The Leela Palace New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is one of 5 municipal administrations that make up the territory of Delhi, the capital of India. Its 17 million inhabitants make it the second most populated city in the country after Mumbai.

New Delhi was built by two English architects, Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, after King George the Fifth decided to transfer the capital from Calcutta to Delhi. The capital was inaugurated in 1931 and its impressive style is a tributeto the grandeur of the British Empire.

New Delhi, with its wide spaces, abundant greenery and parks is totally contrary to Old Delhi which was noisier, more compact and especially more populated. The inhabitants are primarily well to do, and the city is home to numerous official administrations as well as being the seat of the Indian Parliament and foreign embassies.

The city is a Mecca for shoppers thanks to Connaught Place with its many luxury boutiques. More protected than other Indian cities, where rich and poor coexist without any visible boundaries, New Delhi is a cocoon, a gentle way to approach and discover India, a land with infinite cultural wealth that often takes new arrivals by surprise.

A modern day palace

Located in the Chanakyapuri quarter, in the heart of the diplomatic enclave and surrounded by large green spaces, we find the Leela Palace with its imposing, absolutely impossible to ignore monolithic façade. Opened in 2005, the hotel was created not to complete with, but to be on a par with the imposing architecture of Edward Lutyen.

Gigantic elephants in carved stone welcome the visitor before discovering the sumptuous and vast, high ceiling lobby crowned by a crystal chandelier made in Turkey. This lobby-lounge is a favorite venue of diplomats and businessmen for “afternoon tea” in a filtered and elegant atmosphere. From this same lobby, guests can head for one of the 260 rooms and suites proposed by the hotel, or take a moment to contemplate the impressive Devi, a statue representing a Hindu goddess who in turn represents three different female divinities.

Contemporary art plays an important role in the hotel with several paintings and sculptures that blend in very well with the splendor and opulence of this richly decorated and ornate site.

For the most demanding guests, there is the Royal Club, a hotel within the hotel, a specialty of the Leela Palace, with its own reception area and its own privileged features including champagne, an all day and night buffet and butler service. Luxury and serenity reign supreme here in an even more filtered ambiance worthy of royal antechambers.

Dining at the Leela Palace is once again a visual as well as a high level gastronomic delight. The Jamavar serves Indian specialties below its vertiginously high ceiling of brown and gold. The Megu proposes contemporary Japanese cuisine in a magnificent setting including for example, a crystal Buddha mounted on a 400 kilogram bell. Finally, the Cirque, a New York restaurant chain which has been exported to some of the world’s most beautiful regions, proposes a delicious blend of French and Italian cuisine.

The splendor, luxury, elegance and the incomparable notion of hospitality of theLeela Palace make it exactly what it was intended to be at the outset: a palace built by a modern day Maharajah.

The hotel has an infinity swimming pool on the roof with an incredible view of the magnificent capital, an oasis of greenery, far from the hyperactivity so typical of the city’s streets.