This Luxurious Lodge in India Seems Straight Out of a Film — With Unobstructed Views of the Taj Mahal From Each Room

The Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra, is a resort like none different. The splendor of the views is complemented by the splendor of the luxurious resort’s Moorish and Mughal structure, and the design takes deliberate care to maximise the property’s greatest benefit: its excessive proximity to the world-renowned Taj Mahal.

Arguably India’s most well-known monument (and one of the well-known on the planet), the Taj Mahal is the centerpiece at Amarvilas, with the resort rigorously carved into the hillside to offer visitors the perfect visible entry to the well-known sight from a number of elevations. I felt like I used to be in a film, leaving actuality for fantasy. It’s the kind of unique resort you’d see in a Wes Anderson movie, and instantly Google to seek out out if it’s an actual place you possibly can truly go to. From the second you step into the palatial entrance pavilion, with ornamental swimming pools bordered by scalloped archways over floral wall murals, to the spectacular again exterior above the reflective essential pool and colourful deck, it is magical.

As you check-in, you’re ushered by the primary lounge, filled with plush furnishings that appears as smooth because it does elegant, to the skin verandah that connects the lounge to the bar and grants you your first unobstructed view of the Taj Mahal. I used to be in awe coming face-to-face with a legendary world monument I’d heard about my total life so out of the blue and clearly with out being on an official tour — it was such an unreal second that I joked with my husband it’d simply be an enormous inexperienced display screen. Gazing out with fluffy orange marigold strands round your neck, you’ll be able to sip welcome drinks and get acclimated to the property and your environment.

Refined and ample with magnificence, The Oberoi Amarvilas is an other-worldy property that marries luxurious with native authenticity. It’s directly refined, with velvet couches beneath a golden-domed ceiling and a lavish crystal chandelier within the lounge, and wild, with monkeys rustling within the timber between buildings and birds touchdown in your room balcony to benefit from the views proper alongside you.

All visitor rooms are constructed on the identical aspect of the resort so that everybody will get a front-row view of the famend Mughal mausoleum, which is probably going their total purpose for visiting Agra. The resort’s interiors additionally pay homage to the Taj Mahal, with lattice-lined staircases and flooring fabricated from white marble. Native artisans are featured prominently within the rooms, from rugs to furnishings, infusing the grand and historic aesthetic of the Taj Mahal with magnificence extra particular to present-day Indian tradition.

The workers is genuinely hospitable, which aligns with the core attribute of The Oberoi model: “heartfelt.” There are considerate gestures all through your keep, like petal-drawn baths ready for you upon your return and messages spelled out in flowers in your ground. Conveniently for conversion rate-fatigued vacationers, the resort doesn’t permit tipping people. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to depart gratuities on the finish of your stick with a observe itemizing workers members you discovered notably useful. We wrote down nearly everybody’s identify, deeming all of them useful and caring sufficient for particular shoutouts (however particularly Bhole, who noticed us attempting to regulate an umbrella on the pool and ran — sure, ran — over to assist us). Once we left, workers members lined up outdoors holding indicators that mentioned “We’ll miss you” and “Come again quickly” — and I felt like they could imply it.

There’s not a lot to do in Agra for vacationers in addition to sightsee (and memento store, particularly marble knickknacks, decor, and homeware), which implies time spent on the resort is a giant a part of your journey. Out of your room’s perched vantage level, you’ll get a singular view of the densely packed houses within the surrounding space juxtaposed with the openness of the property backing into the Taj Mahal, providing you with a one-of-a-kind perspective you received’t see on foot.

Under, I break down specifics from my expertise staying right here. Learn on for my full assessment of The Oberoi Amarvilas in Agra, India.

The Rooms

Each room has an unobstructed view of the Taj Mahal and options design components from native artisans, like wood-inlay furnishings, hand-knotted rugs, and embroidered headboards. There’s nothing fairly like hitting a distant button to attract again your curtains and being greeted by one of many New Seven Wonders of the World very first thing within the morning.

There are 102 visitor rooms and suites, with 5 ranges earlier than the top, the Kohinoor Suite: Premier Rooms, Premier Rooms with Balcony, Deluxe Suites, Deluxe Suites with Balcony, and Luxurious Suites. Having the balcony is outstanding, with the personal outside house permitting you to benefit from the view and nightly performances because the solar units. Distinctive eating experiences in your balcony will also be organized.

That can assist you get the perfect sleep attainable whereas touring, Oberoi Amarvilas affords a menu of complimentary pillows with 5 choices, together with a physique pillow. Butler service is out there 24 hours do you have to want something.

Meals and Drink

There are two eating places, in addition to a bar and lounge. Bellevue affords extra family-friendly, all-day eating and a world menu spanning Italian to Asian delicacies. Friends will come right here for his or her complimentary breakfast, which incorporates each the continental buffet and menu choices.

Then there’s high quality eating on the Indian specialty restaurant Esphahan, which affords two seatings nightly and has low-key performances by native musicians in a candlelit house. Youngsters above 8 years outdated are welcome. Right here, the presentation is as meticulously curated because the dishes, and we loved a gold foil-topped native lamb dish, with smoke flooding over the plate because the glass cowl was lifted, accompanied by the plucky trills of stay santoor music.

The bar, adorned by expansive home windows that body the Taj Mahal, is a swanky spot for pre- or post-dinner drinks, a day espresso or tea, or a cigar. The lounge affords tea, espresso, and home made pastries.

Actions and Experiences

The primary exercise in Agra is sightseeing (the Taj Mahal, after all, and in addition Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri), however The Oberoi Amarvilas has choices on the property that can assist you calm down, unwind, and expertise native tradition if you’re achieved along with your day by day excursions. Like the opposite Oberoi properties, there’s a spa and a 24-hour fitness center, and you may benefit from the luxurious 9-acre property with lengthy, ambling walks surrounded by aromatic flowers or lounge by the gorgeous pool underneath one of many shiny and kooky solar umbrellas.

Particular experiences, like bespoke menus for breakfast on one of many balconies or a non-public poolside dinner underneath the celebrities, will also be organized. {Couples} can renew their vows with a Hindu priest at a temple within the Joshua Mahal Courtyard.

Within the evenings, a conventional dance and music efficiency is about atop a roof beneath the Taj Mahal backdrop. You’ll be able to watch it out of your personal balcony, the outside eating deck, or the lounge terrace. Glittering lanterns fleck the undulating grounds because the solar units, and the scene is sort of outstanding.

The Spa

The spa affords respite from Agra’s bustling vacationer hotspots and busy roads (made extra slender by teams of cows, fruit stands, and market stalls) with a menu of Western and Jap remedies. There are standard choices, like massages and facials, and extra uncommon — to Westerners, at the very least — choices that harness singing bowls, stones, and Ayurvedic strategies. There are additionally particular Oberoi experiences that string a number of remedies collectively for final pampering, just like the three-hour “Taj Romance at Amarvilas” bundle for {couples}.

After a full day in your ft, getting into a zen atmosphere for just a little bodily and psychological restoration feels good. Each the boys’s and ladies’s locker rooms have steam rooms, which visitors can take pleasure in no matter in the event that they’ve booked a spa therapy. There are 4 remedy rooms on the spa degree, off the decrease foyer, and three remedy suites on the resort’s fourth ground that characteristic Taj Mahal views. The therapy suites even have their very own steam space, two therapeutic massage beds, bathtub, bathe, and toilet.

As with the opposite Oberois all through India, you too can e book a personalised yoga or meditation session at Amarvilas.

Household-friendly Choices

The Oberoi Amarvilas affords two distinctive experiences catered to youthful visitors. One is the “Little Cooks” culinary expertise, a 45-minute exercise making cookies, cupcakes, or tandoor in a conventional clay oven. The second known as “Little Bartender” and focuses on concocting inventive smooth drinks with an knowledgeable mixologist.

Accessibility and Sustainability

The rooms at The Oberoi Amarvilas are ADA compliant and the resort is supplied with electrical car charging stations.

Location

The resort is lower than 2,000 ft from the Taj Mahal. Automobiles aren’t allowed inside a kilometer of the historic website, although, so that you’ll take a fast golf cart trip to get there. You can too stroll the part the place vehicles aren’t allowed; it’s simply over half a mile.

Get the Most Worth Out of Your Keep

Your reservation at The Oberoi Amarvilas consists of complimentary breakfast on the all-day worldwide restaurant Bellevue, which serves each continental and Indian fare.

Whereas not a reduction alternative, the spa could be very affordable in comparison with luxurious lodges in different components of the world. A 75-minute Oberoi Signature therapeutic massage prices 9,000 INR, which is roughly $108.

Reserving straight with The Oberoi will get you 10% off, and you may enroll within the free membership program, Oberoi One, to entry extra advantages and particular charges.