On a low hill, just outside the royal city of Mysore, stand a shimmering white palace - a splendid Italianate palazzo, double-columned and domed - set in sparawling terraced and landscaped gardens. This is the Lalitha Mahal Palace, built by the erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore to host his most important guest, the Viceroy of India.

The Lalitha Mahal is now one of India's most opulent hotels, a palace hotel that offers an experience of princely living in a real Maharaja's palace. Set on a ridge commanding a panoramic view of the gently sloping and curving valley, at the foot of the Chamundi hill, this dream-like palace was built in the year 1931 for special guests of the Maharajas. The building is a majestic, two-storey composition of twin ionic columns, a projecting porch on the ground floor, spherical domes with laterns and the central dome which dominates the elevation.