Across Rajasthan’s storied capital, longstanding creative traditions are finding new expression through the cosmopolitan lens of forward-thinking royals and residents.

*Left to right:* Compressed watermelon salad at 1932 Trevi; The Johri at Lal Haveli’s Manek Suite. (All images courtesy of their respective establishments)

Down a narrow lane called Churukon ka Rasta—a name I’d never heard of despite being a lifelong Jaipur resident—a pastel-pink archway stands out amid the nondescript modern facades. It frames a recessed entrance with faded frescoes and intricate stonework over an ancient wooden door. Here, in a corner of Jaipur’s old walled city largely overlooked by both tourists and authorities, the Shah family has transformed their 290-year-old haveli (mansion) into a design-led boutique hotel of just 15 rooms. Padmaa Jaipur debuted last year as a tribute to matriarch Padmaa Devi Shah, whose jewelry and everyday objects are now displayed on the walls as art.

Owner Ashok Shah welcomes me into the hotel’s quiet courtyard, ringed by intimate dining spaces and, above them, open-air galleries with jaali screens and cast-iron balustrades. “Padmaa was our family home, and over generations, layers were added to make the space usable for modern living,” he says. Watching him trace a nine-square grid to explain the haveli’s layout, I recognize the matrix I studied in architecture school. It is the same grid on which Jaipur itself was designed. “When we stripped the haveli back to its original master plan, it felt like a treasure hunt,” Shah recalls. “Hidden spaces like the three-arched tibari veranda and the chandani, once an open sleeping area, all came back into existence.”

Three centuries after Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II invited craftsmen and artisans from across India to settle in the new capital he was building, that artistic legacy continues to surface in unexpected ways. Today it’s driven by millennial and Gen Z creatives who are drawing contemporary relevance from Rajasthan’s cultural heritage—and adding yet more color to India’s storied Pink City. A wider awakening is playing out across the nation, but Jaipur has been hitting its stride for the better part of a decade now.

Every time I head into the UNESCO-listed walled city from my home in the modern part of town, I find new cafés sprouting from 300-year-old markets. Forgotten heritage buildings, shrugging off layers of patina, have emerged with fresh purpose. Just a few lanes from Padmaa, The Johri at Lal Haveli opened as a bijou bolt-hole in late 2020, capturing the attention of global travelers through word of mouth and a feature in The New York Times. The five-suite property wraps around a central courtyard, with interiors finished in Jaipur block prints, lime-plastered walls, and terrazzo floors. The Johri’s namesake restaurant is also notable for its satisfying vegetarian dishes made with seasonal organic ingredients. Based on a traditional Awadhi lamb stew, the richly flavored kathal ki nihari features jackfruit so tender it could fool committed carnivores, as a friend of mine once discovered.

Even the historic City Palace in Jaipur’s regal heart is being reshaped by a new generation of royalty that has stepped up as cultural custodians. Princess Gauravi Kumari, who returned to the city after studying in New York, has transformed a part of her sprawling 18th-century ancestral home into The Palace Atelier, a living museum and concept store rolled into one. “For me, Jaipur is artistic, happy, and colorful,” says the princess. At The Palace Atelier, those traits are expressed through exuberant interiors with stripes and geometric patterns set against backdrops of blue, orange, pink, and green. The store brings together brands rooted in Indian craft, design-forward souvenirs, and books curated by the princess herself.

In late 2024, her 27-year-old elder brother, Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh, launched the Jaipur Centre for Art on the same expansive courtyard as The Palace Atelier. A tie-up with contemporary art specialist Noelle Kadar, it offers a pause from the surrounding history through rotating exhibitions and installations. “Our vision for the JCA is to make Jaipur a center for conversations that resonate both locally and internationally,” the young head of the Jaipur royal family tells me.

*Left to right:* Inside The Palace Atelier; the Museum of Meenakari Heritage.

*Left to right:* An outdoor bathtub at Raffles Jaipur; open-air galleries surround the main courtyard at Padmaa Jaipur.

*Left to right:* A cocktail at Jamavar; The Sarvato Jaipur’s founders Abhishek Honawar (left) and Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh.

The maharaja has also partnered with Abhishek Honawar—a globetrotting restaurateur and one of the hoteliers behind The Johri—to create The Sarvato Jaipur, a seasonal alfresco dining venue in a once-underused palace courtyard. This past winter, The Sarvato gained new recognition as India’s second standalone Relais & Châteaux restaurant. Six-course dinners here are built around Jaipur classics like the deep-fried snack kachori, millet breads, and ghewar, a delicate disk-shaped sweet. Those dining on the terrace enjoy a rare after-hours view of the illuminated Chandra Mahal, the royal family’s seven-story private residence.

In the hills north of town, Padmanabh Singh is bringing the almost 1,000-year-old Jaigarh Fort into the 21st century. The historic stronghold now hosts a contemporary sculpture park and the annual Jaigarh Heritage Festival, where visitors can join guided heritage walks and workshops in puppetry, folk music, and miniature painting. “This event is a bridge between generations,” he explains. “It welcomes contemporary expressions and still retains the past.”

An even newer addition to the city’s flourishing cultural calendar is the Jaipur Dance Conclave, a two-day celebration of classical Indian dance forms that debuted last November. But the granddaddy of them all is the Jaipur Literature Festival, which bills itself the world’s largest literary gathering. A diverse lineup of high-profile speakers has attended JLF over the past two decades—the Dalai Lama, Oprah Winfrey, and Malala Yousafzai among them. Held around the same time, Jaipur Art Week takes place at various monuments and cultural venues, encouraging visitors to see the city not through its past but through the work of its emerging artists.

*Left to right:* The Jaipur Centre for Art inhabits part of the historic City Palace; the tequila-based Native’s Picante cocktail at Native.

The Neelam Suite inside The Johri at Lal Haveli.

*Left to right:* A seating area at Polo Palladio; meals at The Sarvato Jaipur include a hearty rice dish.

Another factor in Jaipur’s boom is the steady influx of creative talent, many hailing from outside India. British textile designer Rosanna Falconer has taken Jaipuri block prints, my everyday wear, all the way to the dining tables of high-society Londoners. Italian expat Barbara Miolini and Dutch designer Marie-Anne Oudejans are behind some of the prettiest, most transporting spaces in and around the city, including Italian restaurant Bar Palladio and the nine-room Villa Palladio, which occupies a former rural hunting lodge.

Their latest joint project has overhauled a members-only playground at the Rajasthan Polo Club. Aside from the scalloped arches and murals of tropical flora, the dark interiors, painted horses, and chevron patterns of Polo Palladio could belong in Europe. Yet when I met Oudejans, she spoke only of Jaipur—its color, crowds, and constant motion, which inspire her maximalist designs.

Not far away in the upmarket C-Scheme neighborhood, prominent jewelry designers and brands are putting local craft traditions in the spotlight. In 2024, Sunita Shekhawat opened the Museum of Meenakari Heritage in the same red sandstone building as her flagship store. It stands as India’s sole museum dedicated to the enameled art form, a Jaipur specialty introduced from Persia in the 16th century. Here, more than 120 reproductions of meenakari jewelry are displayed alongside photographs of artifacts in major institutions and private collections around the world, while 60 original pieces by Shekhawat present a modern take on the craft. Luxury brand Amrapali Jewels—whose creations have been worn by Angelina Jolie and Catherine, Princess of Wales—unveiled a new floor at the nearby Amrapali Museum this January. In doing so, it has expanded what is already the world’s largest assemblage of tribal Indian jewelry.

Other art forms are finding expression through modern-day makers. Jaipur Watch Company embeds antique coins into its one-of-a-kind timepieces, while Namrata Kedia Design specializes in crockery and glassware made with European techniques. For a uniquely Indian touch, the latter incorporates 24-carat gold detailing and motifs lifted from local folklore, the palaces of the nearby town of Bundi, and the flowers of Kannauj, India’s perfume capital.

*Left to right:* Glassware made by Namrata Kedia Design; an aerial view of The Sarvato Jaipur.

Exhibits inside a gallery at the Museum of Meenakari Heritage.

The Raffles has a striking marble-clad facade. — The palatial Raffles Jaipur has a striking marble-clad facade.

When Raffles opened its second Indian outpost two years ago, it cemented the status of the outlying Kukas area as the city’s densest luxury hotel corridor. Indeed, Raffles Jaipur makes a grand statement with its all-white marble facade and opulent interiors; The Writers Bar was directly inspired by the striking Blue Room at the City Palace. Its signature Jaipur Sling features a saffron-infused heritage liqueur once distilled in India’s royal houses.

The Leela Palace Jaipur is another notable newcomer. Just up the road from the Raffles, it launched in 2021 with 108 garden villas and 92 rooms and suites in a main wing crowned by domed chhatris. Over 350,000 hand-pressed mirrors—a nod to the fabled Sheesh Mahal at nearby Amber Fort—adorn the hotel’s candlelit Jamavar restaurant. The menu takes a leaf from Indian royal kitchens, offering a selection of curries, kebabs, and heirloom breads.

At the far edge of the expanding city, where I once thought Jaipur had ended, Anantara made its India debut last year in the former industrial zone of Sitapura. The Bangkok-based brand may lean toward understated luxury elsewhere in Asia, but here it has gone all out, borrowing from Jaipur’s architectural vocabulary of carved facades, staggered forms, and mirrored interiors.

For all the palatial new-build hotels on the outskirts of town, a renewed interest in reviving overlooked spaces has created a series of exciting hospitality projects. One example is 1932 Trevi, which opened just over a year ago on the lawns of the Santha Bagh hotel. The restaurant and bar feels like a hidden pocket of Italy, complete with a fountain, piazza, and sunlit garden where guests sip gemstone-inspired cocktails and savor pasta dishes.

Over in the tree-lined streets of the Gopalbari neighborhood, an old house was recently revamped into a nine-room boutique hotel called Laalee. Co-owner and artist Shan Bhatnagar painted its walls in the intricate Pichwai style, derived from devotional cloth paintings used in Krishna worship. Some rooms required more than 750 man-hours to complete. The food is another reason to linger: Shan’s wife, Devyani, is reviving recipes from the Kayastha community, known for their role in royal kitchens.

Then there’s The Swinton House, a nightlife haunt that imagines how Samuel Swinton Jacob—the British architect behind a slew of Jaipur’s Raj-era civic buildings—might once have lived. Inside the restored 150-year-old mansion, a blend of art deco and Indo-Saracenic decor sets the tone for an equally eclectic menu. Indian favorites are reworked for a global audience, with snacks like Gujarati dabeli appearing at high tea; cocktails include the Sassy Jamun, which layers gin with passion fruit liqueur, spices, and yuzu foam.

Playful hand-painted murals adorn the interiors of Laalee, a boutique hotel. — Playful hand-painted murals adorn the interiors of Laalee, a nine-room boutique hotel.

The ornate mirrored dining room of Jamavar restaurant at The Leela Palace Jaipur.

*Left to right:* Courtyard seating at The Swinton House; a James Bond–inspired cocktail at Native.

Today, it’s almost hard to believe that Jaipur did not have a bar for craft tipples until Native Cocktail Room opened in 2022. Inside a dimly lit space painted with scenes of royal life, owners Simran and Karan Singh sought to create a cocktail culture anchored in tradition, with locally inspired drinks from chai punch to a julep made with Alphonso mangoes.

That playfulness is also a hallmark of Tejasvi Chandela, a Le Cordon Bleu Paris–trained pastry chef whose fresh spin on mithai—traditional Indian sweets—has taken Jaipur by storm. So much so that a second outlet of her patisserie brand Dzurt opened last October at a prime location on J.L.N. Marg, the city’s main artery. Inside, Marie-Anne Oudejans has juxtaposed pistachio-green walls and pink architectural murals with mirrors and hand-painted botanical motifs. On the counters, Rajasthani classics like ghewar are reimagined as tarts, and kulfi falooda, a popular pairing of Indian-style ice cream with milk and thin vermicelli, is scooped as gelato.

“In 2013, when Dzurt was set up in the gardens of a heritage hotel, it was an experiment,” says Chandela. “We wanted to see if French patisserie techniques could live in harmony with Indian mithais. Over time, perceptions shifted. What was once seen as foreign has slowly become part of Jaipur’s new identity.”

And yet, Jaipur has always embraced outside influences, from Persian-born meenakari techniques to design movements like Indo-Mughal and Indo-Saracenic, both of which borrow elements from elsewhere. A town that was painted pink, almost on a whim, to welcome the Prince of Wales in 1876 now carries that color as a mark of its identity. Jaipur 2.0 is but the latest phase in a never-ending cycle of creativity, a thrilling dance between past and present. This city has always made room—whether for craftspeople, artists, designers, or ideas, Rajasthani or otherwise.

Inside the colorful dining room at Dzurt Jaipur.

Pink City Planner

WHERE TO STAY

Padmaa Jaipur
With just 15 suites in a historic family mansion, Padmaa also houses a restaurant, speakeasy bar, and an upstairs pool (from US$155 a night).

The Johri at Lal Haveli
Another design-focused heritage conversion in Jaipur’s walled city, with five jewel-themed suites (from US$400 a night).

Raffles Jaipur
In the Kukas area near Amber Fort, this 50-room interpretation of a Rajput queen’s palace mixes old-world glamour with modern comforts (from US$490 a night).

Laalee
Exuberant hand-painted decor sets the tone for stays at the nine-room Laalee in the quiet yet centrally located Gopalbari neighborhood (from US$165 a night).

The Leela Palace Jaipur
A grand estate with 200 well-appointed rooms, suites, and villas in landscaped gardens at the foot of the Aravalli Hills (from US$370 a night).

Anantara Jewel Bagh Jaipur Hotel
The palatial new Anantara on the city’s southern outskirts has a spa for Indian and Thai-inspired treatments (from US$220 a night).

WHERE TO DINE & DRINK

The Sarvato Jaipur
Open from September to April in a courtyard of the historic City Palace, The Sarvato serves six-course Rajasthani tasting menus with a contemporary twist.

Jamavar
This dazzling pan-Indian venue inside The Leela Palace Jaipur spotlights the country’s royal gastronomic traditions.

Dzurt Jaipur
Pastry chef Tejasvi Chandela’s second store and café is a must-visit for her classic Indian desserts reimagined with modern techniques.

Native Cocktail Room
Jaipur’s trailblazing craft cocktail bar nods to local culture and ingredients in its fine tipples.

1932 Trevi
An indoors-outdoors restaurant and bar that brings la dolce vita to the Pink City through its menu and Mediterranean vibe.

The Swinton House
Relax from lunchtime to midnight in a revamped heritage home with glam cocktails and a globetrotting menu.

Bar Palladio
Italian fare and aperitivi are served against a maximalist backdrop at the historic Narain Niwas Palace Hotel.

The Johri
Tucked inside its namesake hotel, this 70-seat restaurant is known for standout Indian vegetarian fare made from seasonal organic produce.

The Writers Bar
Raffles Jaipur’s cocktail den and library offers a Rajasthan-inspired take on the Singapore Sling.

WHAT TO SEE

The Palace Atelier
A City Palace concept store that stocks design-forward items with a modern edge.

Jaipur Centre for Art
This City Palace space links Jaipur’s cultural heritage with global contemporary art.

Museum of Meenakari Heritage
Showcasing the art of meenakari enameling.

Namrata Kedia Design
Finely made crockery and home accessories blend European techniques with North Indian motifs.

This article originally appeared in the March/May 2026 print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“In the Pink”). Buy a single issue or subscribe here.

How Jaipur Blends Old and New in Surprising Ways