Budget hotel in Agra with email

Plarka · Nov 22nd, 2004, 21:56

Anyone know of a quiet, cheap hotel in Agra we can spend the night?

jarman_ah · Nov 23rd, 2004, 04:42

Plarka, I have a beauty for you. Agra, by the way, is not the most pleasant city in India, not by a long chalk, and I presume that the reason you're going there is not to experience the parks and gardens, but to see the Taj Mahal. In this case, you will not find better value than the Hotel Sheela, which is just 50 metres from the eastern gate of the Taj, and is a very pleasant place to stay -- it feels like a resort, not a guest house, as it has gardens to wander around in, and it is all locked up at night so that you can't even see into the grounds. Their website is www.hotelsheelaagra.com, and their email address hotelsheelaagraindia@yahoo.com. The only (tiny) complaint I have against the Sheela is that (like a couple of other places) they found a way to ensure that we had to pay slightly more than the agreed price for the room. I think hoteliers go to night school in India to learn techniques for doing this. In the case of the Sheela, the agreed price was 400R, double. When we arrived, at about half an hour after midnight -- really, only half an hour later than we told them we would be there -- the receptionist informed us that he had thought we were not going to show up, so he had given away the room we booked... but not to worry, he just happened to have one room left anyway, but this one was 500 rupees. He said all this with a perfectly straight face... he could make a fortune in Bollywood. Well, what are you going to do at half past midnight when the Taj opens in five and a half hours? 100 rupees is only $AUD3.... we wrote it off as one of those unavoidable expenses.

PLEASE use the proximity of the Sheela to get to the ticket office at the east gate NO LATER THAN 5:55 a.m., and see the Taj between 6 (when it opens) and 8. This has nothing to do with the "changing colours of the Taj at sunrise" which all the books rhapsodise about; it has everything to do with the fact that by 8 a.m. the number of tourists starting to swarm all over the Taj Mahal resembles ants on an ants' nest, and this sort of detracts from the overall effect. I shudder to think what it must be like in there at noon.

Another tip about Agra: we found the bazaar around Agra Fort station possibly the most exhausting bazaar in all of India, and by mid-afternoon were looking for an escape to somewhere -- anywhere -- quiet and empty. We found it by simply walking across the railway bridge to the other side of the river. There's a footway on the bridge beside the railway track, though you have to first of all walk along the track near the station to get to the footway (there's a fairly-regular smattering of pedestrians to guide you), and within a minute you are in a different world: women by the river washing their clothes and their children; a Sabu-like boy crossing the river on the back of the leading water buffalo, eight or ten others swimming valiantly behind; a ghat which appears to be the local equivalent of the burning ghat in Varanasi; and yet another view of the Taj Mahal rising majestically from the horizon beyond the river. Frankly, we liked that part of the day more than we liked the Taj, (and the cost was 750 rupees less!)

Hope some of this has been of help.

Alan

Nov 23rd, 2004, 14:00

dear Plarka,
Nice to meet you.500 INR is for Hotel appolo,and also Hotel Dee dare taj 800 INR with Breakfast a/c room. and are good properties. wish you a happy journey.

with love
Indu Bala

sachin1313 · Nov 23rd, 2004, 14:14

Hi Plarka

You can look for Hotel Deedar E Taj which is just 1.5 kms from TAJ MAHAL. Their website is http://www.deedaretaj.com. Have a nice tour.

tstan · Nov 23rd, 2004, 14:31

Good post Al,

So often it is true that you can walk 100m from a grossly overcrowded place full of touts and other clamorous people to discover a really delightful scene such as you described.

I spent three days in Agra including a most interesting day trip to Fatehpur Sikri - it was late December 2001 - and I really enjoyed it. I stayed at Hotel Host which was extremely close to the Taj and from the rooftop restaurant, you could see the central dome. It was very inexpensive, the food was more than adequate and, of course,there were very few Western tourists around since 9/11 was still fresh in people's minds.

It is certainly worth getting to the Taj as early as possible in the day - despite the fog - and remember that the 750/- Taj ticket also gets you into Agra Fort where you can easily spend the whole afternoon.

Nov 22nd, 2004, 21:56	#1
Plarka Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: UK Posts: 22	Budget hotel in Agra with email Anyone know of a quiet, cheap hotel in Agra we can spend the night?

Nov 23rd, 2004, 14:00	#3
InduBala Posts: n/a	hi there dear Plarka, Nice to meet you.500 INR is for Hotel appolo,and also Hotel Dee dare taj 800 INR with Breakfast a/c room. and are good properties. wish you a happy journey. with love Indu Bala

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Nov 23rd, 2004, 04:42	#2
jarman_ah Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 373	Plarka, I have a beauty for you. Agra, by the way, is not the most pleasant city in India, not by a long chalk, and I presume that the reason you're going there is not to experience the parks and gardens, but to see the Taj Mahal. In this case, you will not find better value than the Hotel Sheela, which is just 50 metres from the eastern gate of the Taj, and is a very pleasant place to stay -- it feels like a resort, not a guest house, as it has gardens to wander around in, and it is all locked up at night so that you can't even see into the grounds. Their website is www.hotelsheelaagra.com, and their email address hotelsheelaagraindia@yahoo.com. The only (tiny) complaint I have against the Sheela is that (like a couple of other places) they found a way to ensure that we had to pay slightly more than the agreed price for the room. I think hoteliers go to night school in India to learn techniques for doing this. In the case of the Sheela, the agreed price was 400R, double. When we arrived, at about half an hour after midnight -- really, only half an hour later than we told them we would be there -- the receptionist informed us that he had thought we were not going to show up, so he had given away the room we booked... but not to worry, he just happened to have one room left anyway, but this one was 500 rupees. He said all this with a perfectly straight face... he could make a fortune in Bollywood. Well, what are you going to do at half past midnight when the Taj opens in five and a half hours? 100 rupees is only $AUD3.... we wrote it off as one of those unavoidable expenses. PLEASE use the proximity of the Sheela to get to the ticket office at the east gate NO LATER THAN 5:55 a.m., and see the Taj between 6 (when it opens) and 8. This has nothing to do with the "changing colours of the Taj at sunrise" which all the books rhapsodise about; it has everything to do with the fact that by 8 a.m. the number of tourists starting to swarm all over the Taj Mahal resembles ants on an ants' nest, and this sort of detracts from the overall effect. I shudder to think what it must be like in there at noon. Another tip about Agra: we found the bazaar around Agra Fort station possibly the most exhausting bazaar in all of India, and by mid-afternoon were looking for an escape to somewhere -- anywhere -- quiet and empty. We found it by simply walking across the railway bridge to the other side of the river. There's a footway on the bridge beside the railway track, though you have to first of all walk along the track near the station to get to the footway (there's a fairly-regular smattering of pedestrians to guide you), and within a minute you are in a different world: women by the river washing their clothes and their children; a Sabu-like boy crossing the river on the back of the leading water buffalo, eight or ten others swimming valiantly behind; a ghat which appears to be the local equivalent of the burning ghat in Varanasi; and yet another view of the Taj Mahal rising majestically from the horizon beyond the river. Frankly, we liked that part of the day more than we liked the Taj, (and the cost was 750 rupees less!) Hope some of this has been of help. Alan

Nov 23rd, 2004, 14:14	#4
sachin1313 Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Delhi Posts: 92	Hi Plarka You can look for Hotel Deedar E Taj which is just 1.5 kms from TAJ MAHAL. Their website is http://www.deedaretaj.com. Have a nice tour.

Nov 23rd, 2004, 14:31	#5
tstan power brake keep distance Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: sydney Posts: 196	Good post Al, So often it is true that you can walk 100m from a grossly overcrowded place full of touts and other clamorous people to discover a really delightful scene such as you described. I spent three days in Agra including a most interesting day trip to Fatehpur Sikri - it was late December 2001 - and I really enjoyed it. I stayed at Hotel Host which was extremely close to the Taj and from the rooftop restaurant, you could see the central dome. It was very inexpensive, the food was more than adequate and, of course,there were very few Western tourists around since 9/11 was still fresh in people's minds. It is certainly worth getting to the Taj as early as possible in the day - despite the fog - and remember that the 750/- Taj ticket also gets you into Agra Fort where you can easily spend the whole afternoon.

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