In Sanskrit, nilaya means ‘abode in the blue’, or simply heaven, and the name couldn’t be more apt. You’re up in the gods, looking down on Goa’s coastal plains from a hillside eyrie; a tropical Shangri-la dreamed up, we think, by artists and eccentrics for emperors and escapists.

Rooms

There are 11 unique and stylish rooms, each designed around a cosmic theme; some cut into the hillside and accessed via steps that disappear beneath the pool terrace; others in Hobbit-like cottages, scattered around the grounds. All except Ganga (a spacious suite at the top of the main building) have a small private terrace or sit-out space; most have big picture windows with views of the gardens; none of them conform to any standard shape or regular form. Star, for example, is housed in a round kiln-like laterite dome; Sun (or Surya in Sanskrit) is a subterranean womb of sculpted curves and light sunny yellows. Fire has a wide bed and a little balcony in the trees; Soul and Little Moon have adjoining balconies, and are ideal for family use.

In all rooms, expect an eclectic mix of colonial antiques and ethnic Indian furniture (from Gujarat or Rajasthan), four-poster beds draped with muslin, or kingside platform beds that rise from polished terazzo floors inlaid with swirls of colour. But for all the glamour, remember that this is the jungle: expect squirrels, the occasional monkey playing on your terrace or on your roof, or the odd frog in the shower.

Bathrooms are madly eccentric – some-semi outdoors and all crazy-paved with china mosaics in whatever colour scheme suits the room – but they are well-equipped with efficient showers, hairdryers, cotton robes, shower gels and shampoos and thoughtful little extras, like tubes of mosquito repellent. There are no phones in the rooms, but a call button swiftly summons room service; there’s no TV either, though you can order a DVD player and screen if you want to watch a film.

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