A new palace with a new name
Its first life: the building began as the JW Marriott Jaipur Resort and Spa, a palace-style resort on the highway north of the city.
2020: that arrangement ended, and The Leela group signed on to manage the property with its owners.
February 2021: after a refurbishment and upgrade, it reopened as The Leela Palace Jaipur, the group's first hotel in the city.
- Built as
- JW Marriott Jaipur Resort and Spa
- Leela since
- Management signed 2020
- Reopened
- February 2021, as The Leela Palace
- Royal past
- None, palace style from the start
- Setting
- Delhi-Jaipur highway, beyond Amer
- Good for
- Families, celebrations, Amer
- What palace means here: unlike Rambagh Palace or Jai Mahal Palace, no maharaja ever lived here, and the building has no royal past.
- A newer tradition: Indian hotels built in palace style from the start, with domes, arches and courtyards designed for guests rather than courts. Our guide to palace hotels explains why both kinds have their place.
- The Leela group: founded in 1986 with a hotel in Mumbai, and known for very grand properties and attentive, warm service.
- Brookfield: the investment firm acquired the group in 2019 and has since expanded it.
- The family of hotels: the Jaipur hotel sits alongside The Leela Palace Udaipur on Lake Pichola and The Leela Palace New Delhi. Many of our guests stay in all three on one journey.
- How we see it: a confident, generous modern resort, well placed for Amer, and easy for families and celebrations. We don't sell it as history, and we don't think it needs to be.
On the road north, close to Amer
Where it stands: in its own gardens on the Delhi-Jaipur highway, north of the city and beyond Amer.
Amber Fort, close: a short drive, which matters more than most expect. The fort is at its best in the first hour after the gates open, and from here there is no pre-dawn crawl through city traffic.
- Amber Fort
- A short drive
- Walled city
- Forty-five minutes to an hour
- Also close
- Jaigarh and Nahargarh
- Around it
- The low, rocky Aravalli hills
- The ridge forts: Jaigarh and Nahargarh are on this side of the city too.
- On the Delhi road: guests driving from the capital check in without crossing Jaipur, and guests leaving for Delhi or Shekhawati start on the right side of town.
- The trade-off: Hawa Mahal, the City Palace and the bazaars are perhaps forty-five minutes to an hour away, longer in the evening rush.
- If the old lanes matter most: a hotel inside or beside the walls will serve you better for dawn and dusk walks, and we often suggest a split stay.
- If your days centre on Amer: with the hills and a few well-planned trips into town, the Leela works very well.
- Inside the gates: the highway disappears. Lawns and gardens, buildings set around courtyards and views to the hills make it much quieter than its address suggests.
What staying here is like
A palatial scale: grand public spaces, arcaded corridors, courtyards with fountains and gardens, and a large pool with the hills behind it.
Rajasthani motifs: arches, jharokha-style windows and painted and inlaid details. It is designed to feel festive and generous, and it does.
- Where you sleep: rooms in the main buildings, larger suites, and separate villa-style buildings in the gardens, some with their own outdoor space.
- No 'best room': we won't quote category names, because what suits a honeymoon couple and a family of five are very different things.
- How we choose: by what matters to you: closeness to the pool for children, distance from the event lawns for light sleepers, or a garden outlook for a quiet stay.
- The service: warm and attentive, a little more effusive than the cool polish of some other luxury groups. Many guests love it for that.
- Calm with a crowd: staff are used to large families and celebrations, and cope with grandparents, toddlers and late arrivals at once.
- Modern comfort: large bathrooms, quiet rooms, lifts and level paths, and none of the thresholds, stairs and odd-shaped rooms of an old palace. In the hot months that is a real advantage.
Reading a palace built in palace style
The vocabulary
Jharokha: the overhanging, enclosed and carved balcony window, from which royal women could look out without being seen.
Chhatri: the small domed pavilion on slim pillars, used on rooftops and over royal cenotaphs.
- Jaali: the pierced stone screen that filters light and breeze.
- The cusped arch: scalloped with a row of small curves, it came to Rajasthan with Mughal taste.
- Once you know them: you will see them on every building from Hawa Mahal to your hotel's corridor.
Why the old forms existed
Climate first: thick walls kept rooms cool, courtyards drew air through the building, water channels cooled the gardens and screens kept the hard light out.
- What changes in a new building: modern palace-style hotels keep the forms and add air conditioning, so the forms become decoration more than engineering.
- Not a criticism: it simply explains why an old palace feels cool and dim in May, and a new one bright and even.
See the real thing, then come home
The morning: stand in the Sheesh Mahal at Amber and look at the mirror work and the cusped arches.
- The afternoon: look again at the arches over the hotel pool.
- Read more: our guide to reading Rajasthani architecture explains the vocabulary, and our page on forts and palaces describes the private visits we arrange.
Eating at the Leela
Where to eat: an all-day restaurant, a speciality Indian dining room and a bar, plus meals by the pool and in the gardens.
Names change: restaurant names and concepts change, so we confirm what is open when you travel.
Laal maas: the Rajput mutton curry in a fiery red chilli sauce.
- A vegetarian thali: dal baati churma, gatte ki sabzi and ker sangri, the dried desert berries and beans that taste of the Thar.
- In winter: bajre ki roti, millet bread eaten with white butter and jaggery.
- At breakfast: pyaaz kachori, the spiced onion pastry that Jaipur loves.
- Private dinners: in the gardens or by the pool, sometimes with folk musicians. Our page on a private dinner in a palace describes the nights we plan.
- Near Amer: dinner at one of the restaurants near the fort, after an evening there, makes a good night out without a long drive home.
- In the old city: read our food of Jaipur guide for street food and the great breakfast institutions, and keep one meal for the walled city.
The spa, the pool and the slow afternoons
The spa: a full spa with Indian and international therapies. Menus change, so we won't list them.
What we recommend: Ayurvedic oil massage, after a morning climbing the ramparts at Amer. Ask the spa team what suits your stay.
- Spa
- Indian and international therapies
- Also
- Fitness centre and a large pool
- Book
- On your first day
- Pool hours that matter
- Noon to five in the hot months
- The pool: one of the hotel's best features, large and open, with the hills behind it.
- Who uses it: children love it, and adults on a long journey are often happy to spend a whole afternoon beside it.
- In the hot months: between noon and five, it is the only sensible place to be.
- Our usual rhythm: out early to Amer or Jaigarh, back for lunch, the pool or the spa, then out for a sunset at Nahargarh or the old city as the lights come on.
- Read more: our page on spas and Ayurveda explains the therapies.
What to do from the Leela
Amber Fort at opening time
- Beat the buses: reach the fort as the gates open and walk the courtyards before the tour buses arrive.
- How we go up: we walk or drive guests up, and we don't book elephant rides.
Amer town and Panna Meena ka Kund
- Below the fort: the old town of Amer has temples, havelis and the geometric stepwell of Panna Meena ka Kund.
- When: walk it after the fort, while the morning light is still soft.
Jal Mahal at first light
- Where to stop: the lakeside promenade beside Man Sagar Lake, on the way into the city, where the water palace sits in still water with the hills behind.
- In winter: migrant ducks float on the lake.
Jaigarh and the Jaivana cannon
- What it is: the fort above Amer that guarded the old capital, home to the great Jaivana cannon.
- The view: its ramparts look down onto Amber Fort and Maota Lake.
The old city, by appointment
- One long morning or an evening: Hawa Mahal, the City Palace and the bazaars with a guide who grew up in them.
- Then: back to the hotel to rest.
Families, weddings and big occasions
A wedding venue: large modern resorts like the Leela are where Jaipur holds many grand weddings, with event lawns, banqueting spaces and staff who know how to stage an evening.
For your occasion: a family celebration, vow renewal or milestone birthday. It is one of the places we consider first.
- How we plan them: see our pages on destination weddings and vow renewals in a palace.
- The flip side: in the winter wedding season, roughly November to February, another family's celebration may be in full swing while you are trying to sleep.
- What we do about it: check the hotel's calendar before booking and choose rooms away from the event spaces.
- For families on holiday: space, the pool and level paths. Children run on the lawns, grandparents move around easily, and everyone can retreat when they need to.
- Our family routes: our family journeys and multi-generation journeys often use hotels like this as the Jaipur base.
Who will love the Leela, and who won't
Families and multi-generation groups: one of the easiest luxury hotels in Jaipur.
Celebrations and weddings: the space, the lawns and the experience to make them work.
- Best for
- Families and multi-generation groups
- Also good for
- Weddings and celebrations
- Well placed for
- Amer and the Delhi road
- Think twice
- Old-city walkers, history lovers
- Amer and the Delhi road: well placed if you want to be close to Amber Fort and the ridge forts, or are arriving or leaving by road.
- Leela loyalists: guests who love the Leela in Udaipur and Delhi will find the same warmth of service.
- If you want real history: choose Rambagh Palace, The Raj Palace or Samode Haveli instead, or split your stay.
- Bazaars at dawn: the Leela is too far from the walled city to step out into them.
- Small and intimate: a big resort will feel like too much. A heritage haveli or Samode Palace in the hills will suit you better.
How the Leela fits our journeys
From Delhi: on our Delhi, Jaipur and Agra in luxury journey, you arrive without crossing the city and see Amber the next morning before the crowds.
Heading north: guests going to the painted towns on our Shekhawati journey leave from the right side of town.
- Both Jaipurs: two nights here for Amer and the countryside, then one at Samode Haveli for the old city at dawn.
- Compare every choice: our Jaipur luxury hotels guide sets them side by side.
- The nearby alternative: Fairmont Jaipur, another modern resort on the same road.
- The Leela thread: Delhi, Jaipur, then the Leela on Lake Pichola. Our Golden Triangle and Udaipur journey can be built entirely around it.
When to come
October to March: warm days, cool nights and the gardens at their best.
December and January: mornings can be close to freezing on the drive to Amer, so bring a shawl.
- Best months
- October to March
- Coldest mornings
- December and January
- Hot season
- April to June, often above 40°C
- Monsoon
- July to September, green hills
- Book early for
- Weddings, holidays, the Literature Festival
- Peak season: weddings, Christmas and New Year, and the Jaipur Literature Festival in late January all fall in the cool months. Book early.
- April to June: the heat is serious, often above 40°C. This is when a resort like the Leela makes most sense: sightseeing at dawn, pool and spa through the day, dinner outside after dark.
- Quieter and calmer: in the hot months rates are usually lower and the hotel is calmer.
- The monsoon: short storms, green hills and very few visitors. The Aravallis around the hotel turn green, and the drive to Amer is beautiful.
- Month by month: our guide to the best time to visit Jaipur has the detail.
Getting there
From the airport: the airport is at Sanganer, south of the city, so the drive crosses Jaipur. Allow around an hour, more in rush hour. We meet you at the aircraft door or in arrivals.
From Delhi: about four to five hours, and you reach the hotel before you reach the city.
- Nearest airport
- Jaipur International, at Sanganer
- From the airport
- Around an hour, more in rush hour
- From Delhi
- About four to five hours
- Amber Fort
- A short drive
- Around Jaipur: Amber Fort is a short drive, and the walled city roughly forty-five minutes to an hour, depending on traffic.
- Your chauffeur: waits all day. Our guide to getting around Rajasthan explains how we plan drives so the best light is never spent in the car.
- Book well ahead: for the winter season, Christmas and New Year, and Diwali.