What staying with a family really means
A home with guest rooms: in many forts the family lives in one part and the rest has been restored, room by room, for guests.
Royal and noble: a few are former ruling houses, such as Dungarpur at Udai Bilas Palace. Most are noble families who once held an estate under a ruler.
- Who lives there
- Often the family, in a wing or upper floor
- Who runs it
- The family, sometimes with a hotel partner
- Size
- Usually small and personal
- Feel
- A home first, a hotel second
- Who you meet: a family member may greet you, join guests for drinks, or tell the story of a portrait on the stairs, when they are at home.
- What it is not: a performance. The family has jobs, children and lives. Some evenings they are there, some they are away.
- Why it moves people: you are not visiting history. You are sleeping in it, eating its recipes and hearing it from the people it belongs to.
- The background: our journals on royal families today and rawla and thikana explained tell how these houses came to take guests.
A stay, from arrival to farewell
Arrival, late afternoon
The gate: a drum, a garland or a sprinkle of rose water at the door, depending on the house. In the villages, children come out to watch the car.
- The welcome drink: often in a courtyard, with the light going gold on the walls.
- The room: no two alike. Guests are usually shown round before they unpack, and that tour is half the pleasure.
Dusk, drinks with the house
Where: a terrace, a rampart or a courtyard with a fire in winter.
- Who: other guests and, often, a family member who asks where you have come from and where you are going.
- What to ask: about the fort, the village, the horses, the paintings. Families love these questions.
Dinner, the family kitchen
The food: home recipes, often the best of your journey. Many houses cook the family's own versions of laal maas, ker sangri and dal baati.
- The setting: a courtyard, a rooftop or by a lamplit stepwell, with a musician sometimes playing nearby.
- The pace: slow. Dinners run late, and nobody hurries you.
Dawn, the estate
Riding: at houses with stables, a dawn ride across the fields on a Marwari horse.
- Village drives: at others, a jeep out to herders, potters and weavers, with tea at a farmhouse.
- Or nothing: coffee on the rampart, watching the village wake. That counts too.
The farewell
- A goodbye at the gate: staff often line up to see you off. A thank-you in person matters more than you expect.
- Tipping: usually a single amount for the staff, given to the manager or family. Our money and tipping guide explains.
The family forts of Marwar
Rohet Garh
The family: Rathores who have held Rohet since 1622, when the estate was granted to Thakur Dalpat Singh. They opened the fort to guests in 1990.
- Known for: Marwari horses, village drives among the Bishnoi, home cooking and the desk where Bruce Chatwin worked on The Songlines.
- Where: beside a lake, about 40 kilometres south of Jodhpur.
Mihir Garh
- The family: built by the Rohet family and opened around 2009, a fort-style retreat in open country.
- Known for: very spacious suites, riding and silence. It suits couples who want privacy more than history.
Chandelao Garh
- The family: Kumpawat Rathores, whose fort was built in 1744 and opened to guests in the mid-1990s.
- Known for: simplicity and closeness to village life, with walks to craftspeople and Marwari home cooking.
Khimsar Fort
- The family: Karamsot Rathores, descended from Rao Karamsji, a son of Jodhpur's founder, who began the fort in 1523. The family still lives there.
- Known for: a larger, more resort-like stay, run with ITC's Welcomhotel brand, with dunes nearby.
Ajit Bhawan, in Jodhpur itself
- The family: built in the 1920s for Maharaj Ajit Singh, a younger brother of Maharaja Umaid Singh, and still family-run.
- Known for: being one of India's first heritage hotels, with gardens and conversation at dinner.
The family palaces of Mewar and the south
Deogarh Mahal
The family: the Rawats of Deogarh, a Chundawat house and one of the sixteen leading noble families of Mewar. The family dates the palace to 1670.
- Known for: painted rooms, terraces over the town and the Deogarh school of miniature painting.
- Where: about three hours north of Udaipur.
Rawla Narlai
- The house: a seventeenth-century hunting lodge of the Jodhpur royal family in the village of Narlai, opened as a hotel in the mid-1990s by the family behind Ajit Bhawan.
- Known for: the granite elephant hill above the village, horses and dinners by a lamplit stepwell.
Castle Bijaipur
- The family: a Mewar noble family, who opened their sixteenth-century castle near Chittorgarh to guests in 1991.
- Known for: a courtyard garden, low hills behind and a deep, colourful calm.
Udai Bilas Palace, Dungarpur
- The family: the former royal house of Dungarpur, who still live in the palace on the shore of Gaib Sagar.
- Known for: carved pavilions, birds on the lake and the painted Juna Mahal nearby. A favourite of art lovers and repeat visitors.
Near Jaipur and in Shekhawati
Samode Palace: a sixteenth-century fort made a palace in the nineteenth century, with a painted Durbar Hall and Sheesh Mahal. The Samode family opened it in 1987 and still runs it.
Samode Haveli: the same family's townhouse inside the walled city of Jaipur, with painted rooms and a garden pool.
- Castle Mandawa: built by Thakur Nawal Singh in 1755 and opened to guests around 1980, one of the first heritage hotels in Rajasthan.
- Alsisar: the fort at Alsisar in Shekhawati was restored as a hotel in 2006.
- Pairing them: two nights at Samode Haveli and one at Samode Palace shows the same family's town and country lives side by side.
How to choose the right house
Horses: choose a house with stables and riding at dawn. Our page on Marwari horse safaris explains the levels.
Painting and craft: choose a house with a tradition of patronage, where the family can introduce painters or weavers.
- Riders
- Rohet Garh, Mihir Garh, Rawla Narlai
- Art lovers
- Deogarh Mahal, Samode, Udai Bilas
- Village life
- Chandelao Garh, Rohet Garh
- Pure calm
- Castle Bijaipur, Mihir Garh
- Families
- Khimsar Fort, Samode Palace
- Wildlife: blackbuck and birds around the Marwar forts, leopards near Narlai and Jawai.
- Romance: a small house with a terrace dinner and few other guests.
- Mobility: some houses have steep stairs and no lifts. Tell us, and we choose the house and room accordingly.
- Journey shape: a family fort between two cities turns a long drive into two easy halves.
How to be a good house guest
Greet with khamma ghani: folded hands and a slight bow, for family and staff alike.
Titles: if you are introduced to a senior member of the family, a polite Thakur Sahib, Rawat Sahib or Rani Sahiba is always safe. Follow their lead.
- Stand for elders: if the head of the family or an elder enters, stand.
- Dress for dinner: something smart, as you would for a friend's family celebration. Guests tend to dress up a little for drinks.
- Shoes off at the shrine: every fort has a family temple. Don't photograph the deity without asking, and don't touch offerings.
- Ask, don't pry: the house, the land and the old court are welcome topics. Money, disputes and politics are not.
- Photographs: never of family members, private rooms or children without permission.
- Be on time: for anything arranged with the family. They are hosts, not staff.
What a family fort gives you, and what it doesn't
Rooms differ hugely: in size, light and outlook. We never book a room blind, and we tell you which ones we would choose.
Stairs and thresholds: old forts have steep stairs, low doors and uneven floors.
- Simple facilities: a pool, a garden and a terrace, often no big spa or gym.
- Family time: service is personal rather than polished. Breakfast may be slow, and dinner may wait for the family.
- Village sounds: temple bells, peacocks, wedding bands and the call of the cowherd at dawn. Most guests come to love them.
- Cold nights: thick walls hold the winter chill. Good houses provide heaters and heavy quilts, but pack a warm layer.
- In return: history in the first person, food cooked as a family cooks it, and a welcome no chain hotel can give.
The food of the family kitchen
Recipes with a pedigree: many houses cook dishes handed down through the women of the family, written in old notebooks or never written at all.
Laal maas: the fiery mutton curry of the Rajput hunting table, coloured red with Mathania chillies. Every family insists theirs is the original.
- Safed maas: its gentle opposite, a white curry of mutton with cream, nuts and yoghurt, from the court kitchens.
- Ker sangri: desert berries and beans, cooked with spices and oil. Our journal on ker sangri explains why it matters.
- Dal baati churma: baked wheat balls with lentils and a sweet crumble, the dish of every Rajasthani celebration.
- Vegetarian houses: some families, especially in temple country, cook only vegetarian food, and it is just as rich.
- A cooking lesson: many kitchens will let you watch or help. Our page on the haveli cooking class explains how we arrange it.
What most guests miss
The family shrine at dawn: in many forts the household prayers are said early, with bells and incense. Ask if you may watch from the door.
The stepwell or the tank: most estates were built around water. Ask to see the old well or the lake and how it was managed.
- The village school: many families support a school or clinic. A visit, arranged through the family, is often the most moving hour of the stay.
- The old photographs: albums of hunts, weddings and polo matches, often kept in a study. Ask politely, and you may be shown them.
- The roof at night: village forts have dark skies. In winter the stars are extraordinary.
- The staff's stories: many staff come from families who have served the house for generations. Their memories are as rich as the family's.
When to go, and what to pack
October and November: fields still green from the rains, warm days and the first fires at dinner.
December to February: cold nights and bright days. Bring a warm layer for the ramparts and the roof.
- Best months
- October to March
- Coldest nights
- December and January
- Monsoon
- July to September, green and quiet
- Avoid
- May and June, for heat
- March: mustard harvests, Holi in the villages and the last comfortable evenings outdoors.
- The monsoon: some houses stay open, with lakes filling and few other guests. Ask us which ones.
- Pack: one smart outfit for drinks, flat shoes for stairs and ramparts, a shawl, a torch for village walks and riding boots if you ride.
- Bring a small gift: not expected, but a thoughtful gift from your home town is always warmly received by a host family. See our packing guide.
Bringing children
What they love: stables, secret staircases, the village children, kite-flying on the roof in winter and dinner under the stars.
What to watch: open terraces, low parapets and steep steps. Keep small children close.
- Which houses: larger houses with gardens and pools, such as Khimsar or Samode, suit young families best.
- Riding: gentle ponies at a walk, with a groom alongside and a proper helmet.
- More: our guide to travelling with children and our family journeys.
Building family stays into a journey
A week of old families
Jaipur: two nights, with the City Palace and tea at Rambagh Palace.
- Samode: one night in the painted palace in the hills.
- Rohet: two nights, with horses at dawn and Bishnoi villages.
- Deogarh and Udaipur: a night above the painted town, then the lake.
Our journeys built around them
Village Rajasthan: strings together the garhs and rawlas of Marwar and Mewar.
- The Royal Rajputana: the great capitals, with family forts between them.
- The heritage havelis trail: the merchant and noble houses of Jaipur, Shekhawati and Bikaner.
Who will love it, and who won't
History lovers: hearing a family tell the story of its own house, under the portraits of the people in it, is history in the first person.
Slow travellers: two nights in a family fort give time for conversations that cannot be hurried.
- Couples: a small house with a terrace dinner has an intimacy no large hotel can match.
- Riders and walkers: the estates are made for exploring on horseback or on foot.
- Less suited: travellers who want a big spa, a gym, a lift and identical rooms, or who find stairs difficult.
- Our answer for them: a grand palace hotel such as Umaid Bhawan Palace, with a family fort visited for lunch instead of a night.
What we promise, and what we don't
We promise: the right house, the right room, a fair price for everyone involved and a planner who has stayed there recently.
We don't promise: a meeting with any particular person, a private dinner with the family or a photograph with them.
- We never stage: costumed royalty, invented titles or fake village scenes.
- We never discuss: family disputes, inheritance or private lives, with guests or anyone else.
- The respectful way: our page on meeting Rajasthan's royal families explains our approach in full, and our palace hotels guide compares the grander houses.