King for the night at Usha Kiran Palace in Gwalior

What makes the Usha Kiran Palace resort hotel in Gwalior stand out is that a stay here is so surreal enough to transport to an era gone by, complete with all the over-the-top trappings it comes with.

This is a palace resort that unabashedly celebrates its royal lineage without even pretending to offer any lip service to modern-day political correctness or wokeness, and it scores precisely because it does not dilute its core competency.

And what may be this core competency? Leave aside even the competitive Taj credentials or the fact that the property underwent a meticulous revamp recently (overseen by Priyadarshini Raje Scindia, wife of union telecom minister and the present head of the erstwhile Gwalior princely family Jyotiraditya Scindia), the place’s appeal lies in its non-dilution of its royal heritage.

After all, this was a bonafide palace built by the Scindias of the Maratha dynasty back in 1880) and its deliciously juicy claim to regalia—to being the palace which hosted the prince and princess of Wales (who later became George V, emperor of India and King of Great Britain) when they visited India in 1902.

And that history comes alive the moment you check-in. Other luxury hotels greet you with garlands, a welcome drink and a wet towel — at Usha Kiran, you get the full-blown Maratha treatment, sometimes even with horse-drawn carriages, with ‘tutari’ (trumpeteers) heralding you up the regal steps, even as rose petals shower down upon you almost making you believe you are King (or Prince, for those mindful of historical accuracy) for the day.

The transcendence into an era of nobility and splendour continues on into whichever of the 50 spacious rooms you are ushered into, with their royal beds adorned with the royal insignia, chequered marble floors and old-world accessories you thought had succumbed to the assault of minimalism in the hospitality industry — not to forget design and architecture ranging from European elements fusing seamlessly with Maratha facades.

Maybe it is a sign of the times, but the hotel staff seemed to make a huge fuss about the evening arti at the temple within the complex, but our recco would be to take it slow—a city trip to the Gwalior Fort is a good chance to brush up your history, but even a hotel tour (there is one every evening free for resident guests) is an eye-opener into the grandeur with which India’s royals lived and ruled.

Mind you, this was more like a supplementary palace (a guest house, if you will, in commoner-speak) to the real one where the Scindias still live, which is right across the compound, the majestic Jai Vilas Palace.

The palace hotel’s amenities include the multi-cuisine Silver Spoon, a spa, a swimming pool modelled like interlinked canals of Venice spread across the central lawns (with Venetian-style bridges completing the mirage) and a Bada Bar upstairs that gives vibes of a colonial club meeting a chic lounge bar (visit it, if not for a tipple, at least for the eye-popping interior design).

“Bridging the gap between history and contemporary luxury, it offers a window into its glorious past with the quintessential Taj hospitality,” said Tanika Taneja, general manager of the hotel.

Strolling the palace grounds, calm except for mysterious animal squeaks popping out of the dark, even as the brilliantly-lit property stands aloft like a regal beacon, I walk across to the boundary that demarcates the hotel to the Jai Vilas, where the Scindia family still live (even after 25 rooms of it were converted into a public museum in memory of their forefather Jivaji Rao Scindia, the last ruler under British Raj when India gained independence). It’s eerie when you feel the weight of history all around you, almost as if you are, for a moment, eternal, oblivious to the tides of time.

Getting there: The hotel is around 15 15-minute drive from Gwalior railway station, connected by Vande Bharat and Shatabdi trains from Delhi. By road, it takes a little over 6 hours from Delhi via the Yamuna Expressway, while you can reach from Mumbai via the Agra Highway.

Tourism