"A 300-year-old, six-room haveli on Amber's main square, reopened in 2021 with all-day views of Amber Fort"
Most Jaipur hotels promise you Amber Fort as a day trip. Surya Haveli gives it to you at breakfast, at tea and lit up at night — the haveli overlooks Amer's main square directly below the fort's honey-coloured 16th-century walls, and the hotel says it is the only place to stay with all-day views of the fort. Around the doorstep: fruit and vegetable stalls, textile houses, ancient temples, and the occasional elephant strolling past. The sights of Jaipur city are a short drive away.
The haveli's 300-year-old records are lost, but the family says historians reckon it was most likely the grand mansion of a minister of Maharaja Man Singh I, the king who built Amber Fort. By the time Thakur Bhim Singh of Rampura and his daughter Madhu Singh inherited it, the building was dilapidated. Madhu Singh brought in specialist restoration artisans from across the country — no small task, given the original structure was built of lime with no bricks or cement, roofed with gigantic stone slabs from the Aravalli foothills. Knocking down partitions revealed the original pillars of the central courtyard. After three years of work, Surya Haveli opened in February 2021, named after Amber's Sun Temple.
Six bedrooms, each named after a chamber in Amber Fort and papered in bespoke wallpaper by designer Adil Ahmad — Mughal motifs, maharajas' hunting scenes, pomegranates. Four doubles sit on the second floor (Sukh Mahal, Chand Bagh, Kesar Bagh, Anar Bagh); the first floor has the twin Shikar Bagh and the snug queen-bedded Chota Bagh. All have white marble bathrooms with power showers, and a lift reaches the first and second floors — itself a saga of the restoration. You can also take the whole haveli.
Three venues plus a bar: the Amer Sky rooftop restaurant, where the sun sets behind the fort and the evening light-and-sound show flickers in the distance; the Amber Dining Room, its wallpaper marching with elephants; and Surya Chowk, the fountain courtyard, for meals al fresco. Dar-Bar on the first floor pours cocktails beside a small library. Candle-lit private dinners can be conjured in the haveli's secret corners.
Surya Haveli is at Gandhi Chowk in Amer, Jaipur, overlooking Amber's main square directly below the fort walls. The hotel says the fort is only a stone's throw away and that the haveli is the only place to stay offering all-day views of Amber Fort.
The family dates the haveli to around 300 years old, though its records have been lost; historians and locals say it was most likely the grand mansion of a minister of Maharaja Man Singh I, who built Amber Fort. After a three-year restoration it opened as a hotel in February 2021.
Six individually designed bedrooms, each named after a chamber in Amber Fort, with bespoke wallpaper by designer Adil Ahmad. Rooms can be booked individually or the whole haveli can be taken.
Three venues plus a bar: the Amer Sky rooftop restaurant with views of Amber Fort, the elephant-wallpapered Amber Dining Room, and the Surya Chowk courtyard for al fresco meals, alongside the first-floor Dar-Bar. Candle-lit private dining can also be arranged.
Check-in is 2:00 pm and check-out is 11:00 am. Rooms have a maximum occupancy of two adults plus one child under seven in existing bedding.
Yes — the hotel lists elevator access to the first and second floors and a swimming pool among its facilities, along with in-room dining, Wi-Fi and a doctor on call.
Second-floor double reminiscent of Amber's pleasure palace, singing of grandeur with its decoration of Mughal motifs.
Florally-decorated second-floor double overlooking the Akbari mosque, which looks beautiful in the moonlight.
Second-floor double named after the saffron garden created above Amber lake, the Kashmiri saffron depicted in brightly-coloured floral wallpaper.
Second-floor double with a vibrant wallpaper design of pomegranates.
First-floor twin room, stylishly decorated with hunters-on-horseback wallpaper as a nod to Amber's hunting history.
The smallest room, on the first floor, with a queen bed and floral wallpaper lit up by light streaming through the bathroom window.
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