Bag the Maharani Suite if you are looking for the best. The Maharaja Suite and the rest of the 10 Deluxe Rooms follow after.

All the rooms have a classic, royal ambience: spacious with burly, vintage furniture, neck-stretching ceilings, sepia photographs in intricate frames, clunky black switches hanging on wooden boards and rich, heavy linen.

A separate dressing area and a bathroom, which could double as two rooms in a regular hotel, complete one’s quarters.

Ask for the twin-bedded Deluxe Rooms on the ground floor if that’s your need, otherwise the first-floor Suites are more atmospheric, breezier and have better views of the swimming pool or large trees straining to reach the balconies.

The first floor can be reached by a large wooden staircase that creaks beneath your feet and is fitted with brass struts to hold the non-existent carpet. Otherwise, take the lift.

The ample lounge area outside the rooms is yet another place to plonk into the deep cane chairs with a good book. The many photographs of birds around Sandur, clicked by the last Maharaja himself, keep you company.