We were lucky to spot a toddy tapper climbing down from a tall palm tree, his tools hanging from his belt. Toddy is the sap from the palm’s flowering top. Each day the tapper “taps” on the fruiting body to soften it, makes a few incisions, then inverts a clay pot to collect the sap. The next day he empties the receptacle, and repeats. We purchased his fresh toddy, which ferments at once, its taste for now sweet and tangy. By lunchtime it would have the potency of an IPA. Toddy shops abound all over Kerala, housed in nondescript shacks. They famously serve a fiery cuisine — which requires you to drink more to douse the flames.

We passed several houseboats during our excursion. These converted rice barges are air-conditioned floating suites, complete with pilot and chef. We would have loved to have spent a week on a houseboat, exploring the far reaches of the backwater, and a second week relaxing at KLR. But we didn’t have enough time, and Cochin (or Kochi, its new name) beckoned.

Kochi — “The Queen of the Arabian Sea,” as it is called — is a congregation of islands where backwaters and ocean meet that, once a modern harbor was built in 1920, anchored the spice trade. Most visitors will choose, as we did, to spend their time exploring Mattancherry and Fort Cochin, neighborhoods where the city’s rich history is most evident.

Negotiating the gridded streets of Fort Kochi, we arrived at Brunton Boatyard. As the name implies, this classic colonial building, with its tall arches and pillars, was once a prosperous boatyard owned by an Englishman. It has been beautifully transformed into a hotel, its hallways and walls decorated with colonial artifacts. On the broad veranda you can close your eyes and imagine the privileged life of a British expatriate as you stretch out on a teak-framed recliner, sip a gin and tonic, and let yourself be cooled by the shore breeze.

Brunton Boatyard is steps from the seawalk; from there we watched the ferries shuttling between the surrounding islands. Stalls selling fresh fish offered an education on the species that abound in the Arabian Sea: sardine, mackerel, pomfret, mullet, seer fish, prawns, and mussels. In the early mornings you might see fishermen bringing in a fresh catch, including crabs, lobster, and tuna. Our stroll brought us to the iconic “Chinese” fishing nets, cantilevered over the water by wooden beams like giant cranes; no tourist leaves Kochi without photographing these structures. 

The St. Francis Church was also on our walking route. Built in 1503, it was the first European church in India. We stood alongside other tourists and stared numbly at the vault where Vasco da Gama is not buried. (He was, briefly, entombed here, but then his body was taken back to Portugal.) This Catholic church became Protestant in the Dutch era, and Anglican when the British came. 

Our last stop was Mattancherry, once home to the large spice markets where traders came to bid and barter. Now this quaint part of Kochi is famous for its antiques shops, many of them selling wonderful artifacts recovered from old ancestral homes, such as doors, arches, decorative panels, and locks. Mattancherry once had a large Jewish community, but most left after the creation of Israel. The neighborhood of Jew Town remains — its label is not derogatory, but a designation given over time as more Jewish people arrived in the area. The synagogue is the main attraction. On a visit I made in 2000, a congregation of fewer than five people remained. Now the congregation is nonexistent; its members have all either died or emigrated to Israel.

Once the sun set, we were back in Fort Kochi, which now took on a different character, the returning sea breeze having brought about a revival. The foreign backpackers who had been tucked away in hotels in the side streets emerged, looking pleased, as though they might stay forever. Families came out to stroll, teens to meet friends. Kochi is host to the popular Kochi-Muziris Biennale, which began in 2012. It has had an effect on the city that lasts all year: art galleries buzz with visitors, and coffee shops and elegant restaurants light up the street. The ocean was dark and invisible, illuminated only by the lights of ferries crisscrossing between islands like fireflies. 

Our time in Kerala had run out. There was so much more to see: the wildlife sanctuaries in the jungle preserves of the Western Ghats; the cities of Kozhikode (formerly Calicut) and Kananur (formerly Cannanore) farther north; visits to the estate regions of Wayanad, or Munnar, where tea and rubber are grown on mist-shrouded slopes; perhaps a stay in one of the many individual estates —properties that encompass thousands of acres — where the original planter’s home has transformed itself into luxury lodge or hotel, far from the crowds of Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. We planned to come back again, next time for a longer, more leisurely stay. Cari, an anthropologist, had loved learning about the history and culture of Kerala, and meeting my friends and extended family, seeing my roots. 

When Vasco da Gama landed in Kerala in 1498, he claimed he was there to bring Christian salvation to the heathens. Little did he know that Christianity had been extant there since A.D. 52. And here I was, a descendant of those first Indian Christians, returning to fulfill my vow. It felt good. 

Where to Stay

Brunton Boatyard

The 26 rooms at this Kochi hotel, once a British shipyard, draw on colonial style and overlook the point where Lake Vembanad meets the Arabian Sea.

Kumarakom Lake Resort

This luxurious heritage resort on the shores of Lake Vembanad has a number of villas modeled after manas, the traditional homes of the region — as well as larger pavilions and even houseboats.

The Leela Kovalam, a Raviz Hotel

From its clifftop location, this 188-room resort has superb views of the Arabian Sea. Ask for one of the four suites in the former Halcyon Castle, a 1932 royal building that has been restored.

A version of this story first appeared in the August 2024 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline “Still Waters.”

Philadelphia, the city that birthed American Democracy and a mascot named Gritty, will soon be home to a swish new boutique hotel — one with a hidden courtyard that channels a Mediterranean holiday. The 50-room Hotel Anna & Bel — brought to life by Philadelphia-based real estate development firm Foyer Project and operated by Life House, which also counts properties in Palm Springs and the Berkshires — is slated to open in August in the city’s Fishtown neighborhood. The property has roots in the 18th century and was once home to a communal living home called the Penn Asylum for Indigent Widows and Single Women.

“Throughout the renovation process we worked with the Preservation Society of Philadelphia to emphasize and honor the property’s rich architectural history while breathing a new design life into the space with modern amenities and features,” Dor Berkovitz, co-founder and managing partner at Foyer Project told Travel + Leisure.

That new design life takes ample inspiration from the property’s history, with curved lines,  pastel colors, and other elements that lean into the “inherent femininity of the property,” Berkovitz said.

Beyond its history, the hotel’s space comes to life with a host of local artists and makers: custom robes are by Philadelphia-based Printfresh, beloved Fishtown grocer Riverwards Produce is the mastermind of the in-room minibar snacks, and neighborhood independent bookstore Ulisis stocked the hotel’s reading nook. Throughout the property, oil paintings, illustrations, and mosaics by a mix of local, female, and international artists were curated by another Philly-based firm, Paradigm Art Advisory, including prints capturing scenes of the city by hometown photographer Gab Bonghi.

Rooms range in size from studios to two bedrooms, each with either a kitchenette or a minibar with a Nespresso maker, plus custom-made wooden bed frames and vintage-inspired decor. On the top floor, a two-bed, two-bath primary suite has expansive views of the city skyline and loads of natural light thanks to a series of skylights. On the second floor, interior rooms have French doors that open to a balcony overlooking the courtyard with perhaps the most dazzling aspect of the property: a leafy courtyard with umbrella-shaded loungers trimming a heated outdoor pool.

The outdoor space was designed “to feel transportive,” Berkovitz said. “We wanted the area to feel like an escape from the city. Reminiscent of New Orleans, the courtyard is surrounded by iron balcony railings that draw from both French and chic Mediterranean influences to make the area feel like a coastal oasis.”

While the oasis is for guests only, Bastia, the on-site restaurant helmed by local chef Tyler Akin, will be open to the public. The cafe and coastal Mediterranean restaurant will center around seafood dishes, and will also provide in-room dining. The same team is behind Caletta, the property’s lounge, which will also serve poolside spritzes and Italian snacks, bringing guests that much closer to the Med.

Located northeast of Center City, Fishtown has historically lacked in the robust range of lodging options compared to the downtown neighborhood. But with so much happening in the stretch of the city, including welcoming some of the city’s buzziest restaurants of late, it’s a prime time for a new hotel to open its doors.

“As residents of the neighborhood, we don’t have anything similar that appeals to both visitors to the area and locals alike,” Berkovitz said. “In recent years, Fishtown has seen a surge of new restaurants and shopping, so we felt the neighborhood would be perfect for travelers who are looking for a destination that combines a sense of community with full amenities and boutique offerings.”

Nightly rates start at $300. Learn more or book your stay at annaandbel.com.

SAN DIEGO — It may have taken a quarter century to develop a luxury waterfront hotel in Oceanside, but it’s apparently paid off. The Mission Pacific Beach Resort, which made its debut three years ago, has been named the No. 1 resort in the continental U.S. by Travel and Leisure’s readers.

The 161-room, seven-story hotel, which boasts a Michelin-starred restaurant on the premises, was also named the top resort in California. It outranked many long acclaimed properties, including Rancho Valencia in Rancho Santa Fe, which frequently garners recognition in national rankings. It came in at No. 11 in this year’s reader survey of best resorts in the U.S., although it was fourth in 2021.

“I think everyone was completely surprised,” Tim Obert, area managing director of Mission Pacific Beach Resort, said of Tuesday’s announcement. He also manages the hotel’s sister property, The Seabird Ocean Resort & Spa, which was ranked 14th.

“It’s our guests who voted for us, and they’re well traveled and experienced. They know what great is, so it’s flattering that they were kind enough to take the time to vote for us. We had hoped we would score well, but I don’t think any of us expected that we would be No. 1.”

Travel and Leisure’s article announcing the top resorts is headlined, “The Resort Voted Best in the Continental U.S. Overlooks an Underrated California Beach and Has a Michelin-star Mexican Restaurant.”

It describes the resort on N. Myers Street, as “a place you never really need to leave to have a good time. It’s home to both a Michelin-starred restaurant (Valle, which serves tasty Mexican bites) and a rooftop bar serving craft cocktails that are ideal at sunset.”

The resort, it points out, is also home to the original “Top Gun” house, a 19th century Victorian cottage that appeared in the original Top Gun film released in 1986.

Mission Pacific Beach also made it onto Travel and Leisure’s Top 100 Hotels in the World for 2024, ranking No. 11. The only other California hotel to rank higher was the Pendry Newport Beach.

To compile the list of top resorts, Travel and Leisure asks its readers each year to weigh in on their travel experiences, not only for hotels and resorts, but also for cities, cruise ships, airlines and other hospitality segments. More than 186,000 readers completed the 2024 survey, the magazine said, and more than 700,000 votes were cast across all categories.

Hotels were specifically rated on such criteria as rooms and facilities, location, service, food and value.

The two sister resorts in Oceanside had something of a tortured history as the city sought to bring a destination resort to the oceanfront site since the 1970s. It began courting developers in the 1980s for the two-block site bisected by the western end of Mission Avenue, with boundaries at Pacific and Myers streets, Pier View Way and Seagaze Drive.

Back in 2005, the city of Oceanside chose S.D. Malkin Properties from a field of three finalists. It was Oceanside’s fourth try in 25 years to land a luxury hotel for the site. The project would eventually break ground in 2019.

“When it opened in May of 2021, it opened during COVID, a difficult time to launch any hotel,” Obert said. “So it started slowly and now has gained its footing and competes very well in the market. We run around 67, 70 percent occupancy for the year, but this year we’ll be closer to the low 70s. Like all resorts during the summer through Labor Day, we run well north of 80 percent occupancy.

“Our owners continue to reinvest in the property on a regular basis. They have a luxury retail background and they continue to reinvent the product to be current and relevant.”

My husband and I wanted to go somewhere neither of us had ever been for our honeymoon, but not just anywhere we had ever been, somewhere special — out of this world, like visiting another planet. A once-in-a-lifetime trip. We were thinking of this opportunity to take two weeks off work and travel as a chance for an adventure more than to relax: an adventure-moon, if you will.

I’ve already been on safari in Africa, he visited the Middle East right before the pandemic, and we try to get to Europe at least once a year. When we landed on India, the excitement in the room was palpable. By visiting India, we could get a taste of a completely alien culture to our own and experience the hustle and bustle of famous cities and the leisure and wonder of a natural landscape and wildlife we’d never encountered before.

Initial research showed that most first-time tourists to India embark on a three-city route called the Golden Triangle that hits Delhi, Agra (where the Taj Mahal is), and Jaipur, cities in the Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh states in North India. If you think the Golden Triangle could tick off the boxes you’re looking for in a non-traditional (but unforgettable) honeymoon, the next step is deciding where to stay.

Two top-level hotel groups are best known throughout India: The Oberois and Taj Hotels. The Taj Hotels convert historical properties into boutique hotels, like the Lake Palace in Udaipur. They’re not purpose-built; originally, they were palaces, not hotels, so the rooms at many of the properties are different sizes and don’t offer uniform features, like views.

Oberoi takes a different approach, building the best hotels for their location, focusing on luxury, grandeur, and their signature “heartfelt” hospitality. In Agra, for example, The Oberoi Amarvilas were built to give every guest front-row seats to India’s most famous attraction and only have guest rooms that overlook the Taj Mahal, while the other side of the hallway is lined with windows facing the front of the hotel. We planned to stay at several Oberois on our trip, so when the hotel group offered us the chance to stay exclusively with them, it was an easy “yes.” The properties, each unique with some distinctly Oberoi threads, acted as our home bases in the chaotic cities and more serene stops we added onto our Golden Triangle base path.

To help us finalize our route, we enlisted the help of Audley travel agency and, with our agent, Zac, we added onto the triangle with two nights in Udaipur, a more remote and calmer scenic destination, after our third stop on the triangle, Jaipur. Because my husband and I are animal lovers (and this was our adventure-moon, after all), we also decided to make a detour between Agra and Jaipur to Ranthambore National Park to see tigers during a jungle safari. As you devise the perfect customized India honeymoon, you could also enlist the Oberoi itself, as another couple we met along the way had done with their Exotic Vacations program. The service creates personalized itineraries lasting six nights or more and makes traveling throughout India simple, handling everything from room reservations and intercity transfers to destination and hotel experiences.

Because we couldn’t resist extending our trip if we could justify it, we squeezed in one final stop: flying from Udaipur to Mumbai, India’s largest (and most modern) city.

Here’s how it went.

Each property has iconic throughlines that are distinctly Oberoi, emphasizing Indian traditions and warm hospitality. The staff seemed genuinely excited to make our honeymoon special, too, adding romantic personal touches like extra room decorations and preparing thoughtful gestures ahead of our stays.

Guests are welcomed to every property, lavish in its own way, by a staff member who performs a gratitude ritual called Aarti, in which a candle on a tray is waved in a circle around us accompanied by the sentiment, “for your health, well-being, and happiness.” Live music and Rajasthani dance performances were common throughout our trip in the hotel lobbies, restaurants, and special outdoor experiences. Fresh, fragrant flowers are abundant at every Oberoi location, with daily refreshes of bouquets in your room on tables, nightstands, or bathroom counters, walls dripping with vibrant flora, and creative designs throughout the properties, from petals floating in bird feeders to images and messages spelled out (like “Welcome to the jungle” as you wander the Ranthambore grounds and “Goodnight” right outside your room in Jaipur). You can expect personal and thoughtful touches like this at each location within the overarching ethereal, otherworldly atmospheres, a level of attentiveness and warmth that helped buoy the hotel group to the top of one of Travel + Leisure’s recent reader-voted rankings of The 25 Best Hotel Brands in the World.

Pool areas from property to property have the same brightly colored, fringed sun umbrellas with gold designs, and many of the decks are designed with checkered tiles in alternating colors, mostly lighter and dark blues. Lighting is a meticulously curated detail at the Oberois, with each property using a mix of natural lighting — from open-air hallways, al-fresco bars, and huge windows with sunlight pouring in, to candlelit tables, imposing torches with dancing flames, and scattered lanterns glinting across the landscape.

For your convenience, each property also has a butler service you can dial any time of night or day, room service options, gyms with private or shared yoga classes, and spas with various treatments. The Oberois don’t allow gratuities to individual staffers, which takes the stress out of day-to-day travel because you don’t have to constantly think about the conversion rate and keep the right size bills on hand. You can take down the names of people who offer outstanding service and leave a note and tip for the entire staff at the end of your stay. The staff, across the board, from the greeters to the pool servers, were so genuinely helpful and caring — in some instances running over to us before we could lift a finger — that we ended up writing nearly every name down some days, a level of hospitality that aligns with a core pillar of the Oberoi brand’s service: Heart.Felt.

Stop 1: The Oberoi, New Delhi

A luxury business hotel ingrained in the hearts of locals.

Nestled right in the heart of bustling New Delhi, The Oberoi, New Delhi is an urban respite — and one of Travel + Leisure’s recommendations of the best places to stay in New Delhi. While you can’t wholly escape the noise of the bustling city (the hotel is right off a main road), you can see Delhi’s sites from removed bird’s-eye vantage points here that you won’t get on your walking tours.

Owned by the same family since 1965 (and reopened in 2018 after extensive renovations), the five-star luxury business hotel holds a lot of legacy in the city. The communications manager at the property fondly referred to the main all-day restaurant, 360°, as “Delhi’s drawing room,” a label that increasingly made sense the more we dined there. For everything from birthdays to business meetings, groups of well-dressed men and women gathered at large tables and chatted over relaxed lunches daily. The expansive restaurant, with glass walls overlooking the gardens and pool, is where you can see elements of daily life for residents. Included in your stay is the multifaceted breakfast buffet at 360°, with several large tables of global dishes based on region — Asian, Indian, international, etc. — and you can also order dishes off the menu, ranging from traditional Indian cuisine to Western-style eggs.

The other two restaurants, Dhilli and Baoshuan, may not have the same Delhi-specific nostalgia as 360°, but they’re both infused with history. The food at both is impressive, and they’re some of the best-rated restaurants in the entire city. Dhilli, which means “from the heart,” is the newest and offers upscale Indian cuisine covering seven regions (and the chef intends to add more). The chef started with a mission to create food inspired by his childhood memories from visiting his granny — just one example of the property infusing its offerings with sentiment showcasing both general and individual Indian heritage.

The second upscale restaurant, Baoshuan, is named after the big “Chinese treasure ships” from the early 15th century that would sail to India (and as far as East Africa) carrying valuables and provisions. Led by two Michelin-star chef Andrew Wong (of A. Wong in London), Baoshuan celebrates Chinese food throughout history and across many regions. Like the menu, the presentation is wide-ranging, too, with classic soup dumplings in steamer baskets to desserts arriving at your table in bowls overflowing with silky smoke.

There are two bars where you can enjoy pre- or post-meal drinks (or earlier, with The Club Bar first open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.). The stylish rooftop spot, Cirrus 9, is where you go to feel like you’re out on the town (even if all you had to do was hop in an elevator), enjoying specialty cocktails and delicious small plates that you could quickly fill up on (but don’t because you’ll want to save room for the restaurants). The first floor has The Club Bar, a cozy and intimate relaxing spot with a glass of Indri, India’s award-winning single malt whiskey. Attached to The Club Bar, which is right off the lobby, is the Cigar Lounge, full of Cuban cigars in humidor lockers.

If the weather is clear enough, you can see 35-40 monuments from the outdoor section of the rooftop bar, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site Humayun’s Tomb, one of India’s earliest examples of Mughal architecture. The hotel also overlooks a sprawling golf course, offering greenery against the urban density and historic monuments. The adorable, pastel-hued Patisserie offers an atmosphere akin to a European cafe for a mid-day treat or caffeine pick-me-up.

As the first Indian-owned luxury hotel in Delhi, the Oberoi, New Delhi, is as major an attraction as the monuments, courts, and markets it’s in close proximity to. It is embedded in the hearts of the locals as a first-of-its-kind and unrivaled establishment.

Stop 2: The Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra

Jaw-dropping views of the Taj Mahal in a one-of-a-kind setting.

Ranked 27th in the world this year, the 102-roomed Oberoi in Agra is a setting you’d expect only to find in a wanderlust-inducing romantic movie. Immediately upon entering, you come face-to-face with a clear view of the Taj Mahal in the near distance, framed by the big windows of the first-floor lounge. Guided outside the gold-domed lounge to the terrace, we sipped welcome drinks wearing plush marigold necklaces while gazing at not just one of India’s most legendary sites but also one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The environment is so magical that it feels fake, like the hotel’s backdrop must be a green screen — and the richly designed interiors, with marble inlay, jaali screens, and hand-woven tapestries, are just as dreamy. Reality sets in as you wander the opulent nine-acre property and see the incredible Mughal mausoleum from different vantage points. Every room at the hotel features a view of the Taj Mahal, and many have a balcony where you can enjoy the surrounding sights, the terraced lawn and tiled pavilions, and nightly dance performances as the sun sets.

The pool at Amarvilas has a bright blue floor that pops from above, and it extends from the outside deck to a covered area with high-columned archways, cozy couches, and a giant gold painting of the Indian god Ganesha. There’s a swanky bar right off the lobby with silk sofas, decorated with unobstructed views of the Taj Mahal, as well as two indoor restaurants downstairs, the all-day dining option Bellevue and Esphahan, which offers Indian specialty cuisine at two seating times accompanied by live santoor music.

In the evening, as a deep red sun set over the outside village rooftops, lights glimmered like lanterns, speckling the property in twinkling gold. Guests enjoyed the music and dance performance on a rooftop in front of the Taj Mahal from the pool deck and their room balconies as if we were all at a show in our own private boxes. After this, we headed down to Esphahan for dinner in an intimate space with traditional regional cuisine, including our first Rajasthani laal maas, a soft and juicy lamb dish that was perfectly crispy and smoked on the edges.

When we returned to our room, a white chocolate replica of the Taj Mahal awaited us — a deliciously sweet touch to cue us up for our visit to the renowned site the next day. A special activity you can add is having a private breakfast on one of the suite’s balconies overlooking the Taj Mahal, where we had our own buffet in a beautiful luxury suite surrounded by Indian art, hand-knotted rugs, and handcrafted furniture, as well as a santoor musician creating the perfect atmosphere. If you have a premier room with a balcony, you can also enjoy al fresco dining from your own space.

Stop 3: The Oberoi Vanyavilas Wildlife Resort, Ranthambhore

Where luxury meets ruggedness for an exciting introduction to elusive tigers.

If you’ve ever wondered what an old-fashioned British hunting lodge feels like, The Oberoi, Vanyavilas — India’s first luxury jungle resort — will let you play make-believe (in a much more animal-loving time of conservation and appreciation). Dotted with luxury tents lined on the inside with shimmery embroidered tigers, the Oberoi on the edge of Ranthambore National Park, also called Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, feels both untamed and expertly curated to give you the best experience possible. Although the staff at all Oberoi properties were extremely attentive, knowledgeable, and genuinely kind, Ranthambhore felt more like a community than a typical guest-employee dynamic. Everyone is as invested in your safari experience as you are, excitedly recounting different guests’ sightings that day and wanting to see your photos and videos. They know the tigers by name and leave you handwritten notes on photographs of the most famous big cats as if penned by the animals themselves, the night before a drive.

Unlike the other places we visited, Ranthambore doesn’t have city attractions to draw you off the property, but the on-site offerings are plentiful. Being there feels like attending an adult summer camp you’ve dreamt up, with expert guides who can lead you on nature walks, personal cooking classes, and educational talks at night on topics like biodiversity and the hidden lives of tigers. Nearly every day, Lakshmi — an elephant the property rescued from a circus — walks over with her caretaker to eat breakfast on site. She is very friendly, letting guests feed and hug her. I took an afternoon yoga session in the private garden, except for the gaggle of peacocks hovering next to me when I opened my eyes after savasana.

A highlight of the property is the Observation tower, which offers panoramic views of the surrounding area. You can book special experiences here, like a private dinner or stargazing, but it’s not the only option for such special moments. On our final morning, my husband and I had a private breakfast full of whimsy by the pond, with colorful metal figurines decorating the table, surrounded by floral displays on the lawn, and accompanied by our own musical performance.

The night before, we enjoyed a special dinner showcasing the best cuisine of the region called a “Royal Rajasthan Thali,” presented lovingly by the chef. The dinner featured nine dishes — including dishes we already knew, like laal maas and curries, as well as lesser-known local dishes like flour dumplings called masala baati and a vegetable rice dish called mangodi pulao — along with Indian breads followed by two different desserts.

Stop 4: The Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur

A folkloric estate that transports honeymooners to a bygone era.

You may recognize Jaipur from the film “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” or for its famous aesthetic cohesiveness, with most buildings made of light pink stone. Outside the formerly walled section of the city, same-size shop stalls line the streets. One of the most famous sights breaks up the uniformity: the eye-catching Hawa Mahal (also called the Palace of Winds), an ornate facade with 953 windows where women from the emperor’s harem would watch as he made his entrance into town.

Modeled after Mr. Oberoi’s private fort and in the same picturesque vein as its hometown, the Oberoi in Jaipur features much of the same grandeur as the city’s notable destinations, City Palace and Amber Fort, including high scalloped doorways, lattice-lined staircases, flaming mashaal torches, old armor mounted on the walls, miniature and gold-leaf paintings, and, of course, robust fortress walls in the same light pink color. The regal 18th-century styled property is like a portal to a make-believe world, letting you imagine what living in the Mughal era might have been like (for royalty and the very wealthy), especially as you learn more of the city’s history on tours. At Amer Fort, for example, our guide showed us the channels built through the Hall of Pleasure, opposite the much-photographed Hall of Mirrors, where staff would infuse water with natural scents that would then flow to giant curtains that would waft the floral notes throughout the palace. With bountiful flowers everywhere, the Oberoi is naturally fragrant in the same old-fashioned and elegant way.

At Rajvilas, we enjoyed a lot of privacy with a premier room with a private pool and canopied patio area, but the main pool deck is beautiful and fun as well, with stone statues, domed structures, colorful tiles, and friendly peacocks that walk up to your chairs to socialize and share your poolside snacks. In the room bathrooms, the recessed bathtubs are unique and luxurious, and we returned to our room to flower-filled drawn baths and personalized notes written with petals, like “Congratulations” when we arrived and “Goodnight” outside our door as we headed to sleep.

While you’ll likely spend time outside exploring Jaipur, the Oberoi Rajvilas has a lot to offer on its 32 acres, like tennis courts, an eight-hole golf course, expansive gardens, evening puppet shows, a slew of special experiences (like private meals, wine tastings, cooking classes, and high tea at Mr. Oberoi’s Naila fort) and two restaurants, Surya Mahal and Raj Mahal, and Rajwada Library Bar. We ate outside at the Indian specialty restaurant Raj Mahal, a popular dining spot for guests and outsiders alike (so be sure to make a reservation) in a courtyard with tree-lined edges glowing from firelight. This outdoor space operates from October to March. Like at the other Oberois, traditional music was performed by a small group of local musicians in the center of the space, adding even more texture to the cinematic dining experience.

In the 300-year-old restored Shiva temple at the center of the property across a short stone bridge, my husband and I had a brief but memorable Aarti blessing ceremony performed by a Hindu priest, with birds chirping outside as he sang, that ended with him applying a Bindi to our foreheads and tying yellow and red string bracelets onto our wrists that I’ve insisted we keep on until the fall off naturally (which they have not done as I write this a long way from Jaipur in Westchester, New York) because I love the sentimentalism.

In another restored historic building on the property, a 280-year-old haveli (or mansion) that’s now the on-site spa, we did an extensive treatment called the Rajput Romance of Rajvilas. This three-hour couples session featured Ayurvedic techniques and started with a foot cleansing ritual followed by a body scrub, massage, and facial in a large tranquil room with hand-painted murals.

Stop 5: The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur

A colorful, fairytale oasis nestled in a tranquil lakeside landscape with impressive mountain views.

Probably the most famous Oberoi properties in India, The Oberoi Udaivilas lived up to the hype. It’s an ethereal Mewar-inspired property in the City of Lakes, with a striking gold-leaf domed ceiling and chandelier over a marble fountain in the lobby as your first welcome point. To get to the guest quarters, you pass through a magical room covered in mosaic mirrors akin to the Hall of Mirrors in Jaipur’s Amber Fort. At night, a cluster of varied pillar candles flicker off the walls, dancing around the room as the only light in the space. Outside this is a dreamy expanse of landscaping, with a bronze sundial as the front centerpiece and stairs lined with carved-stone column torches extending behind and flanking either side of the checkered water channel. The entire property feels vibrant, overflowing with water and flowers with the blue checkered tiles — an Oberoi throughline — playing off the natural verdancy.

The hotel exterior is breathtaking and surreal, with sandy-hued domes of different sizes and castle-style turrets dotting the bright blue sky. Built on a hill, the dreamy property offers several sweeping views from different vantage points, and the sound of trickling water throughout adds to the soothing, relaxed atmosphere as you explore the 30 acres and discover hidden seating nooks from cozy corners inside with oversized chairs and benches scattered throughout the lush gardens. I felt like I was in “Aladdin” wandering the stately grounds, with romantic stone-columned archways lining the outdoor corridors and bowls with floating flowers around so many corners and walls dripping in flowers, covered in fluffy bushels of fuschia.

There are two public pool areas here, one at the center of the hotel with a perimeter of black and white squares and another outside the spa, in front of a view of the nearby Aravalli Hills and Lake Pichola. While this pool has a simpler design, the reflections of the buildings and poolside cabana structures make it as photogenic as the Oberoi’s other pool decks. We were lucky to have a room with access to the semi-private mote-like pool that overlooks the front of the property, with views down to the waterfront restaurant and bar and, more importantly, Lake Piccola. This pool isn’t temperature-controlled, so it was a bit too cold to swim in, but we enjoyed morning coffees and sunsets from the private deck.

A highlight of our stay was the private dinner we enjoyed at the secluded Lakeside Pavilion at the banks of Lake Pichola, which was draped in lightweight tapestries that billowed in the evening wind and was lit up by a perimeter of tealights integrated into floral designs featuring bright orange and yellow and deep pink flowers, warmed by fiery heat lamps. The experience was one-of-a-kind, made even more special by the attentive staff, who were quick to bring over champagne when we sat, and our private performance of traditional wooden flute music. Another evening, we did a private sunset boat ride on Lake Piccola, a special experience I highly recommend, with an expert guide who steered us to the best spots with the clearest views of the dwindling sun, and we were greeted upon return with two glasses of champagne to enjoy lakeside.

For other dining options, the all-day Suryamahal has indoor space and a large deck section called Chandni, where you can sit under canopies if the sun is intense or for the ambiance it provides at nighttime. During dinner service, Chandni presents live music alongside sweeping views of City Palace on the other side of Lake Pichola. There’s also Udaimahal, the fine-dining restaurant, and The Bar off the lobby, which is open until midnight daily.

Stop 6: The Oberoi, Mumbai

A classic high-end hotel for a dose of contemporary comfort.

Located on Marine Drive, The Oberoi in Mumbai is in a prime spot for exploring the city on foot. Walking into the hotel after our nearly two-week journey through Rajasthan, we were immediately struck by the modern and sophisticated urban feel that contrasted with the previous properties’ more rural and traditional styles, which infused history and local culture into the architecture and design. This hotel is more what a Westerner is likely accustomed to, with plenty of versatile dining options (also because it’s attached to the adjoining Trident Hotel through a passageway of shops).

The chic Eau bar, with indoor and outdoor bars and seating, is one of the best spots in the city to grab happy hour and watch the sunset over the bay that leads into the Arabian Sea, which you’ll also have a front-row seat to if your room faces the oceanfront thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows. The bar’s live band performs contemporary music in the evenings, including songs you’ll recognize.

In the Oberoi, there are three restaurants — all-day Fenix with a comprehensive menu across cuisines; Vetro, an Italian restaurant that operates in tandem with the wine library Enoteca; and Ziya  — as well as a lobby bar with drinks and light bites. Ziya is fantastic, with modern Indian menus by Vineet Bhatia, the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star. The food is exceptional, the plating and presentation are artistic, and the view of the glass-enclosed show kitchen allows you to watch in real-time as your Indian bread bakes on charcoal tandoors. This is a dining experience not to be missed, whether you’re staying on-site or not, and was an excellent way to end our romantically adventurous, luxurious-yet-wild honeymoon.