The Best Hotels Near Dharana at Shillim - A Luxury Wellness Retreat, by the Record
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A Brooklyn architecture firm designed the low-slung stone villas here to disappear into a forested Western Ghats mountainside, and they very nearly do. This all-villa wellness resort outside Pune runs a genuinely deep Ayurvedic spa program alongside cooking classes, pottery, and language lessons, so there's plenty to fill the days between soaks. The villas start large and get larger, each with indoor and outdoor showers.
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Damask wallpaper, tufted upholstery, and chandeliers are what you get when a Ritz-Carlton opens beside a historic golf course in the middle of Pune. The 198 rooms look out over either the fairways or the city skyline, and the 18th floor Club Lounge keeps things residential. The food options are unusually broad for a hotel, running from around-the-clock Indian, Asian, and Western to a modern Japanese restaurant, with a rooftop bar to cap it all off.
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The Florentine red dome and latticework facade overlooking the Gateway of India make the Taj Mahal Palace unmistakable from the harbor. It's a grand luxury hotel with two personalities: the Heritage Wing runs to four-poster beds, onyx columns, and hand-knotted carpets, while the Tower Wing goes sleek and modern with Arabian Sea views. Ranked 38th on the World's 50 Best Hotels list, it's been hosting royalty and film stars for as long as anyone can remember.
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At the tip of Marine Drive, where the Queen's Necklace curves into the Arabian Sea, this luxury hotel earns its Nariman Point address. Nearly 300 rooms keep things spare and tall-ceilinged, the air carrying a faint scent of vetiver, and the views at night, when the promenade lights up in a long arc, make the city feel curated rather than chaotic. A Forbes Four Star property, and a convincing argument for South Mumbai over the northern neighborhoods.
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Every room faces the Arabian Sea, and at night the Queen's Necklace, that C-shaped arc of promenade lights, curves below your window. This is a luxury hotel on Marine Drive, the art deco seafront that South Mumbai was built to show off. The Dome rooftop bar draws its own crowd, and Wankhede Stadium, where cricket reaches a fever pitch, is a short walk away.
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The architect supposedly arrived by boat after construction finished, saw the hotel had been built facing the wrong way, and threw himself overboard. Whether that's apocryphal or not, the "back" of this grand heritage hotel now faces the harbor, meaning more rooms catch the view. The Heritage Wing has the history and the personality; the Tower Wing is newer and considerably calmer. Five restaurants, three bars, and a Michelin Key.
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Silk pillow covers stitched from old saris, Art Deco antiques picked off local market floors, teak boards salvaged from demolished buildings: the boutique hotel in this colonial Colaba address wears its nostalgia as decor rather than theme. Rooms are simple and comfortable, a few share baths, and breakfast comes with masala chai. The library photographs beautifully, which the guests seem aware of.