In all my years of traveling, I’ve never stayed anywhere as overwhelmingly luxurious as the Samode properties in Jaipur. There are two, the Samode Haveli in town and the Samode Palace 30 km outside town. I’ll share about both of them in this Samode review so you can see what each are like and decide which you would prefer to stay in – or stay in both like I did!

• You can read more about the history of the Samode family here.
• Read my full guide to Jaipur here.

Samode Review: Haveli and Palace

This is a joint review as I stayed at both Samode Haveli in Jaipur and another Samode property called Samode Palace just 30 km outside Jaipur (it takes about 1.5 hours to reach the Palace). The Samode properties are owned by the Samode family, who were royal family of this area of Rajasthan and although democracy in India got rid of Maharajas, they are still well-respected. The Samode family decided to work with partners to turn their palaces into hotels.

Their properties are well known in India and known as being super luxurious and are mentioned often in Vogue, GQ, and other top magazines both domestic and international. Kendall Jenner just did the 10-year anniversary shoot for Vogue India at the Samode Palace and celebrities often stay there. I’m going to share about each place individually now.

Samode Haveli

The Haveli is in the city of Jaipur in a fantastic location. Beyond that, every taxi driver will know where it is which is helpful, although I don’t recommend telling shopkeepers you are staying here as they’ll know you’ve got cash to spend, ha ha! This is by far the most unique place to stay in Jaipur and I am IN LOVE with this hotel. I’ll tell you all the reasons why!

Let’s start with what you see when you walk in – I’ll share the images in order so you see the amazing architecture and everything that I did in the same order. The entrance to this haveli is amazing.

The architecture at Saomde Haveli is amazing and since I was traveling with Tia and her new clothing line, we took a ton of pictures here (which is great for me, too, to share on Instagram!). While we looked around for places to shoot, it was overwhelming how many beautiful spots there were.

Because the property is so huge, you actually don’t see many of the other guests until dinner time or by the pool (which is also massive).

The Rooms at Samode Haveli

We were in a room with an attached balcony, which is an upgrade from the standard room. The balcony was amazing! The bathtub was an additional bonus. Check out the room! I love the arches that divide the space.

Even the shampoo and conditioner is in cute little bottles. Everything is really well thought out in the rooms from the coffee maker with fancy imported coffee to the turn down service getting the room ready for bedtime. It’s really quite fancy! I loved it! The room is also HUGE and has a whole area just for closet space.

The Food At Samode Haveli

The food is SO good. I’ll start with breakfast which can be either buffet or a la carte. You can get anything from blueberry pancakes American-style to a dosa.

You might be able to guess which one is mine and which is healthy Tia’s, above, haha! I can’t go without the beans and tomato now, which is Ben’s English fault. The ham and cheese omelette was so tasty!

At lunchtime there is a buffet as well and I chose that over ordering a la carte because they had such a wide variety of food up there from local Rajasthani to North Indian in general and then Western food.

One of the days at lunch, I decided to eat by the pool and wasn’t too hungry so ordered a kids meal – chicken burger and a cold coffee. It was huge! And so tasty. Sitting by the pool in the shade eating good food… nothing better.

For dinner, there is a new menu and it has some really tasty things on offer. The first night I had Western food (BBQ chicken sliders and Teriyaki wings which were both starters and didn’t get a main dish). It was really good. We also tried some wine that the waiter suggested which was DELICIOUS!

Tia had the tuna which was the biggest piece of tuna I think I’ve ever seen served and I had Indian food the next night. I went with mutton seekh kebab which is one of my favorite north Indian dishes and it was really tasty with some cheese naan!

Overall thoughts on Samode Haveli

The property is gorgeous, the food is amazing, and the room is cozy and spacious. I don’t have anything negative to add here. The staff makes the stay even better because they are all so nice. We chatted with the waiters at the restaurant for ages! Everyone is helpful and it has a boutique feel here, nothing like a crowded 5-star hotel.

Samode Palace

I don’t think I’ll ever forget staying in a PALACE that is owned by a real Maharaja who still come and stay there sometimes! It was totally magical and as we came before peak season started we were upgraded to the suite – amazing! The only downside was having only one night.

Check out the pool view!

Below, is the courtyard, looking down from my room. The place is like a maze and this is only one side of it. You can wander around aimlessly and find little hidden nooks and rooms! It’s far outside the city and in nature. You can see wildlife out here and take a safari with the hotel, which is what many guests were here to do.

My room was insane thanks to an upgrade and I can’t wait to show it to you! I never do videos on Instagram but when I saw this room I got so excited I shared videos of the whole thing, so maybe you saw that.

The bathroom was huge! There is a big shower (I think made all out of marble), a stand alone bathtub, and tons of closet space plus some additional clothing racks.

But the best bit is the balcony.

How amazing is this!? It’s a great view, looking over the hills and the pool and it’s got a jacuzzi. The room has a fancy coffee maker so you can wake up here and enjoy coffee with a view or hop in the jacuzzi to chill out before going to bed. So ideal.

The food at Samode Palace was a completely different menu from the food at Samode Haveli. I had the bacon sandwich on sourdough and was in heaven with that choice. Please order it when you go! Tia got something healthier, I think a beet salad. We shared the prawns which were tasty, too.

Diner was the real treat although I hate that I cannot get good photos of food at nighttime. We ate on the rooftop by the pool with candlelight. I had the prawn soup in coconut broth with a main course of mutton curry.  Tia had an eggplant curry. Everything was really good and we spoke to the chef after telling him how amazing it was.

Like at Haveli, the staff here is amazing. They were so friendly. I will definitely be coming back to stay here again. It’s one of those things that is hard to explain because every fancy hotel has nice-enough staff but here it’s like the enjoyed their jobs which isn’t always the case at hotels in India. Everyone went above and beyond to take care of all the guests.

There were some rooms like below which are just stunning and the main rooms of the palace. They don’t get a lot of light so if you want to take photos here plan to do so when the sun is at its brightest. These photos don’t do it justice!

Rates and Booking Information:

For both properties, room rates vary drastically. Each room is different and priced differently based on how nice the rooms are. Seasonally in India prices go up even 4x the amount from monsoon to peak season – so, for example, you could get a basic room at the palace for 8,000 Rs. during the monsoon or the suite for 50,000 Rs. during the peak season. For this reason, I’m not going to list prices.

Click here for prices and availability on Samode Haveli

Click here for prices and availability on Samode Palace

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