Taj Connemara, Chennai

The Raj-era bones of this Chennai landmark carry the fingerprints of Sri Lankan modernist Geoffrey Bawa, and a recent renovation kept the ornate character intact rather than sanding it smooth. It's a full-service luxury hotel where business travelers and Chennai's social circuit quietly overlap, the lobby always suggesting a slightly more glamorous errand than the one you're actually running. Dining spans the Raintree and the Anglo-Indian Verandah, with the Lady Connemara Bar for after.