Wild Mahseer Homestay — Adabarie Tea Estate, Assam

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We stayed three nights in early October 2019 ($167/night including taxes and full board — breakfast, lunch and dinner) at Wild Mahseer Homestay (property link). Following our busy time around Guwahati and our float on the Brahmaputra river, visiting Wild Mahseer was the perfect quiet getaway for a few days. Surrounded by famed Assam tea plantations and less than two hours from the river town of Tezpur, it is also the perfect launching point into Arunachal Pradesh or nearby national parks. It’s a very well run homestay with a great, helpful staff. The central gathering room exudes a bygone era of an old-world parlor where we befriended an intriguing mix of other guests to comfortably share evening cocktails and dining.

In addition to our generously-sized, (relatively) more value-priced accommodations, included on the property is the grand Bura Estate. There, you’ll find a sprawling old-world tea estate home with impeccable grounds featuring three bedrooms each renting for between $500-600/night. There were no Bura guests during our stay and we got a peek at this stunningly decorated gem. Included are a few of those pics below. Also, watch our video review below.

Uploaded by None on 2020-01-23.

Polo Towers — Shillong, Meghalaya

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Kolkata-based Polo Group of hotels manage, among others, two properties in Meghalaya: Polo Orchid Resort in Cherrapunjee and the Polo Towers in downtown Shillong. We stayed at both properties and video reviewed both properties together. Find that video following the pics below.

We stayed two nights at the Polo Towers in early October 2019. We paid an obscene $179/night including tax and breakfast. It was during the absolute peak of the Durga Puja festival. Consequently, limited supply jacked up the price. Typically, the rate could be maybe half this cost.

The convenience of being central city Shillong during festival time had to be balanced against an older building in need of some attention. The lobby is gorgeous as are other common areas. Management and staff was top rate. Our room felt dated and tired (especially given the price). We speculate other rooms have been refurbished.

Fine for a two-night transition visit from the highlands down to the river valley. The Don Bosco museum was impressive. And the colorful Durga Puja festival celebration included elaborate and varied pandals displayed throughout downtown. Some of the activity pics are also included below.

Polo Orchid Resort, Cherrapunjee, Meghalaya

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Kolkata-based Polo Group of hotels manage, among others, two properties in Meghalaya: Polo Orchid Resort in Cherrapunjee and the Polo Towers in downtown Shillong. We stayed at both properties and video reviewed both properties together. Find that video following the pics below.

We stayed three nights at the Polo Orchid Resort in early October 2019. We paid a whopping $301/night including tax and breakfast. It was during the Durga Puja celebration when every last domestic tourist flocks to the premier destinations like Cherrapunjee. It’s remote and absolutely superb. Meghalaya is pure magic. We added it to our short list for a possible return visit. Our bungalow was snug with great views and nice touches. Great management and staff.

Radisson Blu — Guwahati, Assam

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We stayed five nights (across two visits in three weeks) at the Radisson Blu near the Guwahati airport ($123/night including tax). The first four nights allowed us to explore the northeast’s biggest metropolitan area. The last night was a comfortable transition to catch an early morning train for onward travel.

You know what you get with the Radisson Blu chain of hotels in India. We’ve stayed at a few here and there. As a business-style hotel with 4-star amenities it is priced lower than 4.5/5-star Accor or Novotel-branded properties with, we think, similar touches. When on the road for months on end, an occasional value-priced, high-end pampering is just the ticket.

This Blu was remodeling a portion of the lobby (no harm, no foul), the centerpiece of which was a gorgeous sculpture (that needed to be on a raised platform several meters /snip/). The two best public spaces in the overall gleaming facility were the super stunning bar (you have to search for it) and the super-stunning pan-asian restaurant. Expensive but worth it. The room was above average, as you would expect. We get tired of the chilly-ish corporate veneer after a few days but it delivers in all the right ways when you need it — superb room service, laundry service, great concierge services and lots of good hot water.

Hotel Saffron Crest — Siliguri, West Bengal

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What a surprise! At a crossroads in north Bengal in the (gritty) town of Siliguri we found a great hotel! A wet lowland area, tucked into India spitting distance from the borders of both Bangladesh and Nepal, Siliguri typically receives up to 13 feet of rain a year! This commercial center of one million people is the nearest airline gateway en route to/from Darjeeling and also serves as the major railway hub connecting northeast India (Assam, Meghalaya, et al) with north and east India (Kolkata, Delhi and all other points west and south).

We transited through for two, one-night stays (late-September and mid-October 2019) for just $56/night including taxes and breakfast. Iconic Mumbai-based architect Premier Nath exquisitely designed Saffron Crest, a solid 3-star hotel, but with gobs of 5-star touches throughout.

Undoubtedly and rather inexplicably, one of our most stylish hotels stays ever. Newsflash: stylish for $56 per night! And with great service and food! [We don’t say “stylish” and “$56” in the same breath very often!]

If you’re ever going through Siliguri, book it! Convenient enough to both railway stations and the airport.

Elgin Hotel — Pelling, Sikkim

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Died and gone to heaven! We truly found "hotel shangri-la" at the Elgin Hotel in Pelling, Sikkim! And it's not mythical! (Property website link.)

We stayed two nights in mid-September 2019 ($153/night with taxes, breakfast and dinner). When we walked into our room, it was warm, the lights were on and waiting for us. Seems like a “no-brainer” to have the bellman run up while we were checking in and just do some little touches like this. It was a long journey (for us, five hours) from Gangtok. What a welcome!

While not fully visible during our visit, the room view is of stunning Mount Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. Drinks before dinner each night in the lush, inviting lounge adjacent to the entry lobby. For Paul, the room decor alone prompted a whiskey with a beer chaser. Basudev is the consummate butler. He worked for the Elgin group for 12 years at their Darjeeling location and now 6 years in Pelling.

Our room rate included a spectacular dinner both nights we were there. Tied for best service *ever* (with an evening we once had at Michael’s restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada USA). What a well-run hotel! (It didn’t hurt we got cherry brandy upon walking in the door...) Now this is the hotel lobby we want to walk into every time!

Lemon Tree Hotel — Gangtok, Sikkim

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We stayed three nights in mid-September 2019 at the Lemon Tree Hotel in Gangtok, Sikkim ($121/night including taxes and breakfast). We drove from West Bengal and stopped at the State border to be issued, free of charge, the mandatory Inner Line Permit required for our visit.

Lemon Tree is a well-known brand with hotels all over the country. In our experience, it delivers solid 2.5 to 3.5 star stays. We’ve liked some Lemon Tree properties more than others, [Aurangabad, Maharashtra was fabulous; Bangalore, Karnataka wasn’t.] We usually would rather take our chances with a quirky unknown property with favorable word-of-mouth but there are dependable features that sometimes draw us to the chains like a good bed, hot water or exceptional online reviews about a certain property feature. We like mixing it up.

The Gangtok location falls in the middle of the Lemon Tree pack for us. If going back, we would probably choose a different property — cough, the Elgin. But the biggest selling point was our room had a ridiculously gorgeous view and balcony. Common area touches are chilly — we call it “corporate chilly” — they just aren’t going to try any harder at this price point.

Sushma Villa — Darjeeling, West Bengal

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We arrived in Darjeeling, West Bengal at the end of August 2019. We spent a month at the Sushma Villa (photo below), a 3 BHK house (‘bedroom, hall and kitchen’ in local real estate vernacular) an often cacophonous 20-25 minute walk away from the main tourist area (we paid $975/month on Airbnb).

Tea! We are fine tea lovers and drank our way through the surrounding tea plantations — making a road trip to Sikkim (see separate posts this page) from here. These simple accommodations were a relatively low-cost base for our first-time exploration of northeast India.

We created a cooking video in our kitchen posted below.

Getting to Darjeeling — Barely!

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Our early morning flight from India's Bangalore Airport was a comedy of errors. We are seasoned travelers in India. The Hotel Guys know better! But the traveling teen elders — who now, incidentally, both qualify as senior citizens on India Rail — are still learning new lessons. And India is an excellent teacher for global travelers! Video episode #103 briefly recounts the palm-sweating, sunrise story of getting from point A to B — Bangalore to Darjeeling. Lesson learned!