Delhi’s Original Celebrity Hotel, This Grande Dame is no Fading Star

I ARRIVED IN DELHI for the first time on an unseasonably mild day. As the car whisked me through the empty, leafy streets this Sunday morning, Delhi was nothing like I’d imagined. That sensory overload would come later, but for a brief few minutes the travel gods conspired to show me the city’s best face. And I was under its spell.  

Since Delhi was out to seduce me, where else would my destination that day have been other than The Imperial New Delhi—the first luxury hotel to open the city? The grandest grand dame of Delhi hotels opened its doors in 1936, and she oozes old-world charm. Located on what was then known as Queensway, modern-day Janpath, the Imperial looks exactly like it should: wood-paneling, marble floors and high tea in the foyer.  

That’s not to say that the hotel isn’t resolutely modern as well. Staff is smiling and endlessly helpful, not invisible or obsequious. That modernity applies to the hotel’s hardware as well. The Imperial underwent its first renovation in decades before reopening to the public at the end of last year. (Charmingly however, the antique elevator in the lobby started with a little lurch every time I ascended to my room.)  

Everywhere you look it’s like a movie set, a fitting home to stars from Bollywood to Hollywood. I almost expected the long hallways to be in soft focus as I moved around the hotel, like some sort of real-life cinematic flashback. Would name-dropping be gauche? Ask Leo DiCaprio or Kate Winslet, both former guests of the hotel. History, too, has played out within these walls, with Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah and Mountbatten reportedly hammering out details of independence and partition away from prying eyes and ears. 

As a guest, I was able to admire up-close many of the hotel’s artworks – more than 5,500 pieces tracing centuries of Indian history – lining the walls, from the gracious hallways to every guest room. There were Himalayan mountainscapes, princely states, prints and paintings, and in the lounge where evening drinks are held, the portraits of the 85 maharajahs who converged for the hotel’s opening. There is neither white-washing nor cancel-culture with regard to the colonial era: notice the double portraits of Queen Victoria on the ground floor.  

My Art Deco Suite, one of 235 rooms The Imperial New Delhi offers, is comfortable but is far from the most spacious suite in the house. Yet it perhaps best reflects the elegance of the hotel’s early years. Mossy green rugs, drapes and armchairs, the sand and stone tones of the floors and walls, the frosted glass light fixtures and sculpted wooden doors all accent and enhance that sense of vintage style. All you need is a smoking jacket and maybe a monocle to complete the picture. 

The interior of the hotel’s pan-Asian Spice Route restaurant (whose founding chef is a Thai woman, a rarity even by today’s standards) reproduces various features of classical artifacts and architecture. The ceiling panels, painted wood beams, and vivid columns are as intricate as they are exquisite. Staff will be happy to give you a tour of the painted walls and objets d’art that fill the restaurant. In addition to Hindu deities, look out for stories of buxom maidens and Kama Sutra poses. 

San Gimignano, the Italian restaurant, has a clubbier feel. Now under the watchful eye of the hotel’s Executive Chef Philippe Agnese, who oversees all of the food offerings, this is the Delhiite’s go-to for textbook versions of gnocchi alla Sorrentina or risotto alla Milanese. Then there’s the Patiala Peg, a bar that screams muted gentleman’s club, with framed military decorations on the wall. This is one of the spots in Delhi that claims paternity of the “Patiala peg,” a supersized shot favored by imbibers of strong spirits. 

There is a stunning outdoor pool, part sultan’s oasis, part Miami bling, but if you were looking for me, you’d find me in the tiled hot pools of the opulent Imperial Spa, complete with adjoining steam and sauna, easily the most relaxing part of my stay. I also indulged in some early morning private meditation and pranayama breathing exercises on an elegant round mattress in dusty green that echoed the tones in my room. For the more yogically inclined, the airy and newly built Yoga Sanctum is where you want to start your day.  

When I ventured out into Delhi, its dust and congestion, and the vibrancy of this 21st-century city, brought me back to reality and seduced me in its own heady way. But it was within the walls of The Imperial Delhi that I found peace in the very heart of the bustling metropolis—and it’s there that I’ll be drawn to again and again.  

The Imperial New Delhi is located 30 minutes to an hour from Indira Gandhi International Airport, depending on traffic and serendipity. A 54-square-meter Art Deco Suite starts at 1,150 USD per night.  

BOOK YOUR STAY AT THE IMPERIAL NEW DELHI VIA BOOKING.COM

BOOK YOUR STAY AT THE IMPERIAL NEW DELHI VIA AGODA.COM

Images courtesy of The Imperial New Delhi.

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