A Different India

India is often reduced to a familiar sequence: Rajasthan’s palaces, the Taj Mahal at sunrise, perhaps a tiger reserve to round things off; it works, of course, but it is also a version of the country that has been repeated to the point of exhaustion.

This issue steps away from that, and across Assam and Coorg what emerges is something quieter, less staged and, ultimately, more interesting, explored through a selection of luxury hotels that rely less on spectacle and more on what holds up over time. Not because they try to impress, but because they don’t. Nowhere is that clearer than at The Postcard, Durrung Tea Estate, our Hotel of the Year, where the experience is built without spectacle and without the need to announce itself.

And this is only the beginning, as the second part, published next month, moves further afield into places that rarely make it onto the standard itinerary: a retreat in the foothills of the Himalayas, where everything slows down; a discreet boutique escape on the Arabian Sea; and, further out still, a fully fledged resort in the Andaman Islands, where India almost fades into the background.