India Top 10 Hotels

India's Top 10 Hotels
so, where r u planning to go in this vacation?

 
Amanresorts Amanbagh, Alwar

Best Desert Retreat

This ultra-deluxe resort sits on the former site of the Maharajah of Alwar's hunting lodge and personal pleasure garden. Amanbagh means "peaceful garden" and you'd be hard-pressed to find a more tranquil spot than this soft-sandstone hotel surrounded by graceful palms, fragrant eucalyptus and frangipani trees and manicured jade green lawns.. The elegant "haveli-style" rooms are among the largest in the country.

 

Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur

Best Place To Feel Like Royalty

Everything about this breathtaking property, from the arrival by boat on Lake Pichola and the views of the City Palace, will make you feel as regal as the peacock that wander the property. Many rooms boast private, walled courtyards with silken parasols and inlaid furniture, as well as private butler service. Upgrade to a suite with its own tented dining facility and infinity pool, or better yet, to the 2,650-square- foot Kohinoor Suite with its courtyard fountains, fireplaces and sauna in the master bedroom. Sorry, no throne.

Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai

Best Dining

This 565-room hotel weaves Moorish, Oriental and Florentine styles together: It features vaulted alabaster ceilings, onyx columns, archways, silk carpets, crystal chandeliers and a cantilever stairway. This diversity is also reflected in the hotel's dining venues, which happen to be Mumbai's hottest: the Middle Eastern Souk, Morimoto's Wasabi and the Zodiac Grill, where the menu changes each month to match the astrological sign.

Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur

Best Tent Accommodations

Built in 1727, majestic Jaipur is also known as "The Pink City" for its oleander-rose buildings, domes and minarets. This smaller luxury hotel about five miles from the city center reflects Jaipur's colors and stateliness. It offers a variety of courtyard accommodations, from suites to air-conditioned luxury tents with teak floors, Edwardian claw-foot tubs and embroidered interior canopies. Flashlight not required.

Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra

Best Views Of The Taj Mahal

Views of the domed marble mausoleum are clear from practically every window of this property (including some bathrooms!). This hotel features Moghul architecture, terraced gardens and several reflection pools. The 103 rooms are decked out in rich purples, oranges and yellows.. Their marble bathrooms are stately with their imposing soaking tubs.

Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur

Best Place For Romance

It's hard to top the setting of this white marble palace which seems to be floating atop Lake Pichola on its four-acre island pedestal. Adding to the storybook effect are the decorative details in the elegant suites: bohemian crystals, ornate glass work, green lotus leaves and cusped arches. The rooms look out on medieval gardens and hilltop fortresses.

 

The Four Seasons, Mumbai

Best Car Service

Driving conditions in India can be a little daunting. At the Four Seasons, the newest entrant to the country's luxury-hotel market, a fleet of 20 BMW Series 7s is available for guests--not that they'll need to go far: The glass tower hotel (whose 202 rooms look straight at the Arabian sea) is conveniently located in Worli, the city's financial center, obviously targeted to the increasing number of business travelers flocking to Mumbai.

 

The Imperial, New Delhi

Best Common Spaces

Built in 1936, the landmark Imperial Hotel, with its parade of palm trees, glossy Italian marble floors, teak furnishings and high ceilings, will make you feel like you should have arrived on elephant, sword on hip. But don't worry; the spacious rooms--the Deco suites are particularly stunning--have all the modern conveniences. Ask the resident curator to guide you through the hotel's hanging collection of British art.

 

The Leela Palace Kempinski, Bangalore

Best Business Hotel

Bangalore, India's third-largest city, has morphed into a hip, global technology center, attracting CEOs from Google, Yahoo!, IBM, Honeywell, and, of course, Bill Gates. The Leela Palace offers great accommodations and dining (at the lovely Jamavar) plus superior conference facilities. Expect to rub elbows with local resident Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon president and India's richest woman.

 

Devi Garh, Delwara Near Udaipur

Sexiest Design

From the outside, Devi Garh, an 18th-century Rajput palace-fort, looks just like so many of the majestic edifices throughout Rajasthan. But step inside and you'll find a totally reinvented minimalist décor. In one room, a sunken marble tub sits alone in a room looking at the Aravali Hills through floor-to-ceiling glass. Each of the 39 suites is embellished with marble and semi-precious stones. The hotel has a spa and can arrange camel rides.

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Summer Time - what people do around the world)

People bathe in the polluted waters of Manila Bay as a holiday activity in Philippines

she enjoys a sunny spring day in the northern German village

#44 of the Washington Nationals seeks pours water on his head during the game against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia

water festival in Petaling Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Festival goers spray water on passer-bys in vehicles celebrating Thingyan, Myanmar's new year water festival, in central Yangon

Israeli children enjoy the spring water of Nahal Prat, in the Judea Desert near the West Bank settlement of Alon, east of Jerusalem

Israeli children enjoy the spring water of Nahal Prat, in the Judea Desert near the West Bank settlement of Alon, east of Jerusalem

Young people are sprayed with water during the annual ‘water festival’ in Yangon, Myanmar.

People play with a ball as they take a dip on a sunny spring day at Berlin's Wannsee lido

Young people are sprayed with water during the annual ‘water festival’ in Yangon, Myanmar

Seven year old boy Apple Rozas, from Britain,  poses with a water gun for his father, in front of Thai soldiers after they cleared an intersection, in Bangkok, Thailand

Men in traditional Slovak clothes throw buckets of cold water on women in a Selec village 120 km east of Bratislava

A boy jumps into the water of Cocibolca lake at the colonial city of Granada, some 29 miles south of Managua

A girl fills containers with water from another at Dar El Salam, Cairo.

Bangladeshi children carry empty water pots as they perform during a road side dance drama in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Afghan children get water from a water source during the World Water Day in Kabul, Afghanistan.

A child sits beside a polluted water canal near the beach at the Dehiwala suburb of Colombo

Pakistani women make their way towards their homes after collecting fresh water from a water point on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan

Children take a bath to cool off from the summer heat at a slum area in Tondo, Metro Manila

A turtle is seen on a jetty in Cocibolca lake at the colonial city of Granada, some 29 miles south of Managua

About Amber, Jaipur India

Amber, India

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Amber, India

Coordinates: (find coordinates)

Country
India

State
Rajasthan

Time zone
IST (UTC+5:30)

Amber Fort

Amber Fort

Interior of one of the palaces in Amber Fort

The fort in 1985

Amber was a city of Rajasthan state, India, it is now part of the Jaipur Municipal Corporation. Founded by the Meena Raja Alan singh (He was from Chanda clan of Meenas), Amber was a flourishing settlement as far back as 967 AD. Around 1037 AD, it was conquered by the Kachwaha clan of Rajputs. Much of the present structure known as Amber fort is actually the palace built by the great conqueror Raja Man Singh I who ruled from 1590 - 1614 AD. The palace contains several spectacular buildings such as the Diwan-i-Khas and the elaborately painted Ganesh Poll built by the renowned warlord Mirza Raja Jai Singh I (Man Singh I's grandson). The old and original fort of Amber dating from earlier Rajas or the Meena period is what is known in the present day as Jaigarh fort, which is actually the main defensive structure, rather than the palace itself, although the two structures are interconnected by series of encompassing fortification.

Amber was capital of the Kachwahas until 1727 when the ruler of Amber Sawai Jai Singh II founded a capital about nine kilometers south of Amber, this new city which was named after him as Jainagara (Jaipur). After the founding of the new town, the royal palace and houses of prominent persons were shifted to Jaipur, but the priests of Shila Devi temple who were Bengali Brahmins continued to live in the fort(to this date), while the Jaigarh fort above the palace also remained heavily garrisoned. The capital of Kachwahas was supplanted by the modern city of Jaipur, which is the capital of Rajasthan state in India.

The picturesque situation of Amber at the mouth of a rocky mountain gorge, in which nestles a lovely lake, has attracted the admiration of all travelers, including Victor Jacquemont and Reginald Heber. It is seen to be a remarkable example for its combined Rajput-Mughal architecture. The first Rajput structure was started by Raja Kakil Dev when Amber became his capital in 1036 on the site of present day Jaigarh Fort.

 

"No sooner had Mirza completed the Diwan-i-Khas" it is related ^{[citation needed]} "than it came to the ears of the emperor Jahangir that his vassal had surpassed him in magnificence, and that this last great work quite eclipsed all the marvels of the imperial city; the columns of red sandstone having been particularly noticed as sculptured with exquisite taste and elaborate detail. In a fit of jealousy the emperor commanded that this masterpiece should be thrown down, and sent commissioners to Amber charged with the execution of this order; whereupon Mirza, in order to save the structure, had the columns plastered over with stucco, so that the messengers from Agra should have to acknowledge to the emperor that the magnificence, which had been so much talked of, was after all pure invention. Since then his apathetic successors have neglected to bring to light this splendid work; and it is only by knocking off some of the plaster that one can get a glimpse of the sculptures, which are perfect as on the day they were carved."

According to some local tradition, the story of the conquest of Amber from the Meenas, is that the Meena Raja Ralun singh also known as Alan Singh Chanda [1] of Khogong kind-heartedly adopted a stranded Rajput mother and her child who sought refuge in his realm. Later, the Meena king sent the child, Dhola Rae, to Delhi to represent the Meena kingdom. The Rajput, in gratitude for these favours, returned with Rajput conspirers and massacred the weaponless Meenas on Diwali while performings rituals i.e PitraTrapan, it is customary in Meenas to be weaponless at the time of PitraTrapan , "filling the reservoirs in which the Meenas bathed with their dead bodies" [Tod.II.281] and thus conquered Khogong. He then subjugated the Sihra Gotra of Meenas at much later on known as Jamwa Ramgarh near Jaipur, and transferred his capital thence. Becoming the son-in-law of the prince of Ajmer, he died when battling 11,000 Meenas, most of whom he slew [Tod.II.282]. His son Maida Sihra l Rao "made a conquest of Amber from the Soosawut Meenas" whose chief was the head of the Meena confederation. He subdued the Nandla Meenas, annexing the Gatoor-Gatti district [Tod.II.282]. Hoondeo succeeded to the throne and "continued the warfare against the Meenas" [Tod.II.282]. Koontal, his successor, fought the Meenas "in which the Meenas were defeated, with great slaughter, which secured his rule throughout Dhoondar" [Tod.II.282]. The Meenas were the original builders of Amber, which town they consecrated to Amba, the Mother Goddess, whom they knew as "Gatta Rani" or "Queen of the Pass" [Tod.II.282]. The Meenas being fierce and renowned warriors, nonetheless became a great allies of the Rajputs.

Places of tourist in jaipur

Places of tourist interest:
Forts & Palaces
Hawa Mahal
Amber Fort
Jaigarh Fort
Nahargarh Fort
City Palace
Chandra Mahal
Diwan-e-Aam
Jal Mahal
Temples
Birla Temple or Lakshmi Narayan Mandir
Govind Devji Temple
Moti Doongri Temple
Galtaji
Akshardham Temple
Jain Temple
Monuments
Ram Niwas Garden
Central Museum (or Albert Hall Museum)
Gardens
Zoological Garden
Sisodia Rani Palace and Garden
Vidyadhar Garden
Central Park (Entrance near Statue Circle)
Kanak Vrindavan

Shopping Malls
Crystal Palm
Hypercity
MGF Mall
Apex Mall
National Handloom
India Bulls Megastore

Others
Chokhi Dhani
Chand Baori stepwell

Shopping in Jaipur Rajasthan

Shopping in Jaipur

Jaipur-a treasure trove for shoppers, shopping is irresistible, a wide range of handicrafts are available in the market, most of items are produced in the centers in and around the city. The city is one of the most important centers in the world for cutting and polishing precious and semi precious stone, diamonds.

The local 'Kundan', style jewellery find a market throughout the world.The exotic blue pottery, the batik painting, block printed textiles of Sanganer and Bagru, tie & dye fabrics, Mojari- (the local shoe), sandal wood carving items, beautiful stone carvings etc. An entire street and several city sectors were earmarked for artisans and traders. The main markets are along Johari Bazar, Bapu Bazar, Nehru Bazar, Chaura Rasta, Tripolia Bazar and M.I. Road. Shops specialising in precious and semi-precious stones, ornaments and jewellery are to be found on and along Johari Bazaar.
Jaipur enjoys a high reputation for the manufacture of jewellery. It is one of the most active jewel markets of the world and is famous for precious and semi-precious stones and also for the cutting, polishing and setting of these stones, particularly that of diamonds, topaz and emeralds. Jaipur brass work is of immaculate quality. The Jaipur brass worker is successful in
infusing life like charm into the dull metal. Two kinds of work is done in Jaipur on brass viz., lacquered brass and carved brass. Jaipur enamel or Minakari, mostly done on gold and silver has always been a class of its own. The Jaipur artist is renowned not only for the purity of the colours, but also for its evenness.

Jaipur is also famous for its textiles. Sanganeri and Bagru block prints are the fashion designer’s craze these days. The Bandhej (tie and dye) print is very typical of the region.

Near the Hawa Mahal are large numbers of shops dealing in antiques and pseudo-antiques. Some shops opposite Hawa Mahal stock the famous Jaipuri quilts, weighing from a few hundred grams to a kilogram.

The stone and marble carving industry is also a famous art of Jaipur. The stone used is either procured from within Jaipur or from the marble mines of Makrana, the famous quarry that provided all the marble stone for one of the wonders of the world at Agra the Taj Mahal The carvings portraits and busts created in Jaipur are held in high esteem everywhere.

Johari Bazar: This is where you can buy jewellery and tie and dye sarees, two lanes joining the main road - Gopalji ka Rasta and Haldion ka Rasta house numerous establishments selling jewellery. On the main road itself you find many silversmiths. Traditional tie and dye fabrics and textiles are also available here.

Tripolia Bazar and Chaura Rasta: You can shop here for textiles, utensils, ironware and trinkets. If you want to see the artisans at work, step into the side lanes and see for yourself.

Bapu Bazaar and Nehru Bazaar: Here you can purchase textiles, local perfumes and shoes made of camel skin.

Mirza Ismial Road (MI. Road): The broad thoroughfare houses a large number of emporia selling a variety of goods ranging from jewellery and brass work to textiles, to blue pottery, to woodwork, etc. These shops stock a large variety of goods to satisfy the tourists’ needs.

What and where to buy

Ramganj Bazar for shoes or jutis as they are called,

Kishanpol Bazar for tie and dye textiles,

Maniharon Ka Rasta (Tripolia Bazar) for lac bangles and other items,

Achrol House, Subhash Chowk for carpets,

Khajano Ka Rasta for marble carving, and

Sanganer village for block printing, hand-made paper and blue pottery.

Tourism Of Jaipur Rajasthan

SAWAI JAI SINGH
The sovereign of Amber, built Jaipur in the eighteenth century. It was also around that time that the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had died and the decline of the Mughal Empire had set in. Jai Singh had started distancing himself from the affair of the Mughal Court and he began concentrating on building of Amber. His search for a safe place for the increasing population of Amber resulted in Jaipur, This was India's first planned city and a brilliant architect Vidyadhar Bhattacharya from Bengal was commissioned to plan the city. He designed it in accordance with ancient Hindu treatise on architecture, the Shilpa Shastra (Vaastu).
Jaipur was planned in a gird system with wide straight avenues, roads, streets and lanes and uniform rows of shops on either side of the main roads, all arranged in nine rectangular city sectors (chokdis). The city is surrounded by a wall having seven gates and was built for protection from invading armies and wild animals that lurked just outside in the jungles that surrounded the city. But Jai Singh's planned city has withstood all the pressures and the changes. 
ROMANCE OF PINK - Jaipur needed a fresh coat of paint to welcome its distinguished guest the Prince of Wales in 1905-6. The contractor inability to supply any other color in the required quantity compelled the choice of pink shade for its walls. A contractor’s compulsion famed Jaipur to Pinkcity. Since then the PINK color is associated with hospitality in Rajput culture. 
Jaipur has a timeless appeal in its colorful bazaars that delights for its Rajasthani handlooms and trinkets. Beautifully laid out gardens and parks, attractive monuments and marvelous heritage hotels, once the residence of Maharajas, are worth admiration, not to mention the ambling camels and cheerful people in multi hued costumes that make Jaipur a tourist's paradise.