The Imperial New Delhi

The Imperial opened in 1936 as the grandest address of the new imperial capital, its long drive of king palms leading off Janpath to a facade that blends colonial classicism with Art Deco geometry. It was here that figures of the independence era, including Nehru and Jinnah, met and debated, and the hotel treats its past as a living archive: the corridors hang with one of the largest collections of colonial-era art, lithographs and engravings anywhere, effectively a museum guests sleep inside.

Rooms and suites keep period height and proportion—polished teak, four-posters in the older categories, marble baths—arranged around lawns and a garden pool that mute the surrounding city almost completely. Connaught Place, government Delhi and the National Museum are minutes away, making the location as practical as it is storied.

The Spice Route, its interiors hand-painted over years by temple artists to trace the journey of spices across Asia, ranks among the most extraordinary restaurant rooms in the world, while 1911 recalls the year the capital moved to Delhi and the daniell's tavern nods to early English travellers. Afternoon tea in the atrium remains a capital institution. For travellers who want Delhi's history rendered in teak, marble and lithographs, nothing else compares.