Orchha - anyone stayed in these hotels?

jlynne

I am trying to decide between the Betwa Cottages and the Sheesh Mahal in Orchha. If anyone has stayed in either of these places, I would love to hear what you think

cyberhippie

The Sheesh mahal is an expereince you won't forget set as it is in the middle of a huge deserted Palace and fort. I haven't seen the rooms but they stick with the oldie theme I believe.

The Betwa cottages just look like your standard three/four star accomodation anywhere nice setting on the rive, but I'm not sure you can see that from inside the compound!!

graybola

I met some people that were staying at the Sheesh Mahal and hung out with them in their room. It was very nice!! It was the only room on the floor. You take some steps up from ground floor and then come out into a large open area. On the other side there was an area where whoever was staying in the room could hang out. It had a patio set outside the room with fans. The inside of the room was very nice with all the stuff in a modern hotel, but seemed like the rest of the furniture were antiques. The bathroom was very large with his and her sinks and large mirrors. The really cool thing was the western toilet that was set off the main area of the bathroom. The room was fairly small, but there were windows on all three walls and since you were fairly high up you had an excellent view.
I think they said they were paying about $100 US per night. I was staying somewhere that was 100 rs per night and was travelling alone, but if I was with someone it would definately be the hotel I would stay at.

sockeyeron

Hi jlynne, we stayed at the Sheesh Mahal two years ago and it was fantastic. I think it cost about 750r for a very large double with western toilet. The royal suites are a lot more. It was quite high up and we had a good view. The food was also good.
We are returning there in March for another visit to that magical place with its vultures, parrots and fireflies.
It was Cyberhippie who had recommended the village in 2003.
Enjoy your stay there.
Ron

BabeInTheWoods

We stayed at the Sheesh Mahal in August this year. It was awesome. We had the Maharani suite - one of the ones on the roof. opposite the one described above. We had to chose between seeing the Taj Mahal and staying in this palace in Orchha. We chose Orchha because it's my partner's favourite place in India, and also, how many people get to say the stayed a night in a palace? We're glad we chose it - it was well worth it. And pretty cool to imagine how much history happened in that room. Who lived in it and what were their lives like?

And we found it particularly amusing that the night before we'd had a rough night on a train with no sleep, then arrived in Orchha at 4am and had to sleep on a wooden bench on the street - having fought off the dogpacks first. From sleeping on the street to breakfast in a palace was such a lovely condradiction - and the bonus of a story to tell back at home.

Make sure you book ahead, by the way. It's pretty popular by the looks of things. The palace I mean. Mind you, the other benches on the street were already occupied when we got there, so we were probably lucky to get one of those without a reservation too.

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9hanover

Nice to read all this as we've booked in there for April.

jlynne

Well, the Sheesh Mahal sure seems like it would be a great place to stay! Unfortunately I was not able to get a room for my visit in January, so we will be staying at the Betwa Cottages. Does anyone have anything to say about that place?

Ambasagou

Could you tell me how you went about booking at the Sheesh Mahal? I would like to book a suite in November and found one email address, but never got a reply to my message. Perhaps I'll just have to ring them. I'm in the US and not sure how they handle bookings from here. Any advice or info?

machadinha

Hi Amba,

The post you replied to dates from 2005.

Generally your email to India may not be answered for any number of reasons, so calling up is not a bad idea.

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Baba

You can book through http://www.mptourism.com , but mind you, prices have gone up. I stayed there last winter. I had a very small room, but I did not mind as I was traveling alone.

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Ambasagou

Thanks!

arijitraja

I might be going there with a friend. But I checked out the booking site... the double room was FWord 1650 Rs ....!! and the single room didnt have a price tag at all ??
Anyone throw some light ??
How much are the betwa ones and are they good ?

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wdp4

the cheapest AC room in Orchha would cost you upwards of Rs 1500. Apart from that there are plenty of new guest houses which have sprung up which may offer something in the 500 rupee and above range with decent accommodation.

i stayed at the palace this time and have stayed at the betwa retreat too. between the cottages and the palace, the palace wins - other wise the tents are much better but they don't open before 15 oct.

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arijitraja

Nah, I dont need an AC room..
Just a well ventilated double bed room would be fine.
Which tents open 15th oct .. I didnt get it . Betwa Cottages ??
From the website, i am unable to find out the price of the simple non-ac rooms in the palace (are there any ??) ...
would it be a problem just reaching there in the morning and finding a place to stay ? any tips regarding this ?
I would love the palace or the exotic cottages but not if its tooo expensive.

Wiedergehen

I just tried staying in the tents (November), & found them mosquito-ridden. Nice location, tho--out by the river, & the cenotaphs.

The coils were going full blast: just too many places in the tent (esp. back off the little bathroom) for the mossies to get thru.

Lovely, with the flowers, the setting--but beware if bugs spoil the stay for you .