Run by the Taj group, the Ambassador, near Lodhi Gardens and Humayun's Tomb, is set on well-kept grounds. It lacks the colonial elegance of some of the grander hotels, but the service is excellent. The 88 rooms have modern furnishings. Ask for a "superior" rather than a "standard" guest room: The latter are small, but the "superior" rooms have balconies. Guests may use the health club and pool at the nearby Taj Mahal Hotel (owned by the same group). There is a bar, H20+, a Chinese restaurant, Larry's China, and the diner-like Yellow Brick Road, a sunny all-day coffee shop. The hotel has various small shops selling books, garments, and souvenirs.

Popular with corporate travelers and Western tourists who are in India only because their spouse insisted, this hotel is in the heart of South Delhi's business district, with views of the Lotus temple and the southern skyline. There is every possible amenity for globe-trotters, willing and otherwise; you can, for instance, request a printout of a newspaper of your choosing from anywhere in the world, and the service is impeccable, with a staff that speaks English, French, German, and Japanese. The 87 Club InterContinental rooms come with numerous perks, including complimentary breakfast, cocktails, snacks, and a daily paper delivered to your door, as well as butler service and a private lounge. There's a 72-foot outdoor pool, along with a well-equipped fitness center with yoga and aerobics studios. Guests can choose from five dining options, including the excellent Singh Sabib restaurant, which serves Punjabi food that even travelers with the most staunchly Western palate may well take a liking to.

One of New Delhi's most elegant hotels, the Oberoi has 279 luxurious rooms and suites. Fine as the accommodations are, they suffer somewhat (and they are not alone in the city in this regard) from being in a building constructed in the 1960s, when men, and not women, still had most of the say about how much space should be allocated to a hotel bathroom. Rooms overlook either the Delhi Golf Course or Humayun's Tomb. They are furnished in contemporary Indian style and have granite bathrooms. The spa has a range of massages, masks, and scrubs, including Chakra head-and-shoulder massage. The most popular of the hotel's several excellent dining alternatives is the fusion restaurant Threesixty°; locals say they come for the sushi but really are there to let the rest of the city know they have arrived. Service at the hotel is excellent but verges on obsequious at times.

At 220 rooms, the Park, centrally located at Connaught Place, is too big to justify its billing of itself as a boutique hotel. And the screen of clear glass beads meandering through the lobby—an attempt at urban chic, Delhi style, by Sir Terence Conran and his makeover team—suggests there's a leaky ceiling rather than being a testament to design genius. Get beyond first impressions, though, and the design whimsy, liveliness, and (not least) the 35-foot bar that ends with a dance floor make this a fun place to stay.