Heritage Hotels in India and Sri Lanka: Where We Stay
In a 200-year-old haveli in Jaipur, the city reaches you before breakfast: temple bells, and the first scooters on the lane outside the gate. Then you step into the courtyard and it goes quiet again. On a Tiwari Tours journey, where you sleep is planned with the same care as where you go each day.
Since 2006 we’ve been matching Australian travellers with heritage hotels in India and Sri Lanka. We lean towards smaller properties over big chain hotels: former merchant homes, restored palaces, tea-estate lodges and Ayurvedic retreats where the team knows your name by the second morning.
Below are the styles of stay we come back to most often, with a few favourite properties in each.
North India: Havelis and Heritage Palaces
A haveli is a traditional townhouse or mansion, built for merchants, nobility or royal families. The word comes from the Persian hawli, meaning an enclosed space or private residence.
Rooms open onto an inner courtyard, so the noise of the street drops away once you’re through the gate. Look for arched doorways, carved balconies, frescoed walls and stone lattice screens that let the breeze in while keeping the afternoon sun out. After a morning in a crowded bazaar, a haveli courtyard is a very good place to sit with a cup of chai.
What makes a haveli stay special?
- Hand-carved and painted detail you won’t find in a modern hotel
- Courtyards that stay cool and quiet in the middle of an old city
- A family story behind the building, often told by the people who still run it
- Personal service from a small, attentive team
Our favourite havelis and palaces in North India
Jaipur: Samode Haveli
Samode Haveli sits in the heart of Jaipur’s old city. Mughal-style architecture, leafy courtyards and a pool make it a calm place to return to after long days in the Pink City.
Udaipur: RAAS Devi Garh
This 18th-century palace in the Aravalli Hills has been restored with pared-back, contemporary interiors. The suites are minimal on purpose, which keeps your attention on the valley views.
Varanasi: BrijRama Palace
BrijRama Palace stands on the ghats of the Ganges, a restored 18th-century palace of courtyards and carved stonework. From the terrace at dawn you can watch the boats go out and the morning rituals begin on the river.
Kerala: Heritage Homes and Ayurvedic Retreats
Kerala’s traditional family home is the tharavad, built from timber and laterite around an open central courtyard. Sloping tiled roofs shed the monsoon rain, and deep verandas keep the rooms shaded through the heat of the day.
Several of Kerala’s best heritage hotels are made up of these homes, restored and set among coconut palms. Many also run Ayurvedic programmes, so a stay here can be as restorative as you’d like it to be.
Kovalam: The Travancore Heritage
Set on a clifftop above the Arabian Sea, this resort is built around traditional Kerala houses, with an Ayurveda centre and a path down to the beach.
Fort Kochi: Hotel Fort House
A small waterfront hotel in Fort Kochi, within walking distance of the Chinese fishing nets and the old Dutch and Portuguese quarter. It’s a relaxed base for a couple of nights before the backwaters.
Sri Lanka: Eco Lodges, Boutique Villas and Coastal Retreats
Many of Sri Lanka’s best small hotels are built around sustainability. Restored colonial villas and lodges set on working tea estates use local materials, and plenty of them grow much of what ends up on your plate.
Expect open courtyards, shaded verandas and organic gardens, with traditional Sri Lankan architecture sitting comfortably alongside modern comforts. Whether you’re up in the misty hills or down on the coast, these places are designed for slowing right down.
What makes Sri Lankan eco lodges special?
- Settings where the view and the birdlife set the pace of your day
- Design that draws on local timber and craft
- Food from the garden, often with Ayurvedic options on the menu
- Spa and Ayurvedic treatments as part of the stay
Our favourite stays in Sri Lanka
Knuckles Mountain Range: Madulkelle Tea & Eco Lodge
High in Sri Lanka’s hill country, Madulkelle has luxury safari-style tents looking out over tea plantations and the mountains beyond. Morning tea on your deck, with the mist lifting off the slopes, is hard to beat.
Dambulla: Amaya Lake
On the shores of Kandalama Lake, this eco-friendly resort has villas set in leafy grounds and a full Ayurvedic menu. It’s well placed for Sigiriya and the Dambulla cave temples.
Negombo: Jetwing Ayurveda Pavilions
A few minutes from the beach and close to the airport, this boutique hotel specialises in Ayurvedic treatment. Private villas and quiet gardens make it an easy first or last night in Sri Lanka.
A Hotel Chosen Around You
The hotel is where you come back to each evening, and where the day settles in. Often it’s the small moments that stay with you longest: tea brought to your veranda at Madulkelle, or the sound of evening prayers carrying up from the river at BrijRama.
Every Tiwari journey is private and designed around you, so we match each stay to how you like to travel. Tell us what matters to you, whether it’s a palace suite or a quiet villa with a garden, and we’ll build your itinerary from there.
