Delhi is the capital city of the world’s largest democracy – India. This is one of the incredible cities in the world where UNESCO World Heritage sites like Red Fort, Qutb Minar, Humayun’s Tomb are standing side by side with its super modern metro and its gleaming and luxurious shopping malls.
So early January, 2020, I was invited to Delhi for a business conference .
I am sure you have gone through tons of blogs and watched series of travel videos demonstrating do’s and don’ts when you visit Delhi- specially if you are a foreigner to India. I am not going into that. I am here to review my stay at Taj palace , new Delhi – which is one of the luxury 5star hotel properties from the heritage brand Taj in India.
For any queries about Delhi please write back in the comment section, I’ll be happier to connect with you!
No India visit is complete without checking out it’s capital city Delhi at least once and getting emerged in it’s glorious fascinating history. Similarly if you want to enjoy the extraordinary Indian hospitality, opulent luxury and spicy royal food, then Taj ( a sub brand of the largest conglomerate Tata group of India) is known to be the best in the game when it comes to Indian chain of hotels.
In Delhi, Taj has two high end hotel properties namely Taj Mahal hotel and Taj Palace other than that IHCL(Indian Hotels Company Limited) own two more boutique hotels : Ambassador, New Delhi-IHCL SeleQtions and The Connaught, New Delhi – IHCL SeleQtions.
However, if you would like to experience the true classic royalty and iconic grand Indian luxury then make sure you visit one of the higher end palace hotels of Taj.
I stayed in Taj Palace New Delhi.
The hotel is situated right in the middle of the Delhi city. Sprawling over six lush acres in the midst of prestigious diplomatic enclave of new Delhi. Its amazing how a city that normally feels noisy and regularly shows up in most polluted cities list, looks to be full of greenery when you look out of the windows of Taj palace.
I booked the Taj club room package and stayed there for 2 nights. My check-in was a late night one as my flight started around 9pm from Bangalore. Taj offered a free pickup and to avail that I had already emailed them about my itinerary before boarding my flight. The flight reached a bit early than expected. Had to wait a bit on the airport, but the beautiful shops in Delhi airport kept me interested meanwhile. The chauffeur arrived with a nameplate to pick us up. He was courteous and took our bags the moment we met. I insisted him not to, but he was more persistent and I was tired. He was good in making conversations and was speaking fluent English. We discussed about Delhi and some surrounding familiar places as we were used to live in Delhi for 3 long years. The journey from airport to Taj was great and completed with a friendly chauffeur playing nice selection of north Indian bollywood music. It was almost midnight when I could reach the hotel. Hotel staffs promptly greeted us and helped us with baggage. The Lobby area was spectacularly opulent. Here I’m attaching some pictures for you
Driver helped us with baggage since parking was a bit far away
Pickup was in Luxury sedan – Mercedes Benz C class
Lobby area’s carpet covered huge staircase
I have some concerns about check-in experience however. It was okay-ish but not so great. We were greeted by staff at gate. And then we sat in the lobby. We waited for almost 15 mins before hotel staffs showed up there. We were escorted to the room by one lady . She was very skillful and humble. She gave us thorough demonstration about all the entitlements of the Taj club room package e.g complimentary high tea, cocktail hours, free airport pickup by luxury sedan (which we had availed already) and early check-in and late checkout. Here I’m attaching the entire list for your understanding.
A glass of fresh orange juice was provided as a welcome drink.
I recommend you to book Taj club room package if you are on a #staycation specially. Their early checkin late checkout facility is very useful. You can just book for 1 day and nearly utilize the whole weekend by check-in at 9 am and late checkout upto 6 pm 🤩
We ordered room service on Day1 since I was very tired so wanted to enjoy the meal from the comfort of my room. The food was delivered by the hotel stuff on a decorative tray along with necessary plates and cutlery. However I need to mention, that the cost of the room dining food menu was exorbitantly high.
Room Dining Experience
The very next morning first thing that grabbed my attention was the stunning room view. It was a swimming pool view surrounded by manicured garden enclosed inside hotel campus and beautiful lush greenery outside. It was a treat to the eyes and difficult to believe that so much greenery is there in Delhi !
The sitting area by the windows is very comfortable and well organized
Further adding to this view was the minimalist-yet-stylish room interior. King size bed with all modern amenities like button controlled curtain, in room dining arrangement and glass walled bathroom.
The bathroom is also very spacious and beautifully decorated.
All marble flooring and marble build of the basin, bathtub etc. made for a luxurious feel.
In the afternoon from around 3:30pm they served High tea which comes as complimentary with a stay at the Club room. The tea lounge is located on the 7th floor. The decor was very elegant with huge chandeliers hanging from high ceilings with gorgeous decor. It is definitely worth a visit and I indulged some me time on the couches by the window with finest Taj tea which came along with finger sandwiches, delicious pastries and danishes. Here are some pictures for you :
Club lounge entrance – 7th floor
In around 7:30pm the same place was converted to a romantic cocktail bar and the bartender would readily prepare tastiest drinks as per your wish with unlimited hot grill veg/non-veg kebabs.
Spent an hour on the couches and watched movies on the big flat screen TV with a glass of mocktails.
For dinner they had multiple restaurants choices. I am an ardent lover of chinese food. I went to the spicy duck restaurant to taste authentic Cantonese and Chinese flavors.
Spicy Duck
We ordered Pan Fried Chili Garlic Noodles and Assorted Mushrooms in Black Sauce. The food was delicious. The ambience was both private and gorgeous (as you can check in the photos here). The staff were courteous and respectful. Overall, I had an wonderful fine dining experience.
Apart from this restaurant, there were
Orient express : European fine dining restaurant
Capital kitchen : Authentic Indian flavors , 24 hours restaurant.
Masala Bar : Famous for north Indian recipes.
Next day morning I had breakfast at the Capital kitchen with the view of the garden. Regardless to say the breakfast was an absolute delight. They had 3-4 live counters which were serving North Indian, South Indian and Continental options. So you could basically ask for whatever you could wish to have and they would make it fresh for you. Another eye catcher was the honeycomb on the table. Most of all, I specially loved to see that there were always someone from staff team to greet and ask if I needed anything. All you have to do is to indulge yourself 🙂
View from breakfast table
We spent the rest of the day exploring the hotel , clicking thousands of pictures and just taking everything in.
It was a trip to remember and worth every single penny.
I have created multiple vlogs documenting my experience at the place. Check them out and dont forget to subscribe me on Youtube. I keep on traveling to interesting places and have started to regularly create vlogs on them.