Narain Niwas Palace

Tucked behind a screen of old trees on Narain Singh Road, a short drive south of the Pink City's ramparts, Narain Niwas Palace is one of Jaipur's quieter architectural surprises.

• It was raised in 1928 as a country residence by General Rai Bahadur Thakur Amar Singh of Kanota, a Rajput noble whose meticulously kept diaries are prized by historians of colonial-era India.
• Unlike the grand fort-palaces that crown the city's hills, this was a private garden retreat, and it still reads that way: low, symmetrical wings around a shaded verandah, set within roughly ten acres known as Kanota Bagh.
• The building is a study in the Anglo-Indian taste of the late 1920s, when Rajput householders folded European ideas into their own idiom.
• Classical columns, deep colonnaded porches and high ceilings meet distinctly Indian frescoes, carved detailing and hand-painted walls, while the interiors carry an unmistakable Art Deco streak in their furniture and fittings.
• The effect is layered rather than showy, the look of a family home that grew richer with each generation rather than a monument built to impress.
• The gardens are the real reward for a visitor.
• Mature lawns, flowering shrubs and mango trees soften the light, and a scatter of old cannons and weapons, once part of the family's role in defending Jaipur, sits among the greenery as reminders of the estate's martial past.
• Peacocks are a common sight at dusk.
• Because the palace has operated as a heritage hotel since 1978, casual visitors should treat it as a garden and architecture stop rather than a ticketed museum: the lawns and exterior repay a slow, unhurried look, but interior access is generally reserved for staying guests, and it is courteous to ask at reception before wandering or photographing.
• For the vegetarian traveller, the palace itself is best kept to the garden and its architecture; skip any in-house food or drink and plan your meal elsewhere.
• Central Jaipur's dependable pure-vegetarian kitchens lie only a couple of kilometres north, clustered around MI Road and the old-city bazaars, so it is easy to pair an early-morning stroll here with breakfast or lunch in town.
• Carry water and go early, before the heat builds.
• Set aside less than an hour.
• Narain Niwas rewards travellers who like their heritage low-key and green rather than monumental, and it slots neatly into a morning that also takes in the nearby Albert Hall Museum and Ram Niwas Garden before the walled-city crowds gather.