Karohi Haveli — Udaipur, Rajasthan

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We stayed at the Karohi Haveli for four nights in early December 2019 ($109/night including taxes). We are very familiar with this property having stayed there a few nights on our first visit to Udaipur in 2017. It’s a great location, virtually waterfront with great views of one of Udaipur’s iconic lakes. We booked (again) the corner room overlooking the lake. We are familiar with many of the restaurants and shops on both sides of the lake on the nearby walking streets. We reveled in seeing so many old friends and acquaintances — even though Paul was still recovering from dengue fever!

The property was undergoing a major renovation while we were there. At least half the guest rooms were gutted and being reconstructed. Surprisingly, this did not seem to impact us very much. Although we thought it was a fair amount of chutzpah to undertake the scale of their work during the winter peak tourist season. Oh well. We feel like the staff there are old friends and do not want to dissuade others too much. The rooms are unique and the location is superb. (But not all the electrical plugs worked.) The property needs some TLC (tender loving care).

Santosh Villa Homestay — Udaipur, Rajasthan

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During our two month stay in Udaipur in 2017, we frequented Gulab Bagh at least a couple of times a week. As the former zoo property in town, it’s maintained as a nice park perfect for afternoon strolls. For our second visit, we opted out of the tourist area and instead chose a home rental property near Gulab Bagh. It’s a quieter, more upscale area within walking distance of the park. We planned to stay 15 days — long enough to see old friends and see some new sights. In the end, we unexpectedly stayed three weeks until our planned departure from India.

As (a really nasty dose of) fate would have it, Paul limped into town from Pushkar with dengue fever. This dreaded mosquito-born scourge really has no medically recognized cure or treatment. With daily blood monitoring, if platelet count falls too low a blood transfusion becomes life-saving. One percent of known cases are fatal. Short story version: Paul lived — without a transfusion. Full recovery takes up to four months.

And Santosh Villa was the perfect three-bedroom luxury house for homestyle convalescence. Better than a hotel room. Included in the $109/night price was a live-in house man. An angelic young man named Lakkan who saved every day taking care of us through this difficult time. Our Jaipur-based driver Jeetu refused to leave us and was an equally valuable lifesaver and good friend. We are forever indebted to them both.

Our images below of the lovely house are limited and incomplete. See the property listing website for more pics.

Jagat Palace Hotel — Pushkar, Rajasthan

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We stayed at Jagat Palace two nights mid-November 2019 ($177/night including taxes and breakfast). It was quite stunning in many ways but ultimately overpriced and disappointing. And regarding the breakfast, it sucked. Granted, it’s a “pure veg” municipality (our first in India or anywhere) so there was no expectation of eggs-to-order. I guess with that established upfront with a predominant western clientele, why try harder regarding anything else. Too snippy?

Overall, the facility is stunning, as are the rooms, but aside from the efficient and courteous (“normal”) front desk staff, there was something vibrationally “abnormal” about everyone else working there. Too sensitive?

Festival week in Pushkar — the world-renowned Camel Festival — ended just as we were arriving. Bad timing on our part but we knew it when planning — it just didn’t work out to make the festival. We were burned out (see video review below) and seemingly everyone else was too from a busy festival week and, in our case, from already over two hard-driving fabulous months enjoying India.

We used the very good room service both nights for dinner, with excellent food, and after just one of the inclusive breakfasts, we found a taxi to outside city limits and found a proper breakfast the second morning.

Two last comments to add to the “disturbing” category: we watched the likely property owner / grande-dame berate two employees. It felt medieval. Second, Paul at departure was a few hours from commencing a full-blown, 14-day episode of dengue fever. Who knew? [For more on those unpleasantries, see “Santosh Villa Homestay” review above.] Dengue has an incubation period of 3-6 days from time of mosquito bite. So we were both sick (Rich: improving; Paul: becoming) during our stay at Jagat Palace.

Pushkar is unlikely to be a place we ever return. However, post-visit many fellow travelers familiar with this tiny town in Rajasthan universally remember it fondly. Admittedly, we didn’t see much of the place. Oh, and the air quality was atrocious and totally stultifying (PM2.5 > 270).

Kothi Heritage Hotel — Jodhpur, Rajasthan

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We stayed at the Kothi Heritage Hotel (property link) for three nights in mid-November 2019 ($132/night including taxes and breakfast). Our video review below says it all. It wasn’t a standout accommodation although there were a lot of things we liked about it. Would probably choose another location if visiting Jodhpur. Better for a two night stay, not three. The grounds are claustrophobically hemmed in by surrounding structures — one oversized high-rise is too close.

Jaipur Hotel New Heritage Hotel — Jaipur, Rajasthan

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Super conveniently near some of Jaipur’s flashiest tourist destinations (Albert Hall Museum and Hawa Mahal), along a busier street down a quieter alley is a funny little hotel we found with a really funny name! Jaipur Hotel (New). All around India, these quirky hotels are tucked down alleys here and there or on quiet streets revealing intriguing, everyday ho-hum neighborhoods — 2 stars, 2.5 stars, maybe 3.

We booked the king suite with balcony — their best room — and loved it! Really well designed room with a fabulous (quirky/funny ha ha) front desk staff. Value for money — finally!

The restaurant, however, was underwhelming for us for everything — breakfast, drinks, snacks and certainly not for dinner. Not to worry. We quickly found, in the similar ilk, Hotel Sweet Dream less than a minute just across the way with a fabulous rooftop restaurant perfect for breakfast and for afternoon beer.

We stayed four nights in early November 2019 ($83/night including taxes). Can we move in? It’s a good enough refuge in the metropolis. (PM us if you need a dependable, solid good-guy to drive you around or onward. We’ll introduce you to Jeetu.)