Thursday, February 23, 2017

Ramada Resort & Spa, Udaipur

We stayed here on our first day in Udaipur. We chose this hotel based on the pricing and pictures/reviews on Tripadvisor. On arrival, we were given an option to choose for a room upgrade to the premium category for INR. 1500 - which we were happy to opt for. 

Hotel Category - 5 Star (Resort)
Location - Udaipur


Location 

This is a hill-side property located at Rampura Circle. While I may not be the best judge for commenting on the locality, the hotel is ticked away from the busy lake-side localities - which are preferred locations to stay for tourists. 


Room & Facilities 
It was a twin room designed in a ground plus one model; we occupied the one on the ground floor. The room was reasonably large sized (something that might be otherwise rare in a crowded travel city like Udaipur) and had a great visual appeal - could not decide whether it looked better in day or night. 



But that said, the hotel maintenance was below par. Our issues ranged included: broken bathroom flush, dis-functional telephone (this is a big no for a property where the lobby is a kilometer from the room), stained bathtubs, etc. 

Their other facilities included spa, swimming pool, few indoor games, a fully functional pub, etc. Specifically referring to the pool facility, they have two options - one central pool accessible to all customers and other being a private one which had a paid entry. 


Food 
Our dining here was restricted to the complimentary breakfast. The spread was decent and food just above average, 



Service
The service was patchy. While they attended to most requests instantly, our efforts to get the telephone fixed went unanswered - despite informing twice. 

On a summary note, this is a good resort if you are looking to spend time with family and relax. That said, they need to maintain the place better; which is an essential for five star properties. 

My rating for the hotel is 6/10. 

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Essentials for a Luxury Vacation to the City of Lakes - Udaipur


If you are planning your travel to Udaipur there are several questions you would like to ask yourself. To make your job simple here are some struggles I went through in making the plans:

1. How many days?
Well, everybody you speak to or every place you research would tell you that you don't need more than 3 or 4 days to fully cover Udaipur. 

While that might make sense if your target is only to cover the city, visiting nearby places of interest (Ranakpur, Kumbalgarh, Mount Abu and Chittorgarh) could make your trip a longer one.

An ideal vacation would be for 3 to 4 days if you are looking to get a comprehensive feel of the city and its culture and a day or two each for all nearby places of interest. 

2. Where to stay? 
The biggest question one needs to answer is the kind of vacation they plan to have. Especially given that Udaipur has some of the country's most premium hotels - it might be worth considering them:

Ultra Luxury Hotels (priced INR 40-60k per day range)
a. Oberoi Udai Vilas
b. Taj Lake Palace - Heritage hotel located in the middle of Lake Pichola; there are no options to even dine here unless your staying with them)
c. Leela Palace 

Other Luxury Hotels (priced in INR 10-25k per day range)
a. Trident (part of Oberoi group)
b. Fateh Prakash Palace
c. Lakeend
d. Lalit Lakshmi Vilas
e. Shiv Niwas Palace

Other Hotels - Just search on trip advisor and you would find a decent number of options across all price segments. Interestingly, the city has palace styled hotels in all price segments.

3. How to get here?
For travelers from Chennai - it is likely that you would have to stop over at Mumbai/Delhi if you chose to fly.

Not discussing train routes here as I am no authority on the same.

In my next few posts, would talk about my experiences - hotel stays, places visited and dining sessions; stay tuned for more