The Udaivilas in Udaipur, India; is one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever experienced. Rated as the top resort in Asia and the 5th best in the world, the seamlessly gracious service and beautiful environs truly justify these accolades.

In a city that is steeped in Indian history and surrounded by the most beautiful ancient palaces, temples and forts, Udaivilas offers the perfect sanctuary of luxury. It’s stunning setting overlooks the gorgeous blue of Lake Pichola and soothing green of the Aravalli hills. The hotel itself is styled mimicking a traditional Mewari Palace. It houses a wildlife conservatory with rolling landscaped gardens that lead to reflecting pools, open courtyards and many quiet thoughtful spaces of beauty.

However beauty aside, the food at Udaivilas is just about as spectacular as the resort. Udaivilas has three dinning venues. Udaimahal is their specialty Indian Restaurant where guests dine by candlelight on a rich variety of traditional, Rajasthani and North Indian fare. Suryamahal is the informal restaurant that is open all day. The menu here is a fusion of light Western, Mediterranean and Thai style dishes. Chandni is the dining courtyard adjoins the restaurants where guests can enjoy open air dining with traditional music and dance performances in the evening.

I thought every meal we had there was pretty darned good. I wasn’t too impressed by the cold buffet breakfast but anything off the hot menu for breakfast was superb. We had our best traditional Rajasthani meal at dinner. Their “Lal Maas”, a meat curry dish is superb and definitely a must try. The desserts were not too impressive. I would stick to the traditional Indian sweets versus western desserts. Chef Aushutosh was personally there to greet us at every meal to ensure immepccable food and service.

So if you ever in the mood to a spoil yourself and splurge, go to Udaivilas. You will not be disappointed.

Here is some of what we ate: