A very old idea of looking after the body
Every child is oiled: newborns are massaged with warm mustard or sesame oil every winter morning, laid on a grandmother's outstretched legs and rubbed from the soles of the feet upwards.
Before a wedding: aunts and cousins cover the bride and groom in ubtan, a paste of turmeric, gram flour and a little oil, in a ceremony full of songs and teasing.
- Ayurveda
- The knowledge of life
- Classic texts
- Charaka and Sushruta Samhitas
- Compiled
- Roughly two thousand years ago
- Three doshas
- Vata, pitta and kapha
- Medical cures
- Kerala, not Rajasthan
- Sunday on the roof: the men of the house sat while a barber worked oil into their scalps with a rhythm that sent them half to sleep.
- Not a treatment: none of this had that name. It was care.
- Behind it, Ayurveda: the classical system of Indian medicine, whose great texts, the Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita, were compiled roughly two thousand years ago.
- The doshas: Ayurveda sees each person as a balance of three bodily energies, vata, pitta and kapha, and treats food, sleep, season and touch as medicine alongside herbs.
- Why oil matters: warm oil, the texts say, calms vata, the dry, restless, airy energy aggravated by travel, cold wind and dry climates.
- A textbook case: a practitioner would tell you a fortnight on Rajasthan's roads is exactly that.
What Rajasthan offers, honestly
Kerala is for medicine: the great centres of intensive Ayurvedic treatment are in the far south, where panchakarma, the classical five-fold cleansing cure, is given over weeks under an Ayurvedic doctor, with a strict diet and daily therapies.
Rajasthan is for restoring: classic Ayurvedic therapies given by trained therapists in some of India's most beautiful spas, inside palaces, forts and walled gardens.
- The hour that matters: a good Rajasthan day starts before dawn at a fort and ends late on a rooftop. From about one to four the light is flat, the stone is hot and every sensible local is resting.
- We plan the spa into that gap: our journeys on yoga and Ayurveda and wellness and slow travel are built around it.
- Even on a fast tour: a first journey is better for one long afternoon of warm oil.
The treatments, and what each one feels like
Abhyanga, the warm oil massage
The foundation: warm herbal oil, chosen for your constitution after a short consultation, worked into the whole body with long, rhythmic strokes.
Four hands: often two therapists moving in mirror image.
- How it feels: less about deep pressure than warmth, rhythm and covering every inch of skin.
- Length: most spas give it for an hour, sometimes followed by a herbal steam.
- Afterwards: expect oil in your hair and very little interest in conversation.
Shirodhara, the stream across the forehead
What happens: you lie on a wooden table while warm oil, or sometimes medicated buttermilk or milk, pours in a slow, unbroken stream across your forehead from a vessel swinging gently above.
- The point: the stream falls between the eyebrows, a place the tradition considers especially sensitive.
- What it is for: calming the mind and helping sleep.
- How it feels: many find the first few minutes strange and the last few extraordinary. It is the treatment honeymooners book twice.
Udvartana, the herbal powder massage
The opposite of abhyanga: a brisk, upward massage with dry herbal powders, often of gram flour, lentils and herbs, rather than oil.
- What it is for: invigorating, traditionally used to tone the body and stimulate circulation.
- A family comparison: our cousins liken it to the ubtan of a wedding morning, which is close to the truth.
- When: good after a lazy day by the pool, less good before a long dinner.
Pinda sweda, the herbal poultice
The potli: linen bundles filled with herbs, rice cooked in milk or warm sand, heated in oil and pressed and rolled over the body.
- What it is for: the warmth goes deep into stiff backs and shoulders.
- When we book it: after six hours in a car between Jodhpur and Udaipur, for ourselves.
Padabhyanga, the foot massage with a bronze bowl
The bowl: the feet are oiled, then rubbed with the rounded base of a small bowl of kansa, an alloy of copper and tin, said to cool and draw out heat.
- Length: short, often thirty or forty-five minutes.
- When: wonderful after a day on temple floors and fort ramparts in bare feet.
Champi, the head massage
The everyday version: given seated, with warm oil worked into the scalp, neck and shoulders. Every barber in Jaipur's walled city still offers a rough version.
- The spa version: slower and gentler, and the easiest treatment to fit into a short afternoon.
- When: ask for it before a night flight home.
Ubtan and the bridal treatments
The ritual: many palace spas offer a version of the wedding morning, a body polish of turmeric, sandalwood, gram flour and rose water, followed by a bath.
- Why try it: a pleasing way to understand the haldi ceremony at a Rajput wedding, and couples renewing their vows often take it together.
- Read more: our pages on destination weddings and vow renewals explain how we fold it into the celebrations.
Where we book a spa afternoon, place by place
Jaipur, a walled garden outside the city
The Oberoi Rajvilas: 32 acres on the edge of Jaipur, built like a fortified village around pools and fountains, with a restored Shiva temple in its grounds.
Its spa: set in a restored haveli, the one guests most often mention to us when they get home.
- In the city: Rambagh Palace, the former royal residence among lawns and peacocks, has a full spa.
- On the Delhi road: so does The Leela Palace Jaipur, beyond Amer.
- How we pair it: a morning in the bazaars and an afternoon here. Our Jaipur luxury hotels guide compares the three.
Ranthambore, a retreat between safaris
Long afternoons: game drives start before dawn, so the afternoons are empty.
- Six Senses Fort Barwara: inside a restored fourteenth-century fort at Chauth ka Barwara, about an hour from the park, the most complete wellness address in Rajasthan, with a large spa, a yoga pavilion and its own practitioners.
- Closer to the park: The Oberoi Vanyavilas has a spa built like a haveli around a lily pond.
- Our trick: skip one game drive for a long treatment. Nobody has ever regretted it.
Udaipur, treatments by the lake
The Oberoi Udaivilas: on the western shore of Lake Pichola, with a spa that ranks among India's finest and many rooms opening onto semi-private pools along the water.
- Quieter and more secluded: The Leela Palace Udaipur and Raffles Udaipur, on its own island in Udai Sagar, both with full spas.
- For hills, not water: RAAS Devigarh, an eighteenth-century hill palace at Delwara reimagined in pale marble.
Jodhpur, after the climb to Mehrangarh
Why you need it: Mehrangarh is a fort you climb, and the old city is a maze of steep lanes.
- Umaid Bhawan Palace: the Art Deco palace on Chittar Hill, where the former royal family still lives in one wing, has a spa below its great dome.
- RAAS Jodhpur: at the foot of the fort, a treatment and a terrace facing the walls in one afternoon.
Jaisalmer and the desert
Hard on skin: the Thar dries skin and lips, and in winter the nights are cold.
- Suryagarh: about thirteen kilometres out of town on the Sam road, a modern fortress in yellow Jaisalmer stone, with a pool and a spa for the hot middle hours.
- A homecoming: after two nights in a luxury desert camp, with sand in everything, a warm oil massage feels like one.
Pushkar, quiet beside a holy town
A calm town: Pushkar is vegetarian and alcohol-free, a pilgrim town where people come to be still.
- Two resorts with full spas: the Westin Pushkar Resort and Spa and Ananta Spa and Resort, on the town's edge.
- How we pair it: a sunrise climb to Savitri hill, then an afternoon of treatments. Our guide to luxury stays in Pushkar explains the choice.
Agra and Delhi, at either end of the journey
- Agra: Kaya Kalp at ITC Mughal is one of the largest hotel spas in India, with treatments drawn from Ayurvedic and Mughal traditions, where we send guests after a dawn at the Taj.
- Delhi: the great hotels all have spas, and a long massage on the day you land is the kindest cure for jet lag we know.
The small heritage houses, where the masseur comes to you
No spa, something else: many forts, rawlas and havelis we love, in Bundi, Shekhawati or the villages of Marwar, have a family who knows a local masseur, often the person who has oiled the household for years.
- Only people we know: we arrange sessions in your room or on a shaded terrace, with simple mustard or sesame oil.
- The oldest version: it is not polished, but it is the root of everything on this page, and some guests prefer it.
How we fit a spa into a Rajasthan day
Early palace: leave at seven for the City Palace as its gates open, when the courtyards are empty and the light comes in low through the coloured glass.
The consultation: at noon, the therapist asks about your sleep, digestion, energy and any medical conditions, and suggests treatments to suit.
The treatment: at two, for ninety minutes or two hours, after a light lunch. When you come out, you sleep.
- 7.00
- City Palace as the gates open
- 10.30
- Late breakfast at the hotel
- Noon
- Consultation, then a light lunch
- 2.00
- Ninety minutes to two hours of treatment
- 5.00
- A boat on Lake Pichola
- The evening: at five, a boat onto Lake Pichola as the palace turns gold.
- In Jaipur: Amber Fort at first light, the spa after lunch.
- In Ranthambore: a dawn drive in the park, a long afternoon treatment before tea.
- On travelling days: we book the evening of arrival, never the morning of departure. Oil in the hair and a five-hour drive do not mix.
- Side by side: most spas we use have rooms for couples, and some hotels arrange treatments in your own room or pavilion for the shy and the very tired.
- With yoga: a private sunrise session, with teachers we know, at the hotel or a quiet viewpoint, makes the most restful day of most journeys.
A grandmother's remedies, and the food that goes with them
Haldi doodh: our grandmother's cure for a cold, hot milk with turmeric and a pinch of black pepper, drunk before bed.
Ajwain: carom seeds chewed with a little salt, for an upset stomach.
- For a cold
- Haldi doodh, turmeric milk
- For the stomach
- Ajwain, carom seeds, with salt
- For tiredness
- Khichdi with ghee and cumin
- After lunch
- Chaas, salted buttermilk
- In the cold season
- Kadha, a spiced decoction
- Khichdi: rice and yellow moong lentils cooked soft with ghee and cumin, the first food any Rajasthani mother makes for a sick child, and Ayurveda's classic food for rest.
- Chaas: thin salted buttermilk with roasted cumin, drunk by everyone after lunch to help digestion in the heat.
- Kadha: a hot decoction of ginger, tulsi, black pepper and cinnamon, made by every family in the walled city during the monsoon and cold season.
- Cooking to order: good hotel kitchens will cook to Ayurvedic principles if asked. We brief each one before you arrive, whether you want vegetarian, light, Jain, gluten-free or simply less ghee than a Rajput cook thinks reasonable.
- Not everything austere: one proper thali, eaten slowly with friends, does the soul as much good as a green juice.
- Learn the gentle dishes: a private cooking class in a haveli teaches the khichdi and dal you can actually cook at home. Our Rajasthani food guide explains the rest.
The best season and the best hour
October to March: the main season. Days warm and dry, nights cool, and in December and January the dawns are cold enough that a hot oil massage feels medicinal.
February and early March: for us the most comfortable weeks of the year, with long golden afternoons for a slow day of treatments and a swim.
- October-March
- Main season, warm dry days
- February-March
- The most comfortable weeks
- April-June
- Often above 40°C, cooling therapies
- July-September
- Ayurveda's favoured season
- Best hour
- Two in the afternoon
- April to June: fierce heat, often above 40°C, and the spa becomes a refuge. Hotels are quieter, rates gentler, and the indoor middle of the day can go to treatments.
- Cooling therapies: sandalwood, rose and vetiver, buttermilk shirodhara and the cooling kansa foot massage come into their own in the heat.
- The monsoon, July to September: the season Ayurveda itself favours, because the body is said to be more receptive in moist air. In Kerala it is peak panchakarma time.
- Mewar in the rains: the hills around Udaipur turn green, the lakes fill and the palace hotels are at their calmest. Our journey Monsoon in Mewar is built for it.
- The best hour: early afternoon, at two, after a light lunch, leaving the evening free.
- When not to book: the morning of a fort visit or a long drive. Our guide to the best time to visit Rajasthan goes month by month.
Who will love it, and who won't
Couples and honeymooners
- The day: side-by-side treatments, a pool pavilion and a slow afternoon before a private dinner.
- On a Rajasthan honeymoon: we usually build in at least two spa afternoons, one in Jaipur and one by the lake in Udaipur.
Travellers after a demanding year
- For the tired or recovering: anyone in need of a slower pace.
- Our yoga and Ayurveda journey: ten nights at four calm addresses, with private yoga at dawn and treatments every day.
Families
- Take turns: parents can alternate while children swim or join a kite-making session.
- Children: most spas don't treat young children, though some offer gentle treatments for teenagers with a parent present. We check with each hotel.
Solo travellers
- Easy alone: a spa afternoon is one of the simplest pleasures to enjoy on your own, at calm resorts that are safe, quiet and attentive.
- Women on their own: can always ask for a female therapist. Our page on Rajasthan for solo travellers has more.
Those who should look elsewhere
- Medical cures, detox, weight loss: Rajasthan's spas are the wrong place, and we will plan a supervised stay in Kerala instead.
- Fort-every-hour travellers: you may find a spa afternoon frustrating. Try one anyway, on the fourth day, and see.
Etiquette, comfort and what to tell your therapist
Tell the spa everything: any medical condition, medicine, allergy, injury or pregnancy, before treatments begin. A spa treatment complements medical care, never replaces it.
Same-gender therapist: you can ask, and most spas offer it as a matter of course.
- Modesty: disposable underwear is usually provided and draping is careful. Say at once if anything is uncomfortable.
- Oil in the hair: book oil treatments when you have nowhere to be afterwards, and allow time for a long shower.
- Eat and drink: lightly before, plenty of water after. Rajasthan's air is dry, especially in winter.
- Tipping: appreciated but never expected in hotel spas. Our money and tipping guide explains what is usual.
- Jain temple days: leave leather and perfume behind when you visit temples such as Ranakpur, and plan the spa for after, not before.
What we promise, and what we won't
No cures: a few days of treatments leave you rested, warm and well looked after, and that is a great deal.
No medical claims: we don't book detoxes with medical claims or weight-loss programmes, and we are wary of any spa or roadside clinic that promises them.
- Serious conditions: speak to your own doctor before travelling and, for Ayurvedic medicine, a qualified practitioner rather than a hotel menu.
- The therapists: in Rajasthan's best spas they are trained professionals, many from Kerala, where the tradition runs deepest. We book hotels that employ and pay them properly.
- A personal thanks: a tip given directly to the therapist is the most personal one.
- No massage-and-shopping stops: we avoid the ones some drivers are paid to suggest.
- Sandalwood: precious and over-harvested in India, so we prefer spas that use oils and woods from legitimate sources.
- Ask where the oils come from: in a good spa you will get a long, proud answer. Our page on travelling responsibly explains how we think about this.