The Leela Palace New Delhi

Chanakyapuri, the diplomatic enclave of New Delhi, has embassies, wide avenues and very few hotels. The Leela Palace New Delhi opened there in 2011 as the group's statement in the capital, a building of domes and arcades designed to look as though it had stood in the quarter since the days of Lutyens' New Delhi.

History

Captain C. P. Krishnan Nair founded The Leela with a hotel in Mumbai in the 1980s and built palace-style properties in Goa, Bangalore and Udaipur before turning to Delhi. The New Delhi hotel opened in April 2011, after years of construction on a plot in the diplomatic enclave that the group had secured for the purpose. The palace format, with its emphasis on Indian craftsmanship and formal service, became the house's language, and the Delhi property was its most ambitious expression. In 2019 the Leela hotels passed to Brookfield Asset Management, which continues to run the Delhi property under the Leela name.

Architecture and design

The building borrows from the New Delhi of Edwin Lutyens: a central dome, deep arcades, chhatris at the corners and a cream-and-red palette. Inside, the scale is palatial. The lobby has a high domed ceiling, marble floors and commissioned Indian art, and the corridors carry inlaid stone and hand-knotted carpets. The hotel has 254 rooms and suites, which makes it mid-sized by Delhi standards and leaves room for generous public spaces, including a rooftop with a temperature-controlled pool and views over the trees of the enclave.

Rooms and suites

Rooms are large, with silk and wood finishes, marble bathrooms with separate tubs and showers, and a butler service that runs across every category. Suites rise to the presidential tier, which has hosted heads of state on official visits to Delhi, since the hotel sits minutes from the embassies and from Rashtrapati Bhavan. The upper floors look across Chanakyapuri's greenery, which is unusual in a city of this density.

Dining

The restaurants brought New York to Delhi. Le Cirque, the Maccioni family's Franco-Italian institution, opened a branch here, and Megu, the Japanese restaurant from Manhattan, took a dining room of its own. Jamavar serves Indian cooking across regional traditions, with a tandoor and a long menu of kebabs and curries, and The Qube, under a glass roof, is the all-day restaurant. The Library Bar keeps a serious whisky list and the quiet of a club.

Wellness

ESPA runs the spa, with treatment rooms, a gym and the rooftop pool, which is heated for Delhi's winter months and shaded in summer. The spa menu follows the ESPA method with Indian additions.

Weddings and events

The Grand Ballroom is pillarless and divides into smaller halls. Alongside it are a set of meeting rooms and pre-function areas, and the lawns are used for ceremonies. Delhi weddings run over several days, and the hotel handles the full programme, mehendi, sangeet and reception included, with the ballroom and the rooftop both in play. Diplomatic receptions and corporate conferences use the same rooms.

Location

The hotel stands on Africa Avenue in Chanakyapuri, beside Nehru Park, and about 20 to 30 minutes from Indira Gandhi International Airport, which is close by Delhi standards. New Delhi railway station is 25 to 30 minutes away by road. Connaught Place, India Gate and the Lutyens bungalow zone are within easy reach, and the embassies of most countries are a few minutes away. For a luxury hotel in New Delhi, the setting is the quietest the city offers.