I and Vishal went for a weekend to the Neemrana Fort Palace near Alwar last weekend. As I am not supposed to travel long distances, this sounded like the best option we could find near Delhi. Normally, staying at a five star resort is not my version of a holiday at all. I think you should spend less on accomodation and more on travel and eat what you can get. But considering the fact that I get breathless climbing a single flight of stairs, currently my travel options are limited. We left in the afternoon after I finished my scheduled surgeries on Friday and it took us three hours to reach there from Daryaganj. The Gurgaon toll road and the Jaipur highway were pleasantly free of traffic in the afternoon. Vishal is currently thrilled with the GPS navigator on his phone and I have to admit its kind of fun watching the blue dot (us) slowly eat up the road and move towards the red dot ( the hotel).
The hotel is located just a couple of kilometers off the highway but those two kilometers wind through a little village and are pretty rough and bumpy.I do think the Neemrana people could put in a little effort to maintain it better. After parking the car, there was a pretty steep winding walk to get to the reception with me clinging to the metal railing and watching the luggage laden porters whizz bye. Oh the bygone era of taking steps two at a time! We stayed at the Gujarat Mahal on the first day and in the Gagan Mahal on the second day. The Gujarat Mahal was located in the central courtyard and was a pretty large room with a huge marble lined bathroom. What I liked most was a marble stool in the bathroom where you could sit down and take a bath. Cool if you are ten kgs overweight in a lopsided fashion. Here comes the doozy ! No T.V.! I thought Vishal would cry and drive us back post haste. However, he manfully gritted his teeth and got through the weekend by downloading loads of apps and games on his i-phone.
Child rearing tip: Teach the kid how to read at an early age. Its the best survival skill ever. You can get through anything from hours in a Doctors waiting room to eating alone at a restaurant if you have a book to hide behind.
Dinner was a buffet served in a hall on a different wing of the hotel. Getting there involved me navigating dozens more flights of stairs. The food was decent but nothing to rave about. The breakfast spread was much better. They had the usual spread of cereals, fresh fruit,juice, varieties of bread and fruit preserves, two kinds of eggs,porridge and a vegetarian dish (poha on one day,idly the next).The swimming pool is open air and located on one of the courtyards. The pool is a little small but a nice place to splash around in especially with kids. In fact, the guests primarily consisted of young couples with kids. Oh and I spotted a couple of super nannies on holiday. I now have some burning questions I need answers to. Does the nanny get to eat at the 1000 Rs per head buffet as well and where does she sleep ? With the kids or are there special nanny rooms ?
Our room on the second night was right at the top of the fort, up another gruelling flight of stairs. Great views and a strong fresh breeze though. This room was tiny and probably used by the night sentry on look out duty in olden days. Reminded me of those hill station cottages with odd nooks and crannies. We took the audio guide tour of the fort and realised there were a lot of hidden stairs and courtyards and the fort was a lot bigger than we had thought initially. I have never taken an audio guide tour before and realized that I am that nerd who is not satisfied until I see every corner and window and portrait that is mentioned. The owners need to credited for the painstaking restoration of the fort. However, somehow I didn’t feel the majesty and romance and the vague melancholy of the past. Some of the atmosphere has definitely been lost in the process of building swimming pools and conference halls.
If you are an Indian headed to Neemrana, I would definitely recommend that you opt for one of the medium-high budget rooms and plan a stay of two days at the maximum. The Firangs might fancy a longer stay because of the novel experience of staying in an actual fort. A single nights stay is also a good option for travellers driving in from Delhi.
Adventure sports in the form of zipping on cables suspended between the valleys is a big attraction and looked like a lot of fun. It is organized by a company called Flying Fox and is something I would definitely try on a repeat visit.
