Ayodhya
Twelve arches above the stepwell, in the oldest quarter of the holy city.
The House
Twenty-two rooms inside a merchant’s house built in 1874 and left empty for sixty years. We took the render off, found the lime underneath, and put back what the family had removed. The stepwell was dredged in 2018. It holds water again. Every room looks onto the courtyard, no two are the same shape, and the kitchen you can see into cooks what Padma Rathore’s grandmother cooked.
More about us →
41Rooms and suites
The courtyard kitchen · Awadhi home cookingBreakfast 07:00 – 10:30 · Lunch 12:30 – 15:00 · Dinner 19:30 – 23:00
One long table under the arcade and a kitchen you can see into. Chef Padma Rathore cooks what her grandmother cooked — heavy on the millet, light on the theatre.
Cocktails at the stepwell · Cocktails & small platesDaily 17:00 – 01:00 · Last order 00:30
Nine steps down, where the air is four degrees cooler than the courtyard. A short list built on what grows within a hundred miles — and a longer one of single malts.
The roof, at dinner only · Charcoal grillDinner 19:00 – 23:00 · Closed Monday
Fourteen tables on the roof, all of them facing the fort. One fire, one menu, and a rule that the lights stay low enough to see the sky.
Patisserie and chai · Pastry & teaDaily 07:00 – 19:00 · Kachori out of the fryer 11:00
A single room off the entrance with six seats and a marble counter. Croissants at seven, kachori at eleven, and the best chai in the house because it is made one cup at a time.
300 seated · 450 standing · 900 m²Up to 450 guests300seated450standing900 m²area
From ₹3,85,000 per session
120 seated · 200 standing · 216 m²Up to 200 guests120seated200standing216 m²area
From ₹2,25,000 per session
80 seated · 130 standing · 180 m²Up to 130 guests80seated130standing180 m²area
From ₹1,65,000 per session
What's here
We took the Zenana with two children for eleven nights. The kitchen, the private stair and the fact that nobody minded the noise made it work. They even found a cricket bat.
The staff let us alone, which is rarer and harder than fussing. And the food at Rasoi is the food I have been trying to find in Uttar Pradesh for fifteen years — no buffet, no ghee-drowned imitation, just what Padma's family eats.
I booked the Pavilion for one night as an indulgence and moved the rest of the trip to keep it for four. You wake up with the fort in the doorway. There is nothing else to say about it.
Offers & packages
LONGSEASON
A fortnight or more, thirty-five per cent off. For the people who come to work, to write, or to wait out a northern winter. Laundry included, a desk moved in if you need one, and the kitchen will cook to your week rather than the menu. Terms: Minimum fourteen consecutive nights. Zenana Apartment and Pavilion excluded in December and January.
Mention this code when you get in touch — it can’t be entered online.
MONSOON
July to September, thirty per cent off. The quietest and, most years, the most beautiful season here — the stone goes dark, the courtyard smells of wet lime, and the fort disappears for an afternoon at a time. Terms: Arrivals 1 Jul – 30 Sep. Minimum two nights. Prepayment required; refundable to seven days.
Mention this code when you get in touch — it can’t be entered online.
SATTVA
Five nights, five treatments, and a menu to match. One treatment a day, yoga in the chhatri each morning, and a sattvic menu cooked separately — no onion, no garlic, nothing after sunset unless you ask. Terms: Minimum five nights. Treatments to be taken during the stay and are not transferable. Consultation on arrival.
Mention this code when you get in touch — it can’t be entered online.
Where we are
What guests say elsewhere
No. Prices are before GST at 18%, which is added at checkout and shown on your bill as a separate line. Tipping is entirely optional; anything left goes into a pool split across the whole house, kitchen included.
Free cancellation until seven days before arrival. Inside seven days the first night is charged. Non-refundable rates, which save fifteen per cent, are charged in full when you book and are not returned.
From 14:00, and out by 12:00. If the room is ready we will give it to you early, and we usually can before one o'clock. A guaranteed checkout at 18:00 can be added to any booking, at no charge, if you ask when you book.
Not really. Chhat, on the roof, asks that men wear a collar at dinner. Everywhere else, wear what you are comfortable in — it is forty-two degrees in May and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
Well-behaved dogs are welcome in the Chowk Rooms and the Baoli Suite, at ₹2,500 a night. Not in the restaurants, and not in the pool, which we have had to say before.
Has run the house since it reopened. At the desk most mornings, and the person…
Cooks what her grandmother cooked, heavy on the millet. One long table under…
Twenty-two rooms, no two the same shape, and she knows which shutters stick…
Born three lanes from here. Walks guests to the ghats at first light, and knows…
Find us
Royal Heritage Hotel & Resort
NH-27, Lucknow–Gorakhpur HighwayAyodhya 271319+91 8188829090
On the Lucknow–Gorakhpur highway, ten minutes from the Ram Ki Paidi ghats
Outside those hours the night manager picks up, and can hold a room but not price one.
From this month the courtyard is lit with oil lamps every evening and a sarangi player sits under the arches from seven.
From 1 October the stepwell pool is open again from seven in the morning until sunset, with the Baoli Bar serving beside it from four.
From October, a forty-minute practice in the rooftop chhatri at 06:30 every morning except Monday, open to all guests and free of charge.
