SAMBHA Staycation
Tree of Life, Jaipur
Hi guys,
This one is about a quick trip me and my wife took to Jaipur (from Delhi) in February.
I had been involved in a project for upwards of six months by then, and to be honest, I really needed a break. February being my birthday month, my wife chose to gift me a 'staycation' for my birthday. Tree of Life turned out to be every bit as relaxing as advertised on its website.
Disclaimer: This is a thread about my experience on this trip, including the experience of this hotel property. Being a 'staycation', it will focus more on the experiences at the hotel. It is NOT a paid advertisement. The video and images shared below may seem well shot - that is all my hard work done completely for free! Hopefully it can help others decide on their weekend plans around Delhi-NCR or Jaipur! Check Out The Video of Our Experience: SAMBHA Staycation | Tree of Life Jaipur Why a Staycation?
Well the idea was simple. Get me to a place for which travel time was limited to a couple of hours. And that didn't too much pre-planning and pre-booking. Last minute changes/cancellation was a real possibility.
And once we get to the place, we didn't want a hectic exploration/visit schedule. We wanted to just chill.
Hence, the place needed to have ample stuff to do within the premises, while also offer stuff one chills with. For me, chilling is lazing around, sitting in a pool, preferably one that allows some 'pet-puja' (food & beverages), and that offers some privacy.
Most places around Delhi that offer this end up having loud groups, and that wasn't the particular vibe we were going for.
Now without further ado, let's start our Tale-
e-Staycation!
We started at about 8 in the morning from Delhi, which meant we did find some traffic moving towards Gurgaon and onwards to Manesar.
Check out the beautifully done Land Rover with its all black treatment in the video. All traffic related woes were quickly forgotten :)
The all black Land Rover
Now the Delhi - Jaipur route is already well documented.
Or is it?
We found many interesting things along the way:
A yard filled with fuselages from two aircraft 
A miniature village very beautiful done. Unfortunately it's kept in a location where most would miss it in their urgency - near the washrooms :) 
It was a smooth drive all the way till the outskirts of Jaipur. One needs to move towards Jaipur city (and not onto the Jaipur bypass), and there's a thin road going towards Tree of Life on the right. There's no gap in the median to make this right, so take a U-turn about 200 mtrs away, and then take a left.
Why I wanted to specify this is because first timers would normally hesitate going onto this thin road, thinking Google maps is making a mistake. But it isn't.
The thin road eventually turns to this:
As you approach the property, the driving adventure only gets better. Drive through a dry river bed, and as you get to the other side, take a left turn, and you're quickly greeted by the hotel entrance on the right.
Driving across the river bed
The hotel entrance:
Entry to Reception Area
We waited in the reception area while our rooms were prepared. The check in itself was a smooth affair. I was beginning to like the place.
We were then led to the individual villas. Now depending on one's preference, one can go in for a garden villa or a villa with a private pool. We chose the one with the private pool, that also came with private outdoor couple's massage beds.
The entrance to our villa
The back side with the private pool, outdoor shower, and the couple's massage tables at the very end
The villa itself has a humungous amount of space. There's a living room, and a giant bedroom. There's also an attached changing area, and a huge bathroom. The private pool is on the back side, and can be directly accessed from the drawing room, the bed room or even the bath room. Convenient, but the only problem is ensuring everything's locked when going to bed at night.
The entire villa + outdoor area is surrounded by its own boundary wall. On stepping out of this 'private' zone, one can explore the very interesting property.
Also available are a gym, an infinity pool (open to all guests), wonderful lawns with various fruit trees, and the breakfast area.
We first explored the infinity pool and the surrounding areas. There's a nice gazebo near one edge of the pool. On the other edge, the pool ends onto a view of the lawns and the aravalli hills in the distance. This made for the perfect sunset view point.
The gazebo near the pool
The view of the hills in the distance and the sunset
On our first evening, we enjoyed the private pool despite the cold February weather.
On the second day, we chose to have a relaxed breakfast first.
The Breakfast location:
The breakfast itself 
We really enjoy going to properties that grow their own produce. The freshness of the ingredients, specially the raw fruits and vegetables is simply amazing. The food itself is quite nice, and that was a relief, because this property is pretty far from any other decent restaurants. Which means we were stuck with whatever they served there. Though expensive, the food variety is decent, and preparation quite professional. Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options are good.
The lawns surrounding the breakfast area:
It was fun spotting different kinds of birds, insects, trees, and flowers within and surrounding the property.
An orange tree:
Some interesting flowers:
A bird in the distance:
I'm told that this property has a lot of interesting birds. If you're into bird sighting, do visit this area. I tried capturing pictures of some of these.
Then we got a couple's massage on the private outdoor massage tables.
We lazed away in the private pool the rest of the day, and went over to the infinity pool to enjoy the sunset.
The infinity pool:
The sunset:
The next morning, we got ready to leave for home.
Looking back at the domes on top of the villas:
And then we made our way back to Delhi. The drive back was mostly a smooth affair.
I'm quite surprised by how trucks overloaded with marble coming into this region from various parts of Rajasthan are allowed to
absolutely ruin the roads, creating deep grooves. I've been noticing this since many years now.
It took us about 4 hours to get back home in Delhi from the hotel.
What I like about the Location:
- Approx 4 hrs from Delhi - makes for a good weekend getaway
- Far enough from Jaipur city to be closer to nature and to have clean air
- Near enough to some interesting tourist points in Jaipur such as Amer fort
- Allows visitors to experience the life of rural Rajasthan
What I don't like about the Location:- Far enough to not want to explore most deeper parts of Jaipur city
- The dry river bed approach is makes things a tad bit inconvinient for those travelling on low GC cars. I was in a Honda City, and it wasn't the easiest thing to drive across
- The approach road from the highway is a bit narrow. And local taxis driving along tend to be at high speeds. It can be unnerving crossing them in the opposite direction with barely any width to spare.
- Far from any other food options, so have to eat at the property itself - this monopolisation can be costly to the visitors.
- The road from the highway gets a little deserted as you come in. This can sometimes also make it seem unsafe. I'm not fully aware of the safety aspect, but I did not see a single police vehicle. Thus, I can only assume that driving on this road is safest in daylight.
It was a nice relaxing journey overall.
Hope you guys enjoyed reading this.
Cheers,
Sam
