Side by side Aman Kyoto vs RAAS Devigarh

Aman Kyoto is a 26-room retreat carved into 3.2 hectares of cypress and cedar forest at the foot of Hidari Daimonji, and what you're paying for (rates run roughly 360,000 to 650,000+ yen a night depending on season) is the forest, not the city. The Kerry Hill-designed rooms run 646 square feet with private Hinoki baths, sliding doors that unfold into extra space, and tatami floors that guests keep calling the best-finished wood and tatami they've seen outside a private Japanese home. The onsen, indoor and outdoor, is the reason more than one guest calls this the real onsen hotel in the Aman portfolio, and Taka-An's set menu (six ways with one seasonal ingredient, snow crab when it's in season) gets guests going back a second night.

Two things get priced in honestly. There's no pool and no gym, which a hotel at this rate would normally include as a given, and the wellness sits entirely on the traditional onsen experience instead. And the location is a genuine split: it's 13 to 18 minutes by house car from central Kyoto, which some guests find is exactly the point (a real pull from the crowds around Kinkaku-ji) and others find makes it a poor base if you actually want to spend your days out seeing the city. A few guests also flag that the main dining room is small and breakfast feels modest set against the nightly rate, and one flat-out said the delivery felt closer to a much cheaper property at these prices.

Book it if you want a few days of quiet at the start or end of a Japan trip, ideally paired with something central like the Ritz-Carlton or Park Hyatt for the days you actually want to be in Kyoto proper. If mobility is a concern, know the paths through the grounds are uneven rock, not flat. For the forest, the baths, and Taka-An, nothing else in the city gets close.

A restored 18th-century fort in the Aravalli Hills, about 28km outside Udaipur, and the thing that separates it from the city's palace hotels is exactly that distance: no lake traffic, no crowds, just a green-marble pool and a dining room lit up at night. Guests keep ordering the molten chocolate cake on repeat and booking private dinners at the Sheesh Mahal. The restoration work is the headline here — original stonework, a genuine sense of history rather than a palace-style build done with modern techniques.

The kitchen doesn't always clear the bar its prices set. One family's gatta sabzi and dal batti churma disappointed, and another guest flatly called the food under par for a five-star given what it costs, with waiters pushy enough about ordering to notice. There's also a harder edge worth knowing about: a guest with a documented medical emergency was refused any refund on a cancelled stay, and at least one walk-in couple found the front desk rigid about property access and seating. Price in the cancellation policy before you book, because it isn't flexible.

None of that undoes what the place does well. The rooms split clearly: garden suites with higher ceilings and a private gazebo suit families, palace suites suit couples who want the grander, more enclosed spaces. Staff like Samrudh and Jamil Khan get remembered by name for a reason, and the pet-friendly policy, rose-petal arrivals and morning yoga sessions add up to a stay people rebook years later. Book it for the fort and the quiet, plan your meals before you arrive, and read the cancellation terms twice.