UMAID BHAWAN in Jaipur - Hotel Review with Photos

India › Jaipur Hotels › Umaid Bhawan Review
Updated: March 23, 2022

Essentials
• Location: Bani Park, near Madhuban Guesthouse.
• Hotel website: umaidbhawan.com
• Hotel phone: +91 (0)141 231 6184
• Check prices for Umaid Bhawan

Review of Umaid Bhawan in Jaipur, India.

There is a palace-style vibe at Umaid Bhawan with its spacious rooms, rooftop cafe, and beautiful pool.

Umaid Bhawan – Serene and opulent palace-style guesthouse packed with charisma.

Smaller, though no less palatial than rivals, the Umaid Bhawan is at the bottom of a quiet dead-end street, but within a short auto-rickshaw trip of the Old City. The opulence (which is a little overwhelming at times) continues throughout, from the marble lobby to the alcoves of antique furniture and courtyards with fountains. Like most guesthouses in Jaipur, space is limited, and there are too many rooms in a tight area, but most are fairly spacious inside. The main attractions, however, are certainly the personable service (often lacking in larger hotels), rooftop café with traditional design, and stunning pool.

Umaid Bhawan – The Location

Address: D1-2A, off Bihari Marg (road) at Bani Park, within an inner-city western suburb. Look for the turnoff to Bihari Marg at the KP Motors showroom along Sawai Jai Singh Highway. Then turn right at the Madhuban guesthouse.
Nearest Metro: Sindhi Camp metro station is 2 km away.
Area: Nicely located on a dead-end street in a quiet suburb of middle-class housing. About 150m from the main road, which has some limited facilities.
How to Get There: From the airport (14 km, 40-minute drive), take a pre-paid taxi or walk outside for an auto-rickshaw. From other important places: train terminal (2.5 km) and main bus station (2 km).

Umaid Bhawan – The Basics

Guests: Mostly older couples seeking a heritage-style hotel with more affordable rates.
Views: Better than most hotels of this size, but still hit-and-miss. Some rooms face a corridor/terrace which could be noisy at times, while others offer limited windows and no views of any significance.
Private Pools/Jacuzzis: Not expected – or provided – at this sort of inner-city hotel in Jaipur.
How to Book: Booking.com will have the best rates.
Phone: +91 (0)141 231 6184
Email: info@umaidbhawan.com
Website: umaidbhawan.com

Umaid Bhawan – Amenities

Pool: Reasonably small, like other similar hotels/guesthouses, but the setting is gorgeous. Similar layout to a Turkish bath and flanked by colorful murals.
Spa & Fitness Center: None. Perhaps not really expected given the limited space.
Other Facilities: Clothing boutique/tailor. Puppet/dance shows. Business Center. Travel desk. Same-day laundry.

Umaid Bhawan – Food and Drink

Restaurant & Bar: The Fort View Restaurant on the rooftop provides a splendid terrace setting, with Rajput-inspired design and broad views. Some intimate tables along the edge. Meals could also be served at the stylish dining room indoors, but this is used mostly for breakfast. Also a bar, where the décor is at its most vivid.
Breakfast: Usually not included, but this may depend on how the room was booked.
Room Service: Limited service available during restaurants hours – 7 am to 9.30 pm.

Umaid Bhawan – Rooms

Room Types: Royal Deluxe Rooms • Royal • List of all Rooms
Smoking Rooms: No smoking in the rooms or public areas, but permitted elsewhere.
Best Room: Royal Suites are more spacious, and the décor is even more ornate.
For Families: Not particularly well set up for families, but certainly space for 2 extra single beds in most suites.

Umaid Bhawan – Local Transport

Walking: Streets around the hotel are comparatively quiet, clean, and safe. Only 150m from the busy main road, which offers some limited facilities.
Public Transport: The Jaipur Metro is of limited use to tourists – at least until more stations and routes are completed. The nearest station, Sindhi Camp, is 2 km away and is attached to the bus station.
Taxis & Auto-rickshaws: Taxis (unmetered) are poorly-marked and almost impossible to find without help from the hotel reception, and useless in the Old City anyway. Otherwise, Uber and Ola work effectively. However, just about anywhere, including the airport, is accessible by abundant auto-rickshaws. Some are electric and feature 2 small benches.

Umaid Bhawan – What’s Nearby?

Best Nearby Restaurants & Bars

Hotel Jaipur Ashok +91 (0)141 220 4491 – Decent restaurant in the uniquely-designed hotel, but the setting is a bit dreary. At the roundabout.
Hitchki Bar & Kitchen – Dingy bar in a basement below the Hamston Park hotel (see above), but decent meals and cheap beer.
Café Coffee Day – One in a countrywide chain of cheerful cafés serving drinks and light meals. In a colorful office block, 200m down M.I. Road from the roundabout.
Icekraft Jaipur Banipark – Finest in the region by a mile for western meals such as burgers, waffles, and tacos. Ground floor of Crystal Mall, past Café Coffee Day. (900m).

Nearby Shops

No shops around the nearby streets, but a few along the main road about 150m away. Otherwise, head into the center of the Old City (see below).

Nearby Attractions

City Palace – A frenetic maze of shops, markets, traffic, and more traffic, the Old City is both fascinating and frustrating to wander about. In the center, the City Palace (open daily from 9 am to 5.30 pm) is a marvelous example of Mughal and Rajasthani architecture, and is packed with courtyards, gardens, and museums. The nearest entrance to the Old City, Chandpole Gate, is about 2.5 km from the guesthouse, while the City Palace is about 5 km. Both are best accessed by auto-rickshaw.
Jantar Mantar – UNESCO World Heritage site featuring the world’s largest stone sundial and 18 other instruments. 1 of 5 astronomical observatories built in north India in the 18th-century by Maharaj Sawaii Jai Singh II. Right opposite the City Palace. (5 km).
Hawa Mahal – This 18th-century sandstone summer palace features 953 windows which let in cool breezes during the summer, and allowed the Royalty to view the streets below without being seen. Visit early morning to watch the sun’s rays filter through the latticework. (6 km).
Amber Palace – UNESCO World Heritage site, also known as Amer Fort among locals, featuring 4 must-see courtyards (Shila Devi Temple, public audience hall, private audience hall, and Mirror Palace), and sound and light shows in the evening. Open from 9 am to 5 pm daily. (12 km).
Nahargarh Fort – Historic defense fort overlooking Jaipur. Houses the Jaipur Wax Museum by the entrance, and features a second, updated Sheesh Mahal (Mirror Palace). (18 km).

Umaid Bhawan – The Hotel

The hotel is located in a middle-class, inner-city suburb.

The Umaid Bhawan hotel is pleasantly located at the end of a no-through road in a middle-class and inner-city suburb.

The former royal palace has been beautifully converted into a hotel.

The Umaid Bhawan is one of many heritage-style hotels in Jaipur that has been beautifully converted from a former royal palace or mansion of nobility.

Rooms in the 2 wings of the hotel offer no worthwhile views.

The hotel comprises 2 almost identical wings. Space is limited throughout, however, so most rooms have no worthwhile views.

The hotel has several alcoves with old-fashioned furniture.

Alcoves and niches all over the hotel are packed with old-fashioned furniture.

Courtyards offer relaxed seating in natural light.

Some courtyards provide natural light and particularly inviting places to relax.

Many rooms open to a terrace with seating.

Many rooms face a terrace with tables and chairs.

With so many rooms squeezed into a tight space, the extent of the garden is quite limited.

The lobby has an elegant clothes boutique.

Near the lobby is an elegant clothes boutique.

The pool has a impressive design but lacks shade and lounge chairs.

The design of the pool is particularly impressive, but it lacks shade and lounge chairs because it also has been squeezed into a limited space.

The pool features attractive traditional murals on the walls.

The walls alongside the pool feature very attractive traditional murals.

The rooftop has been converted into a cafe.

Like most similar hotels, the rooftop has been converted into a café.

Fort View Restaurant offers intimate tables and great views.

The Fort View Restaurant on the hotel rooftop provides intimate tables and fascinating views.

Every floor features a different layout and theme.

Every level features a different style and layout, especially along the terraces that link each room.

The spacious rooms feature old-fashioned furnishings.

All rooms are spacious and packed with suitably old-fashioned furnishings.

The small windows in some rooms offer less natural light.

Some rooms can be a little dark because the undersized windows offer minimal natural light.

Suites feature large window-side sitting areas.

Suites feature sitting areas alongside the full-length windows.

The main road offers a few shops and cafes.

There are very few facilities around the streets close to the hotel, but it is only 150m from a main road which offers a few Indian-style shops and cafés.