A DAY AT CHAPTER · BY POLO

PICK A TIME.
WALK IN.

India's loudest luxury, sorted by the hour. This isn't a brochure; it's the day itself — coffee at 7, the pool at 11, the bar at 9, the lawn at midnight. Scroll the hours. Pick yours.

05:48

The lake hasn't decided what colour it is yet.

zebra boundary

06:00 – 11:00

THE SLOW START.

Mist on the lake. The kettle. No alarm. Nobody's checking the time, and nobody's going to ask you to.

ggb

07:18

Coffee on the terrace. The good kind, properly poured.

07:46

Wake up with the view. Stay in bed anyway.

round house

08:30

The bed wins the first round.

09:00

The pastries are warm. We don't ration them.

10:15

Yes, we have a yoga mat. No, you don't have to use it.

dsfcsdcsd

09:42

The hills do what hills do.

zebra boundary

11:00 – 15:00

THE POOL WINS.

It will keep winning. Build your day around it. Lunch is long. Wear less.

sdsd

11:40

The pool wins. It will keep winning.

House rule

If you can see the bottom of your glass, somebody isn't doing their job.

42°

Pool Season: Always.

gjgjgj

13:15

Lunch is long. Plates keep arriving.

13:40

The kitchen takes the season seriously. Itself, less so.

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14:20

The afternoon lengthens. Nobody minds.

zebra boundary

15:00 – 18:00

WANDER, OR DON'T.

Waterfalls an hour one way, a sacred grove an hour the other. Or the same chair, three more pages in. Both correct.

wards lake -shillong 2A

15:30

Pause here. Let the day unfold into something memorable.

On the brand

Posh, but not the kind that asks you to whisper.

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16:05

In November, the whole city goes pink. Stunning, frankly.

17:10

The spa is small. On purpose. Book it for the whole afternoon.

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17:40

Someone is hanging lights. Worth a look.

zebra boundary

18:00 – 21:00

THE LIGHT GOES GOLD.

The hour the photos don't do justice. The music comes up; the room starts to hum. The whole point, arguably.

bggj

18:50

The light goes gold and the music comes up.

The view, named

India's second water-palace view. After Udaipur. You first.

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19:30

By the second night, the bartender knows your drink.

20:15

Dress code: whatever you'd actually wear. Within reason.

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20:40

One more, then dinner.

21:00 – 01:00

VOLUME UP.

Shillong is the rock capital of the country. We act accordingly. The lawn becomes a dance floor; the bar stops asking what time it is.

sdsd

22:40

The lawn becomes a dance floor. We knew it would.

We don't whisper here.

faff

23:10

Dinner runs into something else entirely.

01

Sound system that wasn't a compromise

42+17

Rooms across the two houses

00:20

The bar stops asking what time it is. We took the clock down for a reason.

01:00 – 05:00

QUIET, RETURNED.

The lawn empties. The lake does its thing. Stars you can actually see. Sleep when you're done.

sdsd

02:10

Stars you can actually see. Lie back. We'll wait.

The sign-off

SLEEP WHEN YOU'RE DONE.

zebra boundary

TWO OPEN. MORE ON THE WAY.

THE HOUSES.

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TRIPURA · BOOKINGS NOW OPEN

CHAPTER LAKESIDE

Wake to a water palace. India's second, after Udaipur — and nobody's found it yet. You first.

  • 17 rooms
  • Rudrasagar Lake
  • An hour from Agartala

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MEGHALAYA · BOOKINGS NOW OPEN

CHAPTER UPPER SHILLONG

A resort that puts you with the clouds, in the coolest city in the country.

  • 42 rooms
  • 5,000 sqft lawn
  • 20 min from Shillong

NEXT CHAPTER

WE'RE SCOUTING.

Another corner of the country nobody's looking. We'll tell you when it's ready, not a day before. Sign up below; we'll tell you first.

NEXT CHAPTER

YOU PROBABLY WANT TO KNOW.

Can we take over the whole hotel?

Seventeen rooms at Lakeside. Forty-two at Upper Shillong. Yes, you can have all of them. Weddings, milestone birthdays, the kind of weekend people bring up for years — that's rather the point. Tell us when, we'll do the rest.

How on earth do we get there?

For Lakeside: fly into Agartala, with direct flights from Kolkata, Delhi and Guwahati, followed by a scenic hour’s drive to the tranquil shores of Rudrasagar Lake.

For Upper Shillong: fly into Guwahati, followed by a three-hour drive through Meghalaya’s lush tea country, or fly into Shillong, with direct flights from Kolkata and Delhi, followed by a scenic hour-and-a-half drive through the hills.

Remote in feeling, wonderfully easy in practice.

Kids? Pets? Mothers-in-law?

Yes, yes, and especially. Children get hot chocolate at altitude, dogs get the run of the lawns, in-laws get the best view in the house. We're not precious.

Is the pool actually heated in Shillong?

Not heated, but the crisp mountain air makes every swim wonderfully refreshing!

When's the best time to come?

November for cherry blossoms in Shillong (genuinely a handful of places on earth do this). December–February for the migratory birds at Rudrasagar. April when nobody's looking. Honestly, any month works — we wouldn't have built here otherwise.

What does 'By Polo' mean?

Polo Hotels Group gave the Northeast its first luxury hotels — thirty years and counting. We're the house's loud, well-dressed cousin. Same pedigree, different volume.

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