Luxury Tent
Contact RARE Team for Rates
RAAS Chhatrasagar, Nimaj
16Rajasthan, India
Glamping on a check dam, overlooking a reservoir and wilderness.
RAAS Hotels is a collection of five distinct properties across Rajasthan and the Kumaon hills, each rooted in place and shaped by a clear vision for heritage conservation, cuisine and luxury accomodation. Founded in 2009 with the opening of the flagship RAAS Jodhpur — the city's first boutique hotel, built around an 18th-century haveli at the foot of Mehrangarh Fort. The brand has since grown to include a stunning hill fort palace near Udaipur, a wilderness camp beside a reservoir in rural Rajasthan, a 19th-century royal residence in Jaipur, and a retreat in the forests of Kumaon. No two properties are alike, each a defined by its location and experience design aligned with the destination story. What stays the same is the reliable RAAS luxury, service and training.
What holds them together is a shared commitment to heritage, to sustainability practised on the ground rather than announced in brochures, and to the belief that luxury and responsibility are not in conflict. Since 2016, RAAS has operated without single-use plastic across all its properties. Water consumption has been reduced by 85% through greywater recycling, aerators, and rainwater harvesting. Each hotel maintains its own kitchen garden; since 2020, RAAS has grown its own organic wheat and pulses.
The portfolio has been recognised on Condé Nast Traveller's Hot List and Gold List, in Tatler's 101 Best Hotels in the World, and with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture — among the most demanding juries in the world. RAAS Jodhpur was awarded Holiday Building of the Year at the 2011 World Architecture Festival. RAAS Chhatrasagar was the first hotel to be listed on RARE, a distinction that speaks to how early and how deliberately this brand walks the talk.
Operational Period
Open throughout the Year
Contact RARE Team for Rates
Contact RARE Team for Rates
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What you would love
Set amid the gorgeous backdrop of the Aravalis, flanked by hills that are the main pillars of the check dam it stands on, and the perennial reservoir in front, RAAS Chhatrasagar embodies luxury in the wilderness. Every detail of the experience has been consciously crafted, choosing the more immersive path, as well as design and decor. It is perfect for discerning wilderness lovers, slow travellers, couples seeking seclusion, and families seeking to enjoy glamping in a setting that is inspired by nature and inclusive of the communities around.
Your Stay at RAAS Chhatrasagar, Nimaj, Rajasthan
The 16 tents are generously proportioned and east-facing, each with uninterrupted views over the reservoir, ensuite bathrooms and a private sit-out from which to watch the light move across the water, watch birds and look out for wildlife along the edge of the water. The design palette runs to soft natural tones of khaki, taupe and browns, with the tent canopy and walls. embellished with small embroidered details such as local birds of colour perched on grass, twigs or in flight.
Skylights over comfortable beds, and Jodhpur stone paired with teak furniture — understated and considered is the kind of luxury that matches its location. Four family tents and two twin tents are designed for small groups who travel together. Air-conditioning ensures comfort through the warmer months; the forested setting and proximity to water do the rest.
Perfectly RARE
Spend three unhurried days here, easing into rural Rajasthan’s laid back rhythm. Walk up to one of the hillocks for sunset views over the dam, take a bird book and binoculars along when you head to the reservoir at first light, and end the day with a cocktail by the campfire beneath a star- spangled sky. RAAS Chhatrasagar has been voted by guests as one of the most romantic places they have been to in the subcontinent.
Destination
RAAS Chhatrasagar, one of Rajasthan’s earliest glamping retreats and the first RARE Hotel, is where quiet luxury begins. Nimaj sits between Jaipur and Jodhpur, in the farming heartland of Rajasthan, where the Seervi and Gujjar communities have worked the land for generations. The Aravalli hills, heavily mined along most of their length, form a ragged horizon to one side; over-farmed plains stretch to the other. Into this landscape, more than two decades ago, the Nimaj family chose a different path — turning agricultural land back into wilderness and protecting the reservoir that Thakur Chhatra Singh built a century ago as a water-conservation site for the surrounding villages. The result, across 1,500 acres, is a landscape that has returned to itself: native trees and grasses, over 250 species of birds, nilgai, wild boar, and the occasional leopard. The camp sits at the edge of the reservoir, facing east. Sunrise here, from a tent with the water in front of you and the hills behind, is one of the many reasons people return. A sanctuary for discerning travellers, RAAS Chhatrasagar invites you to rest, repose, watch birds and blend with the slow pace of rural Rajasthan. Now a destination in itself, every detail is shaped by a landscape left to flourish and a team devoted to hospitality.
Design and Concept
Nature is the governing principle of this camp. Sixteen air-conditioned tents are set along the dam's edge, tucked into a forested enclave where the reservoir determines the mood — silver and still at dawn, bronze in the last hour of afternoon light and golden at sunset. The design takes its cues from what thrives around the water: vintage furniture, wildlife-inspired furnishings, and one-of-a-kind pieces throughout give the camp an aesthetic that feels thought through and added over time rather than installed at once. Ramps and a lift connect the camp to the dam level, making the site accessible year-round and for all guests. A spa and heated pool complete a retreat that was inspired by royal camping tradition when it began — Chhatrasagar belongs to the fourth-generation of the Nimaj clan — and has been shaped and secured by RAAS into something more permanent without losing its tranquility and soul which is why it was worth protecting in the first place.
Know Your Host
The land belongs to the fourth-generation descendants of Thakur Chhatra Singh, whose name the reservoir carries. Their commitment, from the beginning, was to conservation: to hold a piece of Rajasthan back from the encroachment pressing in on all sides. When Nikhilendra Singh of RAAS Hotels found a shared vision with the Nimaj family, the partnership was a natural one — heritage and landscape, preserved together. The Seervi and Gujjar communities remain at the heart of the camp's daily life and most of the team is local. The farming rhythms of the nearby villages are not a backdrop here — they are part of the experience.
Dining
The food philosophy at Chhatrasagar is farm-to-table in the most direct sense: fresh, organic produce from the kitchen garden, prepared simply from signature recipes that has been a part of the early Chhatrasagar days to a more global menu that can appease the global traveler. The all-day dining restaurant serves authentic Rajasthani food alongside Indian and some international specialities, in a lakeside setting that makes the meal feel like part of the landscape. Private dining is available at secluded spots along the reservoir or on the hillock with specially curated menus paired with chosen views. Pre-dinner cocktails by the bar or campfire - a camp ritual always under the brilliantly lit sky, nightcaps under open sky: the rhythm of an evening here is unhurried.
Experiences
A private cooking session with the chef, building a four-course dinner by hand, is one of the more intimate ways to spend an afternoon. A curated dinner by the pool — fragrant rose petals from local farms, candlelight, moonlight and stars reflected in the water nearby — is a surreal experience that will stay on as fragrant memory. Picnic lunches beside the lake, boating at sundown, and wilderness safaris into the 1,500 acres of restored land are activities best taken at a slow pace. Village immersions take guests to show farming life of the Seervi and Gujjar communities. The walk is not for spectators, but for curious but respectful learners from another walk of life wanting to understand and learn from the daily lived rhythms of people and their connect with the land.
The spa offers restorative treatments; yoga is available for those who want to begin the day saluting the sun. The heated pool is a favourite for those who prefer to stay close to camp and let the day arrive slowly. Perched on a hilltop above the reservoir, the RAAS Chhatrasagar Wellness Spa offers couple therapy rooms with private outdoor areas for treatments in exclusive outdoors — perfect as sunrise or sunset rituals. Heated flooring, steam, Himalayan scrubs, mineral wraps, and oil massages complement a yoga programme that includes pranayama, meditation, and Yoga Nidra, all set against uninterrupted views of the lake and wilderness. Wellness here is dictated by landscape that demands pause and quiet.
Explore Around
Birdwatching and Wildlife Safaris
Over 250 bird species have been recorded across the Chhatrasagar reserve — residents, winter visitors, and summer migrants whose presence shifts with the season. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times, when nilgai, wild boar, and the occasional leopard are also most likely to show. Guided safaris into the 1,500 acres of restored wilderness are led by naturalists who know where the light falls and where to wait.
Boating on Chhatrasagar Lake
A boat on the reservoir at dawn or dusk is a different way to move through the same landscape — slower, quieter, and closer to the water. The stillness is conducive to birdwatching; the views back to the camp and the hills beyond give the surroundings a scale that isn't visible from the shore.
Village and Farm Visits
The guided visits to the Seervi and Gujjar villages offer real access to the agricultural life of rural Rajasthan — the farming practices, the seasonal rhythms, the warmth that has always characterised this part of the state. Guests who want to participate, not simply observe, are encouraged to do so.
