An old family house in the shadow of the fort
The old city's shape: Jodhpur spreads out below Mehrangarh like a skirt around the hem of the hill.
Closer meant grander: the nearer a house stood to the fort, the more it usually said about the standing of the family inside it.
How noble houses were built: in sandstone, around courtyards, with stables, kitchens, family shrines and rooms for retainers.
- Built
- Eighteenth century, as a family haveli
- A hotel since
- Around 2010
- Owned by
- The same family
- Setting
- The old city, below Mehrangarh
- Good for
- Walking the old city
- Getting there
- About half an hour from the airport
- This house: a cluster of eighteenth-century buildings in rose-red stone that belonged to the same family for generations.
- Too big for modern life: like many old havelis after Independence, it grew too large and too costly for the life its owners now led.
- Two brothers: in the 2000s Nikhilendra Singh and Dhananjaya Singh decided to restore the house rather than let it decline, and to turn it into a small hotel.
- What they kept: the old buildings, with the stone and carved screens repaired. New wings of the same local sandstone went up around a courtyard and garden.
- Opened around 2010: and it changed how travellers thought about old Jodhpur. Until then the choice was a grand palace outside the walls or a simple guesthouse inside them.
- Still the family's: you feel it in a care for the neighbourhood, staff drawn from the city, and a hotel that sits easily in its lanes rather than shutting them out.
- What a haveli is: our journal piece on what a haveli is explains how these townhouses were built and lived in.
Old stone, new lines
The problem: the architecture team, led by the Delhi practice of Ambrish Arora, had to add new buildings in a historic city without pretending they were old.
The answer: the same rose-red sandstone as the haveli, cut by local masons, but in clean modern forms.
The old buildings: keep their arches, balconies and carved stone.
- Architects
- Ambrish Arora's Delhi practice
- Stone
- Local rose-red sandstone
- Signature
- Folding stone jaali screens
- Heart of the hotel
- A courtyard pool and garden
- The view
- Mehrangarh from almost every room
- The new wings: wrapped in screens of pierced stone, the jaali of Rajasthani architecture, which fold open to the view or close against the sun and the neighbours' eyes.
- Inside the rooms: calm, pale and uncluttered, with warm wood, local textiles and large windows.
- Restraint on purpose: with Mehrangarh filling the view, nothing else needs to compete.
- A living painting: windows and balconies are framed on the ramparts, which change from dawn pink to noon gold to floodlit amber at night.
- The courtyard: a long pool and garden, with the old buildings on one side and the walls of Mehrangarh rising behind. The quietest place in the old city at noon.
- Worth studying: for design lovers, RAAS sits well beside the older architecture of the city. Our architecture guide explains the jaali, the jharokha and the haveli plan in plain words.
Inside the old city
The stepwell next door: RAAS stands close to Toorji ka Jhalra, the eighteenth-century stepwell, cleaned and restored in recent years and now one of the loveliest corners of Jodhpur.
Everything on foot: no other luxury hotel in Jodhpur puts so much of the city within walking distance.
- Toorji ka Jhalra
- A couple of minutes
- Clock tower
- Perhaps ten minutes
- Sardar Market
- Perhaps ten minutes
- Brahmpuri
- Just beyond, below the fort
- The blue lanes: Brahmpuri climbs the slopes beneath the fort, just beyond the hotel's lanes.
- The price of closeness: the lanes are narrow, busy and sometimes noisy, above all in the wedding season, when brass bands and processions pass late into the evening.
- Arriving: cars can reach the area, but the last stretch to many old-city doors is tight. The hotel's team meets you and handles your bags.
- A real neighbourhood: inside the walls the hotel is an oasis. Outside, it is not a stage set, and it keeps its own hours.
- Why guests love it: walk to the fort at dawn, be at the stepwell before the city wakes, and come back for breakfast while the first tour buses are still on the road.
- Read more: our page on Toorji ka Jhalra tells the stepwell's story, and our Jodhpur guide explains how the old city fits together.
What a day at RAAS feels like
As the light softens, the hotel changes character. The stone of the fort warms, the swifts come out over the ramparts, and the terraces fill with guests watching the sunset. Then the floodlights come on, and for an hour the view is as fine as any in India.
Early to the fort: go up to Mehrangarh by car to the gate or on foot through the lanes, and spend the morning there while it is cool.
- Back through the bazaars: by late morning the old city is at full volume. Stop for a lassi or a mawa kachori, a sweet pastry filled with milk solids, on the way.
- Afternoons: they belong to the pool and the shade.
- Winter evenings: wrap up in a shawl and stay outside for the floodlit fort.
- The rooms: contemporary in feel and generous for an old-city hotel. The best have balconies or large windows facing the fort.
- How rooms are given: the hotel allocates them, so we don't promise a particular one. We always ask for the fullest fort view.
- Light sleepers: tell us, and we ask the hotel to place you away from the lane.
- Limited mobility: tell us too. An old site of this kind has steps and level changes.
Dinner with the fort
Facing the fort: the restaurant and terraces look up at the ramparts. Dinner outside on a cool evening, with the walls floodlit above you, is one of the great pleasures of the old city.
The kitchen: cooks Indian and international dishes. Menus change with the seasons, so we don't promise particular dishes.
- Order Marwari: laal maas with Mathania chillies, ker sangri, gatte ki sabzi and bajra rotis with white butter.
- Eat out on foot: some of Jodhpur's best street food is minutes away, around the clock tower and in the lanes of Sardar Market.
- Mirchi bada: a large green chilli stuffed with spiced potato and fried in gram-flour batter, a local institution.
- Street food safely: our Jodhpur food guide explains what to eat, where, and how.
- A special occasion: we can arrange a private dinner elsewhere in the city, at a palace or a haveli courtyard, through our private palace dinners.
- Dietary needs: tell us about Jain or vegan food before you arrive. The kitchen plans around you, and our guides steer you to the right stalls in the bazaar.
Spa, pool and the quiet hours
A small spa: massages and treatments drawn from Indian traditions. Menus change, so we check what is available on your dates.
When to book: the middle of the day, after a morning at the fort.
- The courtyard pool: the other refuge. Swimming beneath the walls of Mehrangarh is an experience few hotels anywhere can match.
- Sunrise yoga: saluting the sun as Mehrangarh catches its first light makes even reluctant early risers glad they got up.
- Longer stays: our page on spas and Ayurveda explains the wider choices in Rajasthan, including longer wellness stays.
Walks from the hotel door
Up to Mehrangarh
Right above you: the fort rises directly over the hotel.
- How we do it: our guides often walk guests up through the lanes and old gates in the early morning, then the car collects you at the top.
- Allow: a full morning for the palace rooms and galleries.
- Look down: from the ramparts, find the hotel's courtyard far below.
Toorji ka Jhalra at first light
Distance: minutes from the gate.
- Best time: early morning, when it is quietest and the low sun picks out the carving on its steps.
- Come back: at dusk, when the cafes around it light up.
The clock tower and Sardar Market
The walk: a short one through the lanes.
- What you find: spices, textiles, silver and vegetables piled high around the tower.
- Best time: late afternoon. Stay until the tower lights up.
The blue lanes of Brahmpuri
Where: below the cliff of the fort, blue-washed houses climb the slope in a maze of stairs and alleys.
- With a guide: ours explain why the houses are blue and introduce you to the neighbours.
- The story: our journal piece on Jodhpur's blue city tells it.
Jaswant Thada and the rock park
Getting there: a short drive or a longer walk around the hill.
- What you find: the white marble cenotaph of Jaswant Thada and the trails of the desert rock park beside the fort.
- Best time: both are lovely in the late afternoon.
Being a good neighbour in the old city
Say hello: the lanes are home to families who have lived here for generations. Greet people with khamma ghani, the Marwari greeting, and a smile, and you usually get one back.
Ask before photos: especially of women and children. Don't photograph people inside their homes, even if a door is open.
- Dress modestly: shoulders and knees covered in the lanes.
- Shoes off: before entering any temple or shrine, however small.
- No handouts: don't give money, sweets or pens to children. If you would like to support the neighbourhood, ask us how.
- Wedding processions: step aside and enjoy the music. If you are invited to join the dancing for a moment, accept with good grace. It is one of the happiest things that can happen to you in Jodhpur.
- More on manners: our guide to etiquette in Rajasthan has the rest.
Who will love it, and who won't
Part of the old city: you will love RAAS if you want to live in the old city rather than visit it.
Couples: love the fort-facing rooms and the evenings on the terrace.
Design lovers: enjoy the way old and new stone meet.
- Photographers: have Mehrangarh at dawn and dusk from their own balcony.
- Walkers: can reach almost every sight in the old city on foot.
- A first visit: for two nights in Jodhpur, we think it is hard to beat.
- Not for lawns or silence: the lanes are lively and the old buildings have steps.
- Small children: families may prefer the space of Umaid Bhawan Palace or Bal Samand Lake Palace.
- Conversation at dinner: guests who want a family welcome may enjoy Ajit Bhawan or a village fort more.
- Not palace grandeur: no chandeliers or durbar halls. RAAS is deliberately modern, restrained and quiet.
- Compare: our guide to luxury hotels in Jodhpur sets out the choices.
How RAAS fits our journeys
Before the dunes: in Under the Thar Sky, two nights at RAAS give you the fort and the old city before the road west to Manvar and the golden fort of Jaisalmer.
Between lakes and desert: in the Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer journey, it is the urban heart of the trip.
- For honeymooners: on our honeymoon journeys, a fort-view room here often pairs with a grander palace night in Udaipur.
- Our favourite pattern: two nights at RAAS, then one or two in the country at Rohet Garh, Mihir Garh or the Manvar desert camp.
- Why it works: the energy of the old city, then the silence of the villages and dunes. The contrast makes both better.
When to stay
October to March: warm, dry days, cool mornings for the walk to the fort, and terrace evenings cold enough in December and January for a shawl.
The folk festival: in October the Rajasthan International Folk Festival brings musicians from across the desert to Mehrangarh, directly above the hotel, and the old city fills with visitors.
- Best months
- October to March
- Coldest evenings
- December and January
- Hot season
- April to June
- Monsoon
- July to September, quieter
- Book early for
- Folk festival, Diwali, New Year
- Diwali: the lanes are lit with lamps. It is busy, as are the Christmas and New Year weeks. Book early for all of them.
- April to June: very hot, and the lanes radiate heat well into the evening. Walk in the first hours after dawn and spend midday by the pool.
- The monsoon: July to September is quieter, with occasional storms and dramatic skies over the fort.
- Month by month: our best time to visit Jodhpur guide has the detail.
Getting there
By air: Jodhpur Airport (JDH) is usually around half an hour away by car, depending on traffic in the old city.
By train: the main railway station is a short drive, with trains to Delhi, Jaipur and other cities.
- Nearest airport
- Jodhpur (JDH), about half an hour
- By rail
- Main station, a short drive
- From Jaipur
- About five to six hours
- From Udaipur
- About five hours via Ranakpur
- From Jaisalmer
- About five hours
- By road: Jaipur is about five to six hours away, Udaipur about five hours via Ranakpur, and Jaisalmer about five hours.
- The last stretch: the lane to old-city hotels is narrow. Our chauffeur and the hotel's team coordinate your arrival and bags.
- Planning the drives: our guide to getting around Rajasthan explains how we do it.
What we tell friends before they stay
Ask for the fort view: the fullest you can get. At RAAS the view of Mehrangarh is the whole point.
Walk before breakfast: go to Toorji ka Jhalra at least once before the city wakes.
- Be outside after sunset: on your balcony or the terrace when the fort lights come on.
- Pack for walking: comfortable shoes for the lanes and the fort ramps, and a scarf for temples.
- Light sleepers: tell us, and bring earplugs in the wedding season.
- Mobility needs: tell us. Old-city sites have steps, and we plan around them.
- Mix it up: combine two nights here with a night in a village fort or a desert camp.