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Vagabond
Male, Age Range: 36 - 45, Mumbai, India

Aagaman Inn Alappuzha (Alleppey)
4.9		rating
1 Person reviewed this Hotel View all reviews

Here I am reviewing the Aagaman Inn home-stay as well as the Houseboat stay. The houseboat review... .. Here I am reviewing the Aagaman Inn home-stay as well as the Houseboat stay. The houseboat review is also necessary because no website has the option of reviewing houseboats including HolidayIq and people searching for those reviews don\'t get any info. Aagaman Houseboat - Now in particular about Aagaman houseboat, we were given “Kayalrani” houseboat, which was a little old. The door of the toilet broke down and the crew member fixed it later when the boat was parked in the evening. AC in one of the room did not work and fan speed was also low. In the middle of the night there was a power failure and we groped in dark calling the crew member who came after a while and started the inverter. ACs could not be run on the inverter. Good it was winter otherwise it would have been pretty difficult for us with small kids. Food was good, but in the day time they gave limited chapattis. When we asked for more they just said they made only those many. In the night though they prepared enough chapattis for us. Aagaman Inn Homestay - I have experienced homestays before this. In Konkan at Gokul Harihareshwar it was worst and in Coorg it was pretty expensive. At Aagaman I found it is splendid. The only reason is the budget and service. It is very reasonably charged and they had given us the entire ground floor so our whole group could stay together. It was a nice experience in itself living with you extended family in the same house in distant place. The rooms were clean, ACs were fine, we had remotes to set them, geysers in all the rooms so no worry of hotwater. More » « Hide

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Alappuzha (Alleppey), Kerala
Vagabond, Mumbai, Posted Date: 6th January 2012

They say, Kerala is where Alleppey is. And that’s the only gist of my review. Kerala is just..... They say, Kerala is where Alleppey is. And that’s the only gist of my review. Kerala is just Alleppey, the speciality of Kerala is backwaters. That’s the only unique theme of Kerala tourism and Alleppey is the place for it. You have better Munnars & Thekkadys in India elsewhere but not Alleppey, barring the Narmada Cruise of Jabalpur which is a great backwater experience. While in Alleppey try going for the houseboat cruise. And if you can tolerate a little bit of inconvenience and discomfort then even go for overnight stay in the house boat. The houseboat travels from your check-in to 5.20 pm, when they drop the anchor irrespective of anything. All the houseboat drivers & crew members come under a union which decides everything. So you will find rates, timings, routes everything fixed and rigid. But nevertheless, it will be your best experience. After 5.20 pm, the boat is parked at its designated place and the captain leaves, the crew gets busy in preparing dinner for you while you wait in the houseboat without any activity. Depending on the season your inconvenience would vary, in summer it could be horrible because the ACs in bedroom will start only after 9 pm. Also there could be insects bothering you in the evening if you are sitting in the deck. You might opt for a day trip which will begin at 10-10.30 am and end at 5.30 pm. Go back to you hotel and relax. But if you are there for overnight stay, in the morning at 8.00 am they will take you on an hour’s extra ride. But nothing much lost even if you opt for day-cruise. The overnight cruises start from 12.00-12.30 noon which is two hours later than day trip. Moreover overnight cruises are much more expensive too. Kumarakom and Alleppey have same themes – backwaters. The Kumarkom houseboats are more expensive and if you take Alleppey, you also can visit the beach. Although Alleppey beach is not good for swimming. More » « Hide

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Ambadi Hotel Thekkady(Periyar)
4.6		rating
31 People reviewed this Hotel View all reviews

We did not have great experience here, but I think it was mostly because we went during the... .. We did not have great experience here, but I think it was mostly because we went during the Christmas week, the hotel was house-full due to which they were having problems in everything. But if you have designed a hotel for 100 guests I think you should be able to cater to 100 guests at any point of time. The rooms were nicely done up, but we had to call them repeatedly for towels, water, soaps. At no point of time we got the hot water. We had to get up early in the morning at 4.0 am to buy the boat cruise tickets, so there was no hot water. Then we came back in the afternoon at 1.00 pm there was no hot water. We were told that hot water is available only from 6.0 am to 11.00 am. And in the evening. Moreover you have to let go a few buckets of hot-tap water for the hot water to come. And if no other guest is using hot water at that point this could be even be 10 bucket-full of water just to be thrown. For a person like me, it was waste of water and time. Also when we were going for cruise early morning, we could not see the steps as there were no lamps. The hotel is based on jungle theme, so they are trying to simulate it like real jungle, but it does inconvenience the guests, if they don’t know this beforehand. The restaurant was also over-crowded and there was a long waiting and all our order was served at once. Usually we have chapattis as we finish, but here they brought all the chapattis together. And when we needed a few more we had to again wait. Taste-wise the curries were nice. Thekkady happens to be the producer of spices, so it was quiet natural. More » « Hide

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Emerald Inn Hotel Munnar
4.9		rating
48 People reviewed this Hotel View all reviews

This is a budget hotel. They have taken great care in making up everything right from the quilts... .. This is a budget hotel. They have taken great care in making up everything right from the quilts to linen and curtains. Their tariff is like a luxury hotel but it is not a luxury hotel as such. Nevertheless you don’t regret because rooms are done up nicely. For the tariff they charge I felt they should have provided heaters during winters, which they don’t. There is a complimentary breakfast which has limited options but the supply is good. More » « Hide

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Munnar, Kerala
Vagabond, Mumbai, Posted Date: 6th January 2012

Among all the hill-stations I have seen, Ooty, Kodaikanal, Manali, Nainital, Mahabaleshwar,..... Among all the hill-stations I have seen, Ooty, Kodaikanal, Manali, Nainital, Mahabaleshwar, Coorg-Medikeri, Munnar, I will rate Munnar much below others. Just a little better than Nainital because Naini is highly commercialized and filthy. I did not find anything special about Munnar. Every Hill-Station has tea-coffee gardens, some points viz. Lovers’ point, Echo points etc. Munnar too has the same. The Echo point however does not echo whatever you do. Because it is a hill station it is very expensive, which is not at all justified. If you have done the Hill-station theme at other places, you may skip this. Else, just go to stay there for a day or two to relax. Some people blog that we can go and trek in the sandalwoods from Munnar, but it is not so. The Sandalwoods are more than 70 kms from here and they are fenced. Ordinary people can’t enter and have to see them from outside, standing on the roads. So nothing special or very unique about Munnar. More » « Hide

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