Crowning a granite outcrop above Bishangarh village some 45 kilometres from Jaipur, a 230-year-old Rajput hill fort was transformed into Alila Fort Bishangarh after a meticulous decade-long restoration completed in 2015 — one of the more ambitious adaptive reuse projects in recent Indian hospitality. The fort's pale rose-gold sandstone bastions and cylindrical corner towers, visible for miles across the Aravalli scrubland, set the terms for everything that followed: the architecture demanded that the interior meet it on its own historical ground rather than impose a contemporary overlay. The 59-room property threads that needle with considerable intelligence. Tower suites are fitted into the rounded bastions themselves, their curved walls wrapped in warm timber floors and topped with dark wood cornices that follow the masonry's arc — the result closer to inhabiting a ruin than staying in a renovation. Arched jharokha windows with intricately carved teak frames frame the Aravalli range at dusk, while flat-roofed rooms deploy jaali screens and recessed niches to keep the vernacular grammar intact. The restaurant's chevron-patterned marble floor introduces a graphic modernity against the traditional bracketed arches, and the infinity pool, set on a lower terrace and edged in local stone, dissolves into a treeline backed by blue-grey hills — a view that makes the fort's elevation feel earned rather than theatrical.

1hr 40min drive from Jaipur airport (JAI)

Recreating the flavour of Shahpura's royalty, the original fort is left intact, with much care given to ecological restoration and the reconstruction of new residential areas. Perhaps the only 235 yr old warrior fort that has been converted into a heritage resort. Alila Fort Bishangarh is an unique example of the Jaipur Gharana architecture influenced by both the Mughals and the British. Located at Bishangarh village in Jaipur district, barely 6 km off Delhi-Jaipur national highway, the resort is easily accessible from both Delhi and Jaipur. The drive to Amber fort at Jaipur is only 45 minutes away and Bishangarh is good base to explore Jaipur's innumerable tourist attractions. The resort boasts 87 stately rooms, suites and villas that are designed for quiet indulgence. Each room or suite is individually created to capture stunning views.