A Weekend Trip to Neemrana

It was our first wedding anniversary and we had a weekend at our disposal. We wanted to spend this time between ourselves and not offering 3D (Drinks, Dance and Dinner) parties to relatives (like on our wedding).

I started looking for options for place around Delhi so that we do not have to spend the entire weekend driving to a faraway hill station. After exploring a lot of options, I finalized the heritage Neemrana Fort resort in Alwar.

Since we booked at last time so there were not many options left but we booked a double bed room known as GulabMahal (The pink Room). There are various categories of rooms available in Neemrana and you can get the list at the following link:

http://fort-palace.neemranahotels.com/rooms

On the day of our anniversary (Saturday) we started in the morning for our weekend stint. It took us nearly 3 hours to reach there because of the road condition and also because the road to Neemrana could be easily missed if you are too lost in that music in your car.The road to the fort is pretty steep and narrow; so you need to be very careful.

As I got out of our car the view was breathtaking. Neemrana is a beautifulllllll fort on a small hill, overlooking the valley (read jungle) and very well maintained. It was like being transformed to a different era of rajas and maharajas.

Our room was on level 3 in old wing and we followed a passage to a huge lobby with old wooden chairs, tables and swings to reach GULAB MAHAL. Everything was quaint and vintage, the bed, dressing table, small sofa and the cute little jharokha (small balcony) from our room.

After freshening up in state of the art bathroom we started our tour of the fort. It is a huge fort with narrow passages, hanging garden, many terraces and a bawari (small water body where queens used to swim). There are also modern facilities available in the fort like swimming pool, spa, games room etc.

All the rooms in Neemrana are quite secluded from one another and you will not get the feel of being in a populated resort. They give you the complete atmosphere of an old fort with no one in near sight which became a little spooky for me in the night. In fact at one point during our day tour we reached a garden which was very dense with various species of trees and plants and we could not see anyone around and the whole environment gave me goose bumps.

I think this whole environment is set on purpose to give people a real feel of olden times.

I am not sure about other rooms but our room did not have a TV but there was a common TV and games room. Then there are various activities like zipping (adventure activities), camel ride, tour in vintage car, step well trek and a very good spa.

Highlight of our stay was the evening high tea, which is served on a terrace overlooking the beautiful sun set (inclusive in your stay package) and is an amazing with various varieties of teas, cakes, cookies and Indian snacks like pakoras. It was a real therapeutic experience.

On most Saturdays they have cultural activities for the in house guests and we enjoyed our share of rajasthani dance and music. There was a very good setup on one of the varandas, with bar, snacks and multiple cultural kaleidoscope followed by a buffet dinner in the outdoors. The buffet dinner was a bit disappointing as it was not at all value for money. The charges were 2500 per person and choice was very limited with a poor taste.

We took another tour in night as the fort looked beautiful with all its lights, just like a birthday cake with millions of candles. Another annoying thing at night was the cats in the fort. They kept on howling whole night and added to my spooky feeling, although my husband found it quite amusing and funny. As per him it was their mating call.

Breakfast, which was included in our package, was a reasonably good spread and was again set out in one of the verandas but there was an indoor option too.  Since it was beginning of November we enjoyed ours outside while soaking up the sun.

All in all it was a very good trip and we enjoyed the beautiful fort. I would definitely want to go there again but would prefer a day trip this time.

The Day Trip

The day trip to Neemrana can be done by booking your tour in advance with a charge of 500 per person on weekdays (9:00 am to 3:00 pm) and 750 per person on weekends (12 noon- 3:00 pm).

In day tour people are allowed to visit only the public areas for two hours and other facilities like pool, spa and evening tea are not available, but you can have buffet lunch which is reasonably priced at 1100 (weekdays)/1200 (weekend) per person.

Neemrana is a beautiful heritage fort and I would suggest it as very good day trip or weekend trip option for people staying in Delhi NCR. The best time to visit would be from Oct to Feb as it could be quite hot in summers.

So enjoy the trip and do not forget to share your experiences… good and bad both.