Samode Palace, a former royal residence 45 kilometres from Jaipur, dating back to the 16th century, has welcomed guests as a heritage hotel for over three decades. Its Rajput-Mughal interiors – alive with frescoes, murals, domed pavilions, and mirrored walls – still hold the mood and charm of another century. Tucked away from Rajasthan’s usual circuit, Samode rewards those who wander a little off-course. A palace is a palace, and you might believe that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. But Samode Palace quietly challenges the idea. Rising from the foothills of the Aravallis, it manages to be both grand and intimate. Carved out of sandstone and marble, with arched doorways, hidden alcoves, sprawling terraces, multiple courtyards and walls embedded with Belgian mirrors, it invites you to wander and discover. Every step and turn reveals something unexpected, quite like a treasure hunt – a poolside deck with a chattri, a parapet wall with jali work, a hidden staircase, a grand chandelier…Then there is the hospitality; most of the staff have been here for decades, and they see the palace not as a hotel, but as a continuation of the life it has always held.
An hour and a bit on the highway from Jaipur international airport along a flawless road, and the modern world falls away. You’re suddenly on a narrow cobbled lane in Samode village, and you find a torrent of water gushing through it, like an untamed river.
Not a flood, you’re told, but the seasonal river that runs through Samode during the monsoons. Children splash, cycles glide, men and women go about their lives wading through the waters to their ramped-up homes, life carrying on as though a river for a street was the most natural thing. You pass by a roaring waterfall and enter through Ganesh Pol – and drive up the hill, passing through three grand gateways until you arrive before Samode Palace. All around, the Aravallis rise their monsoon green, offsetting the palace’s pale yellow.
