RusherRacing
Adventurer
India Hotels
Every place we stayed had excellent service! The all the rooms had harder foam mattresses unless noted.
Apple Velvet - Delhi http://www.velvetapplehotels.com/
This boutique style hotel was nice more budget friendly place in a fairly central location. Like a lot of things in India it was a little rough around the edges. Modern Décor was a nice touch. But for the price in Delhi – I would recommend it. It was clean and quiet! Which in a city of 14million people a quiet place is important.
Grand Imperial Agra - http://www.hotelgrandimperial.com/
Very nice old world heritage hotel was great and the price was a bargain for the area. The room we had was HUGE! Comfy King Bed pillowtop , sitting area with a window overlooking the pool. It was completely furnished in Antiques. The room was one of the nicest on the trip. The breakfast buffet was average, so was the room service. The biggest complaint has nothing to do with the hotel. But music over a loud speaker at a nearby church was horrible! Other places also had this same music but it wasn’t so loud. I think it is part of the Muslim culture but I honestly don’t know.
The Bagh - Brataphur http://www.thebagh.com/
This was also a heritage hotel set on 12 acres of gardens. The rooms are in pods, with like 4 rooms to each pod. Our room was large, clean, and bright! The bathroom was top notch – large glass shower etc. The garden’s and the pool were spotless. This place was empty – we may have been the only guests. They did have an issue with power. A couple different times the power went out and the AC stopped working long enough for the room to get really warm a couple different times.
Taj Jai Mahal – Jaipur http://www.tajhotels.com/Leisure/Jai Mahal Palace,JAIPUR/
The first Taj Experience was a great one! If you are used to Hilton and nicer hotels in the US and that is what you expect while traveling, stay at the Taj group of hotels. They are as nice as or nicer than any hotel I have stayed at while in the US. The Taj hotel group has their stuff together! The staff was top notch, polite, and extremely professional! They made you feel like royalty – that’s probably because most of the guests that stay at the Taj hotels are among the top tier in society. They were a little stuffy when it came to something that could ruin their image, Junker cabs or rickshaw’s not being allowed on property etc…
But now onto the hotel itself. It was a grand place, with a beautiful courtyard. The fountains in the courtyard were dry, which did take away a little from the experience. I could just imagine what it would have looked like with all the fountains they had. Our room was a little small, but had a huge bathroom and separate dressing area. The restaurants were good – we even went to an Italian one. They had 3 restaurants. The grounds were huge and lit nicely at night. We went for a dip in the pool and a romantic stroll around the property. It was great to get away from the craziness that lay beyond the walls.
Tiger Machan Resort - Sawai Madhopur http://tigermachan.com/
I had a really hard time finding a place within our budget in Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambore NP). We wanted to stay in the luxury tent style accommodations or a Heritage Hotel we knew AC was a requirement. We had a couple to chose from at vary levels of cost. Aman, Oberoi, Taj all $300+ a night in this area. There were not any reviews on the Tiger Machan but I was struggling trying to book at the two heritage hotels in the area. And the other luxury tent style accommodations had very mixed reviews at a higher cost. We took a chance!
Well a drastic change from the Taj we stayed at the previous couple nights! We wanted to stay in one of the tent style accommodations as we thought it would add to the overall feeling of getting out into the wilderness. However what we did not know was that this was a brand new “hotel”. So new in fact we were the very first guests! Talk about a creepy feeling. They did not have a CC machine up and running so I paid in cash upon arrival. The staff and head guy were all very friendly and tryed to make our stay enjoyable as possible. There were no pillows in our “tent” so they had to find them. They were actually under the bed. The biggest downfall of this place was the fact it was so new things like power didn’t work all the time. The area is known to have power issues and all the major hotels have auto backup systems in place. The AC in the room kept going out, and being a tent took a little bit to keep up in the 100+ Deg weather.
I believe our payment for the couple nights we stayed went to buy the large generator that arrived on our 2nd day.
But overall I could tell that this would be a nice place to stay eventually – just not when we did. They had a lot of bugs to get worked out.
Ratan Vila’s - Jodhpur http://www.ratanvilas.com/
This was another nice heritage hotel and like the rest had great service, clean and comfortable. The food was good, and they even fired up the kitchen when we arrived really late due to the train. In the morning we at breakfast and then hit the road. I am not sure why we only stayed here one night. If I was going back this is where I would stay.
Taj Hari Mahal - Jodhpur http://www.vivantabytaj.com/hari-mahal-jodhpur/overview.html
This is more along the lines of a large upscale hotel in the US with a little bit of Indian flair. It had the Large lobby with a courtyard and pool, Banquet rooms off the sides etc. The rooms were very large with really tall ceilings. It was a Taj so it was over the top with service and quality. Our room had a musty smell to it, but besides that it was fine. It did have a big American style pillowtop king bed, with lots of pillows. This hotel had one of the nicest buffets we ate at during our trip.
Jagat Newas - Udaipur http://www.jagatniwaspalace.com/
This was an awesome hotel. When we first arrived we thought the cab driver dropped us off in the wrong location but he insisted he was correct … We were not in front of the beautiful hotel in the photos. But instead in a tiny street, we had to walk back to our hotel down a little alley until you came to the front desk. It is small heritage hotel with a roof top restaurant. The restaurant had great food. The room was very nice, and the window seat was a nice addition. The location ended up being great, as those little tiny streets around it were filled with shops and nice shop keepers.
K.C. Residency -Jammu
Honestly I am not sure why one would travel to Jammu unless it was for business or friends/family. This hotel is one of the nicer ones in Jammu but for US standards I would rate it poor. The hotel was very dated, and musty. The location was good and there were plenty of shops around including the gov ran nicknak shop. (maybe a little more money but you get the real deal).
If I was doing this trip again I would highly recommend staying in the Heritage Class of hotels. They are clean comfortable and offer a better overall value than the Taj or nicer hotels. Plus they are historical buildings with that grand feel that you just can’t get in a modern more commercial hotel. Most do not have pools but that isn’t that big of issue (unless you are in Ranthambore then spring for a pool!)
Here is a link to a couple more photos from the hotels.
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e191/RusherRacing/India/Hotels/
Every place we stayed had excellent service! The all the rooms had harder foam mattresses unless noted.
Apple Velvet - Delhi http://www.velvetapplehotels.com/
This boutique style hotel was nice more budget friendly place in a fairly central location. Like a lot of things in India it was a little rough around the edges. Modern Décor was a nice touch. But for the price in Delhi – I would recommend it. It was clean and quiet! Which in a city of 14million people a quiet place is important.
Grand Imperial Agra - http://www.hotelgrandimperial.com/
Very nice old world heritage hotel was great and the price was a bargain for the area. The room we had was HUGE! Comfy King Bed pillowtop , sitting area with a window overlooking the pool. It was completely furnished in Antiques. The room was one of the nicest on the trip. The breakfast buffet was average, so was the room service. The biggest complaint has nothing to do with the hotel. But music over a loud speaker at a nearby church was horrible! Other places also had this same music but it wasn’t so loud. I think it is part of the Muslim culture but I honestly don’t know.
The Bagh - Brataphur http://www.thebagh.com/
This was also a heritage hotel set on 12 acres of gardens. The rooms are in pods, with like 4 rooms to each pod. Our room was large, clean, and bright! The bathroom was top notch – large glass shower etc. The garden’s and the pool were spotless. This place was empty – we may have been the only guests. They did have an issue with power. A couple different times the power went out and the AC stopped working long enough for the room to get really warm a couple different times.
Taj Jai Mahal – Jaipur http://www.tajhotels.com/Leisure/Jai Mahal Palace,JAIPUR/
The first Taj Experience was a great one! If you are used to Hilton and nicer hotels in the US and that is what you expect while traveling, stay at the Taj group of hotels. They are as nice as or nicer than any hotel I have stayed at while in the US. The Taj hotel group has their stuff together! The staff was top notch, polite, and extremely professional! They made you feel like royalty – that’s probably because most of the guests that stay at the Taj hotels are among the top tier in society. They were a little stuffy when it came to something that could ruin their image, Junker cabs or rickshaw’s not being allowed on property etc…
But now onto the hotel itself. It was a grand place, with a beautiful courtyard. The fountains in the courtyard were dry, which did take away a little from the experience. I could just imagine what it would have looked like with all the fountains they had. Our room was a little small, but had a huge bathroom and separate dressing area. The restaurants were good – we even went to an Italian one. They had 3 restaurants. The grounds were huge and lit nicely at night. We went for a dip in the pool and a romantic stroll around the property. It was great to get away from the craziness that lay beyond the walls.
Tiger Machan Resort - Sawai Madhopur http://tigermachan.com/
I had a really hard time finding a place within our budget in Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambore NP). We wanted to stay in the luxury tent style accommodations or a Heritage Hotel we knew AC was a requirement. We had a couple to chose from at vary levels of cost. Aman, Oberoi, Taj all $300+ a night in this area. There were not any reviews on the Tiger Machan but I was struggling trying to book at the two heritage hotels in the area. And the other luxury tent style accommodations had very mixed reviews at a higher cost. We took a chance!
Well a drastic change from the Taj we stayed at the previous couple nights! We wanted to stay in one of the tent style accommodations as we thought it would add to the overall feeling of getting out into the wilderness. However what we did not know was that this was a brand new “hotel”. So new in fact we were the very first guests! Talk about a creepy feeling. They did not have a CC machine up and running so I paid in cash upon arrival. The staff and head guy were all very friendly and tryed to make our stay enjoyable as possible. There were no pillows in our “tent” so they had to find them. They were actually under the bed. The biggest downfall of this place was the fact it was so new things like power didn’t work all the time. The area is known to have power issues and all the major hotels have auto backup systems in place. The AC in the room kept going out, and being a tent took a little bit to keep up in the 100+ Deg weather.
I believe our payment for the couple nights we stayed went to buy the large generator that arrived on our 2nd day.
But overall I could tell that this would be a nice place to stay eventually – just not when we did. They had a lot of bugs to get worked out.
Ratan Vila’s - Jodhpur http://www.ratanvilas.com/
This was another nice heritage hotel and like the rest had great service, clean and comfortable. The food was good, and they even fired up the kitchen when we arrived really late due to the train. In the morning we at breakfast and then hit the road. I am not sure why we only stayed here one night. If I was going back this is where I would stay.
Taj Hari Mahal - Jodhpur http://www.vivantabytaj.com/hari-mahal-jodhpur/overview.html
This is more along the lines of a large upscale hotel in the US with a little bit of Indian flair. It had the Large lobby with a courtyard and pool, Banquet rooms off the sides etc. The rooms were very large with really tall ceilings. It was a Taj so it was over the top with service and quality. Our room had a musty smell to it, but besides that it was fine. It did have a big American style pillowtop king bed, with lots of pillows. This hotel had one of the nicest buffets we ate at during our trip.
Jagat Newas - Udaipur http://www.jagatniwaspalace.com/
This was an awesome hotel. When we first arrived we thought the cab driver dropped us off in the wrong location but he insisted he was correct … We were not in front of the beautiful hotel in the photos. But instead in a tiny street, we had to walk back to our hotel down a little alley until you came to the front desk. It is small heritage hotel with a roof top restaurant. The restaurant had great food. The room was very nice, and the window seat was a nice addition. The location ended up being great, as those little tiny streets around it were filled with shops and nice shop keepers.
K.C. Residency -Jammu
Honestly I am not sure why one would travel to Jammu unless it was for business or friends/family. This hotel is one of the nicer ones in Jammu but for US standards I would rate it poor. The hotel was very dated, and musty. The location was good and there were plenty of shops around including the gov ran nicknak shop. (maybe a little more money but you get the real deal).
If I was doing this trip again I would highly recommend staying in the Heritage Class of hotels. They are clean comfortable and offer a better overall value than the Taj or nicer hotels. Plus they are historical buildings with that grand feel that you just can’t get in a modern more commercial hotel. Most do not have pools but that isn’t that big of issue (unless you are in Ranthambore then spring for a pool!)
Here is a link to a couple more photos from the hotels.
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e191/RusherRacing/India/Hotels/
But with limited vacation and a 4 month old my travels are more limited for now.