How we chose this list
Restored, not renovated: we look for lime plaster, original murals and old doors kept in use, rather than tiles and false ceilings over everything.
A kitchen with a voice: in a haveli, dinner is half the reason to stay. We favour houses that cook their own family recipes.
- Our test
- Would we send our own cousins?
- We look at
- Restoration, kitchen, family, the lane outside
- We avoid
- Tired rooms and commission-driven owners
- We never
- Book a haveli room blind
- Owners who care: the best havelis have a family member nearby who knows every room and every story.
- The lane outside: we walk the approach ourselves. A wonderful house at the end of a difficult lane needs a warning.
- Honesty about the trade-off: we tell you what each house lacks as clearly as what it offers.
- What a haveli is: our journal on what a haveli is explains the courtyards, the zenana and the jharokhas, and our heritage havelis page covers the history.
- Prices are not here: we never publish rates. Haveli prices change by season and room, and we quote after one conversation about your whole journey.
Inside and beside Jaipur's pink walls
Samode Haveli
The house: the townhouse of the Rawals of Samode, nobles of the Jaipur court, built by Rawal Sheo Singh in the nineteenth century and still run by the family.
Where: Gangapole, in the north-east of the walled city. You enter from a busy lane into a quiet courtyard with a garden and pool.
- Why we love it: painted rooms, a dining room covered in murals and the feeling of living inside the old city rather than visiting it.
- Who it suits: couples and walkers who don't mind a little street life at the gate.
- Pair it with: a night at the family's country seat, Samode Palace, an hour into the hills.
The Raj Palace
The house: despite the name, a noble's mansion, dated by the family to 1727 and built for the Thakurs of Chomu, nobles of the Jaipur court.
- Its revival: restoration began in 1995, and it opened as a heritage hotel in the late 1990s.
- Why we love it: gilded and mirrored interiors, rich enough to stop conversations, and a position just north of the walled city towards Amer.
- Who it suits: lovers of opulence, and anyone who wants a quick start to Amber Fort at dawn.
Smaller family havelis
- What they are: several family-run heritage houses within and just outside the walls, simpler than the two above and often with rooftop views of Nahargarh.
- Our caution: some are lovely and some are tired, and quality changes with each generation. We suggest only those we have stayed in recently.
Red stone in Jodhpur and Bikaner
RAAS Jodhpur
The house: eighteenth-century haveli buildings of red sandstone, restored and joined by crisp new wings around a courtyard and pool. It opened as a hotel around 2010.
- Where: directly below the walls of Mehrangarh, with most rooms looking up at the fort.
- Why we love it: the old city at your door and the comfort of a modern hotel. Toorji ka Jhalra and the clock tower are minutes away on foot.
- Who it suits: travellers who want the old city without giving up polish.
Pal Haveli, Jodhpur
The house: the townhouse of the Pal family near the clock tower, now one of the best known of the city's small noble havelis.
- Why we love it: courtyard rooms, painted walls and a rooftop restaurant facing the fort, often with the owners at home.
- The trade-off: steeper stairs and simpler rooms than the palaces. Our guide to luxury hotels in Jodhpur compares them.
Bhanwar Niwas, Bikaner
The house: a mansion of the Rampuria family, Jain merchants whose fortune was made in Calcutta, completed in 1927 for Seth Bhanwarlal Rampuria and made a heritage hotel in the 1990s.
- Why we love it: rose sandstone carving and gold-leaf painting mixed with the European tastes of the 1920s, from marble stairs to tiled floors.
- Who it suits: couples, solo travellers and anyone curious about the merchants of the desert. Less suited to those who want a pool or a garden.
- Around it: the red sandstone lanes of the old city, explained in our Bikaner guide.
Jaisalmer, and why we sleep below the fort
Nachana Haveli: a centuries-old courtyard house of a branch of the Bhati family, a short walk from the fort, with a rooftop over the golden old town. It is intimate rather than grand, without a pool or spa.
Who it suits: couples and solo travellers who want to walk everywhere and come home to a house rather than a hotel.
- Why not inside the fort: Jaisalmer Fort is a living town on soft rock. Water used by hotels seeps into the hill and weakens it, and parts of the walls have collapsed. We spend our days inside and our nights below.
- The great havelis to visit: Patwon ki Haveli and Salim Singh ki Haveli, best in the early morning light.
- For space as well: pair a town haveli with a night at Suryagarh on the Sam road, or in a desert camp.
- Compare them: our guide to luxury hotels in Jaisalmer.
Shekhawati, where you sleep inside the paintings
Castle Mandawa
- The house: not a haveli but the fort at the heart of Mandawa, built in 1755 by Thakur Nawal Singh and opened to guests around 1980.
- Why we love it: the most comfortable base in town, with the painted lanes beginning at its gate. We often pair it with a night in a true haveli.
Hotel Mandawa Haveli
- The house: a merchant's house of 1890 inside Mandawa, with paintings across two floors around its courtyard and a rooftop restaurant over the lanes.
- The trade-off: simpler rooms than the castle, but the real experience of sleeping in a painted mansion.
Vivaana, Churi Ajitgarh
- The house: a nineteenth-century haveli in a village a short drive from Mandawa, restored as a culture hotel with painted rooms, a pool and a spa.
- Who it suits: guests who want more calm and polish than the town offers.
Haveli Nadine Le Prince, Fatehpur
- The house: one of the most beautifully painted havelis in the region, restored by the French artist Nadine Le Prince, who keeps a few guest rooms.
- Why we love it: waking inside the frescoes is rare anywhere in India. Book well ahead. See Fatehpur.
Koolwal Kothi and Roop Niwas Kothi, Nawalgarh
- The houses: Koolwal Kothi, a 1930s mansion still owned by its family in the middle of the painted lanes, and Roop Niwas Kothi, a country house in gardens just outside town, known for its Marwari horses.
- Why we love them: a good base for Nawalgarh and its haveli museums, and for riding.
Malji ka Kamra, Churu
- The house: a merchant's pleasure house of the 1920s in Churu, all stucco, columns and frescoes, now a small heritage hotel.
- Who it suits: guests heading on to the blackbuck of Tal Chhapar or into the desert.
Bundi, the haveli town
Bundi Vilas
The house: a restored haveli set against the walls of the Garh Palace, finished with a light, contemporary hand in limewash and local stone.
- Why we love it: it shows how beautifully an old house can be made comfortable without losing its soul.
- Who it suits: couples and design lovers who don't mind steps. It has very few rooms and fills quickly.
Haveli Braj Bhushanjee
The house: the most established heritage stay in Bundi, a family haveli of around two centuries just below the palace, full of old murals and miniature paintings.
- Why we love it: a vegetarian kitchen that cooks proper Hadoti food, and a family who know the town's history intimately.
- Our advice: rooms differ a great deal, so ask us for one with a palace view.
On the ghats: Udaipur, Pushkar and Varanasi
Udaipur: around Lal Ghat and Gangaur Ghat, and across the water at Hanuman Ghat and Ambrai, old havelis have become small hotels with jharokhas over Lake Pichola.
Pushkar: merchants' and priests' houses around the holy lake take guests. Many are vegetarian and alcohol-free, in keeping with the town.
- The honest note: ghat havelis vary from carefully restored family homes to guest houses with a view and little else. We use only the ones we know.
- Varanasi: BrijRama Palace, completed in 1812 by a minister of the Maratha state of Nagpur and owned by the Darbhanga royal family from 1915, is the most polished stay on the river.
- Every ghat house: steps, lanes, and arrival on foot or by boat. Pack light.
- Compare: our guides to luxury hotels in Udaipur and Pushkar.
Which haveli for which traveller
Couples: a rooftop dinner in Bundi or Jaisalmer, with a lit fort above you, is as romantic as Rajasthan gets.
Solo travellers: small family havelis, where the owner sits with you at dinner and conversation comes easily.
- First visit to Jaipur
- Samode Haveli
- Polish with a fort view
- RAAS Jodhpur
- Merchant history
- Bhanwar Niwas
- Fresco lovers
- Shekhawati, especially Fatehpur and Mandawa
- Design lovers
- Bundi Vilas
- Photographers: Shekhawati at dawn and dusk, when the light falls low across the painted walls.
- Families with older children: houses with roofs and staircases to explore, such as Samode Haveli or Castle Mandawa.
- Families with toddlers: usually not a haveli. Open terraces and steep stairs are a worry, so we choose a palace or a modern hotel nearby.
- Guests with limited mobility: RAAS Jodhpur or Castle Mandawa rather than a tall townhouse. Our accessible travel guide explains.
What a haveli gives you, and what it doesn't
Stairs: steep and narrow, rarely with a lift. Tell us if anyone is unsteady.
Arrival on foot: cars often cannot reach the door in an old city. Your luggage is carried for the last few minutes.
- Rooms vary: in size, light and outlook. Some are small and dim, which is exactly what they were built to be in May.
- Pools: often none, or small and shaded by courtyard walls.
- Lively lanes: temple bells, wedding bands and the call to prayer. Most guests come to love it.
- Food: home-style from a family kitchen, and often the best of the journey.
- Service: personal rather than polished. The cook may ask what you would like tomorrow.
How to enjoy a haveli night
Ask for the house tour: many owners will walk you through the old rooms, the family shrine and the photographs. It is often the best hour of the stay.
Eat on the roof: at least one dinner, and one breakfast if the weather is kind.
- Cook with the family: ask for a lesson in the kitchen. Our haveli cooking class page explains how we arrange it.
- Walk at dawn: the lane outside is never more beautiful than at first light, as the shutters lift and the chai stalls open.
- Bring a warm layer: thick walls that keep out summer heat also hold the winter chill. Good houses provide heaters and a Jaipur razai, a light cotton quilt.
- Learn the words: chowk is the courtyard, jharokha the screened balcony, baithak the sitting room where the master received guests.
Before you book a haveli
Which room: ask about its view, its stairs, its bathroom and its noise. A room off the main courtyard usually has the most painting, an upper corner room the best light.
How you arrive: ask whether the car reaches the door, and how far you will walk with your bags carried behind you.
- Book ahead
- Two to six months for winter
- Busiest weeks
- Diwali, Christmas, New Year
- Wedding season
- Roughly November to February
- Cold nights
- December and January
- What's on: a wedding in a small haveli can fill every room and every courtyard. We always check.
- The kitchen: ask what the family cooks, and whether it is vegetarian, before you plan your evenings.
- The weather: in winter, check for heaters and quilts. In April and May, check the cooling, because thick walls only do so much.
- Our packing list: a torch for dark lanes, soft shoes for stone stairs and a shawl for the roof. See our packing guide.
Fitting havelis into a journey
One ingredient of several: two nights in a Jaipur palace, one in a Bikaner haveli, one in a desert camp and two in a Marwar fort gives you four different Rajasthans in a week.
Longer in the painted towns: in Shekhawati and Bundi, where the havelis are the reason to come, stay two or three nights.
- Our haveli journeys: the heritage havelis trail runs from Jaipur through Shekhawati to Bikaner, and the painted towns of Shekhawati stays longer among the frescoes.
- Other styles: our palace hotels and heritage hotels explained cover the grander houses.
- The painting itself: our page on the painted havelis explains what you are looking at on the walls.