The Imperial New Delhi, Review: The Last Hotel of Its Kind

As spectacles go, the long line of exotically caparisoned elephants stretching away into the far distance, with their snooty memsahibs and bejeweled maharajahs perched atop them as they parade past the Red Fort amidst a phalanx of meticulously attired Indian soldiers, is as spectacular as it gets. It has me rooted to the spot – and not for the first time. Whilst in most hotels, including some of the world’s most prestigious, the journey from room to reception desk, restaurant, or swimming pool is a mundane and invariably visually underwhelming undertaking. That’s not the case at New Delhi’s Imperial Hotel.

The sprawl...