Villa Palladio is a Wes Anderson Fever Dream: Inside Jaipur’s Maximalist, Crimson-Soaked Luxury Boutique Hotel

Pink dust swirled around the car as my driver took me away from the collision-causing traffic of Jaipur’s city center, down long stretches of the Aravalli Hills to the patch of Rajasthani countryside that Villa Palladio calls home.

The hotel’s largely unimpressive surroundings felt like an exclusive escape from the moment my car pulled up to the gate, where meticulously uniformed guards opened the doors to reveal a lavishly manicured property and a team of attentive staff rushed to greet us. It was a scene that probably belonged better in the Grand Budapest Hotel, my favorite Wes Anderson film, than it did in my actual life.

In that moment, my escape to Villa Palladio’s crimson-soaked, service-oriented, whimsical world began.

Villa Palladio is a luxury boutique hotel in Jaipur that has lived in my Instagram saved folders and on my Pinterest boards since it opened its doors in 2022. The hotel is an evolution of owner Barbara Miolini’s popular Bar Palladio, a hangout for Jaipur’s feed-focused tourists.

It’s Disneyland for design lovers, a feverish, colonial fantasy that’s equally as out of place in Jaipur as it fits in, made possible by collaborations with Marie Anne Oudejans, a Dutch designer, and Vikas Soni, a Rajasthani painter.

The hotel isn’t one to book out of convenience—at $500 a night and a 30-minute drive to the city, it’s anything but. Instead, it’s an intentional destination and the main attraction for some visitors, sought by the world’s greatest design connoisseurs and luxury hotel enthusiasts.

But, does this buzzy boutique hotel live up to its price tag and social media fame?

Here’s what it’s really like to stay at Villa Palladio Jaipur:

The property will arrange for airport transfers, but I found Uber to be extremely affordable with minimal wait times.

Parking is available on the property, should you decide to drive yourself (you daredevil, you).

Most notably, the property isn’t walkable to anything. There are a few resorts and camping areas down the road that Villa Palladio is on, but even those aren’t particularly close.

Uber can be called from the property, but often requires a 10 to 15-minute wait—plan your departures accordingly.

At night, consider scheduling a driver in advance. After wrapping up dinner at Govindam Retreat near the City Palace, my anxiety rose with every minute while we waited for a driver to accept our ride around 10:30 pm. No one wanted to make the 30-minute journey at that time of the night, and as a result, we waited upwards of 30 minutes to find a ride.

In true boutique hotel fashion, room rates are fixed and typically do not fluctuate with seasons and occupancy, but occasionally you can find a deal, like grabbing a Torre Belvedere as low as $256 a night.

The hotel doesn’t need to fluctuate pricing when rooms are so highly coveted. With just nine rooms, finding more than two consecutive nights available at Villa Palladio requires a level of advance travel planning that my “Let’s go to Brazil tomorrow” mentality doesn’t usually support.

Villa Palladio requires upfront payment for all of its reservations. Chase almost never blocks my transactions (which, actually, might be kind of concerning all things considered), but it raised flags for room payment twice when I tried to book before allowing it to be processed. Keep an eagle eye on your text messages or banking app to ensure yours doesn’t have issues too.

The result is an almost circus-like puzzle of murals that cover nearly every inch of the hotel, including the rooms. Furniture is sourced from around Jaipur, linens hail from Italy, and robes are, of course, block-printed, produced by ecru.

I’ve stayed at design-forward hotels before, but never has one considered room interiors as strongly as Villa Palladio’s. Corners weren’t cut, and the result is like stepping into a Jaipuri-Italian kaleidoscope when you’re ready to wind down your day.

Superior rooms are the sweet spot in comfort and price. Available with a single queen bed or two twin beds, my superior room was spacious enough for two people, with a sizable bathroom. Large closets lined one of the walls, sun seeped in through romantic paned windows during the day, and at night, rich chocolates were set out on a plate.

Suites are Villa Palladio’s largest and most luxurious room type, which includes much of the same approach as superior rooms, with an added private sitting area.

Villa Palladio takes a different approach. Amenities, which start and end with an outdoor pool, Il Eremo (an open room for self-guided yoga or light weights), free Wi-Fi, a library, and bookable spa services, miss some of the luxury comforts of hotels at a similar price point.

Room service, treadmills, a lobby bar, and bike or recreational equipment rentals are replaced by tranquility. The quiet, peaceful property and sublime service were a form of meditation in and of themselves that didn’t have me missing typical hotel amenities—even if I would’ve appreciated a little more in the fitness department.

Villa Palladio’s elegant approach to breakfast made it my favorite complimentary hotel breakfast during my time in India—maybe one of my top picks across all of my travels, up there with the mimosa bar at Hotel das Cataratas on the Brazil side of Iguazu Falls and traditional Moroccan spread at Riad Luciano in the Marrakech souks.

To see the estate in all its crimson glory, make a reservation for lunch. Occasionally, non-guests are allowed to dine for a minimum of around ₹5,000 ($58 USD) per person, plus 18 percent tax.

The lunch menu at Villa Palladio’s restaurant is solidly Italian. Hotel guests are allowed to order à la carte without a minimum. Prices are higher than you’ll find at casual restaurants in Jaipur, but are less expensive than a comparable sit-down lunch in a cosmopolitan city like New York or Paris.

Sandwiches and burgers are mostly ₹500 to ₹850 ($5.75 to $10 USD), pasta is ₹850 ($10 USD), and salads are ₹550 to ₹650 ($6.50 to $7.50).

Dinner is offered to hotel guests and must be reserved in advance. Menus rotate daily, spanning Italian, Rajasthani, and Indian-fusion.

It’s a running joke at this point that I can’t relax, but Villa Palladio’s swan-like approach to service, gliding with the ferocity of a hummingbird (and bright plumage to match) without disrupting the waters of the calm property, put me in a dream state for the three days I spent there.

While Villa Palladio’s pricing is reasonable in Western countries for a hotel of this caliber, it’s worth noting that in India, these room rates are egregiously expensive. I stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai and Taj Agra for a small fraction of the room rate at Villa Palladio.

However, Villa Palladio has more to offer than a luxury chain hotel. Its petite size means a level of personalization and privacy that isn’t often afforded at the Ritz-Carltons of the world. And the experience is so elevated that I didn’t feel like I was totally underwhelmed at the room rate, like I did at The Ramble Hotel Denver, another boutique design hotel.

I’ve received better value at properties like Hotel das Cataratas, so while I think Villa Palladio is slightly overpriced for the Indian market given its lack of amenities, I do think it’s worth it—there simply isn’t another property in Jaipur that compares to it.

I loved every succulent, indulgent moment of my stay at Villa Palladio. Forward my mail to reception, please.