360º Leti
Uttaranchal, India
Tel : (+91) 11 4173 4788
Conceived by an Indian psychoanalyst and located on the roof of the world, this retreat is an experience unlike any other. When the overnight train from Delhi can go no further, you are collected by car for a nine-hour drive, with the option of rustic overnight stays in countryside where leopards roam free. Higher and higher you climb, until the road peters out, and you resort to one-and-a-half hours on foot, along a mountainous goat track. Then, suddenly, on a bank, there it is: four discreetly lovely modern cottages around a central living and dining room – all dry stone walls, slate floors, river pebbles, Burmese teak, glass, brass and cossetting hand-woven pashminas.
This is ‘camp’, perched at 3,000 metres in the Himalayan foothills, within sight of the holy peak of Nanda Devi. 360° refers to the view, spectacular over snow-capped mountains and deep valleys crimson with rhododendrons in spring. Days are spent relaxing: yoga, guided walks through mountains and lost villages where time has stood still, then sitting round your terrace fire as the setting sun turns the Himalaya pink and a melancholy owl hoots his haunting monotone. With a maximum of eight guests, attentive service, no communications or electricity (solar power provides light and hot water), peace and comfort is total.
And there’s no stinting on prandial pleasures. A miraculous supply of wines (think of hauling provisions up here!) lubricates delicious organic meals, home-grown and prepared by a Tibetan ex-monk. 360º Leti redefines the concept of luxury – you are in heaven.
Teresa Levonian Cole
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