Delhi, North & Central India, India

A classic Raj-era hotel with oodles of period character, the Maidens first opened its doors in 1903 and was where visiting VIPs used to stay before the advent of Lutyen’s New Delhi. This explains its slightly off-centre location near Kashmiri Gate – an area that’s peaceful at night and, being mid-way between Old and New Delhi, well placed for sightseeing (the nearest metro station’s only a five-minute walk away).

The rooms are huge, with typically British high ceilings and luxurious bathrooms, and you’ve the run of an eight-acre garden where guests can enjoy a cold beer and poppadum on the lawn watching the buzzards cavort in the branches of trees that have been here since the King Emperor’s last Durbar.