Aurangabad hotels

Hey everyone;

I looked up the hotels for Aurangabad on this site plus others and notice they are relatively more expensive than most places.

The cheapest I found was Hotel Manor but there were no reviews for it on IndiaMike. Anyone ever been there or otherwise no some budget hotel (less than 1000 Rs per night)?

I'm going in August during Monsoon so would prices be lower because of the rainy season?

Thanks

Evan

Evan - not sure what quality of hotels you are looking for, but if simple, basic accomodation would do, there are plenty of such hotels, bang opposite the bus stand..They should not cost you more than 500-1000 rs on twin sharing at the most. Plus there is an added advantage of being near the bus stand from where you can easily take bus/cab for visiting the nearby attractions..

Unless you are looking for something fancy, or five-star, these should be more than adequate...Dont expect any of these to be reviewed on websites though

Hi Evan,

You can have a look at this page:

http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.ne...Aurangabad.htm

Biman.

There's a street off the train station with some OK budget options. And their names are... You're going in August, right? Let me get back to my notes before that, I don't have them here (Yank my ear by PM in a week or so if I don't, I'll have forgotten.) You'd probably be looking at around Rs. 600 for a double to yourself here, perhaps a little less, I forget precisely. It will be in my notes. Mid-summer or monsoon could well produce some discounts, yes. (Although the area may in fact well be popular with Indian tourists during the monsoon. In that case, obviously not.)

It's true btw, if you head due straight out of the bus station (cross the main street here, and head on. You'd be heading east I think, but again I'd need to look up some stuff), you walk into the old Muslim quarters, by the name of... thingumajig. It's a fascinating and lively area, and there ought to be plenty an affordable hotel here. If you're a meat eater, there's beef offered in restaurants everywhere!

Funny enough, e.g. Lonely Planet (the 2007 edition at least) makes no mention of staying options here whatsoever; one once again gets the distinct impression that the author covering this particular region at least looked no further than their nose, so right around the bus and train stations (and then only poked their head into some budget places, apparently thinking "Oh this should do for a few hundred Rupees" no matter how grotty they really are, only to stay in a several-star place themselves that, surprise, they find it in them to recommend).

There would indeed be some hotels right opposite the bus stand as well, many of them did strike me as decidedly dingy though. (I visited one bar & restaurant here attached to a hotel, and that place was, er, decidedly dingy indeed.) My hunch would be walking just a little further into said area (you should find yourself well into the area in a matter of ten minutes' walking, really. May always seem more of an ordeal carrying your pack and not knowing where you're going, of course) might lead you to the more attractive options, for probably no more money.

Ended up with Manor Hotel after all as they were offering a 25% discount so it went to a reasonabl 750 R per night.

You broke a bit of a rule there, Evan, by booking in advance. About the only time you really should book in advance is maybe for the first night or two in India when you're jet-lagged and possibly during high tourist season in touristy areas. While 750 won't break most budgets one way or the other, I'm guessing that you could walk in and get that room for less. Also, beware that when you do check in, they might try to give you a sub-standard room if you've already paid...and if you haven't paid in advance and, for some reason, they were full (unlikely in August), your room might not be available. The North American rules of shopping around for hotels online and booking in advance to get the best rate don't at all apply in India. BTW, the Manor looks like a pretty nice place for the money, but websites sometimes lie. Trip Advisor reviews are spotty and one has to always wonder if some extremely positive TA reviews are "plants". Sorry if I seem so negative, but I've learned some of these lessons the hard way.

Hey Bruce;

Didn't actually pay them but simply reserved the room. Generally I never pay in advance except on the first day and last day of my trip. If my room is not available, I simply walk out and find another hotel! I agree never to pay in advance, I learned that the hard way in this run down place in Stockholm a couple years back.

Excellent! If you look in the hotels section, I believe I reviewed a place in Aurangabad; a bit of a dump, but well-priced and a really great staff (Hotel Shree Maya). The MTDC hotel is a bit better and a big plus is that the tours start there, so if the Manor doesn't work out, the above would offer acceptable inexpensive accommodation.

... So, to round up:

Leading not straight off the railway station, but close enough to it, is the... shit, I lost the name of the street. (Coming out of the station, just a little to the right [east] along the main street here, then straight ahead [north] across the street. It's a fairly inconspicuous little road, see below, has a bunch of local shops though, selling snacks and daily necessities and the likes and some simple eateries. I think it's one of those streets that's signified by a little arcade overhead at its starting point from there. Come to think of it, there was some major construction going on on the corner, there might well be a landmark highrise building by now.)

It's between the main Station Roads West and East (both leading somewhat north-south), so if you end up at either, you've walked too far. The hotels mentioned would be in perfect walking distance from the station btw, maybe 10 mins. or so.

Lonely Planet '07 mentions the Hotel Shree Maya and as a budget option here, mentioned by Bruce just above too, on the same street, and situated in the "Bharuka Complex," no further details. (Didn't seem like much of any complex to me as you'd expect it to mean in India -- housing shops and stuff --, but whatever. It might very well be just the name of the building it's in, and it did seem to house residential apartments besides, those will often carry such a name.) I would assume this place is OK yes, though didn't otherwise check it out. LP recommends it for its outdoor terrace serving meals, which I figured I might check out, but the terrace was so little signposted (as in not at all) nor visible from the street that I figured it might be reserved for guests. So never tried, you well might. Might as well have been discontinued, who knows.

There are a couple more places on this street I think; I stayed in the Indradeep, just a little further down the road and coming from the station, by a tip of some folks I'd met on the road. Asking price was Rs. 500 for a double to myself (private bathroom, TV, fan; there was airco I think, didn't need it at the time, nor sure if it was working. If not, you'd probably get them to fix it when needed, or see you to a room where it does work. Not under-furnished, table, chairs, always a nice touch, or certainly in a budget place anyway); I got it for Rs. 400, and staying for another short week or so (which I probably didn't know when checking in, I rarely do, so I'll go something like "few days perhaps, I'm not sure yet." Anyway staying for a bit may up your chances of bringing the price down, of course. It is naturally not appreciated if you then leave the next day, and you might want to be a sport and offer to pay them the original asking price of your own accord if doing so.)

There were cheaper rooms (that I haven't seen), but those were full at the time. All of this was around last Feb. 2010 btw.

It was a perfectly OK place, nothing fancy, but quite alright. Large room. Last paint job not too seemingly ancient, I think. I asked for a room at the back, which had a view over a domestic backyard with some alleys, perfectly tranquil indeed. The street itself doesn't see a lot of traffic and so is pretty tranquil as well, btw.

Friendly staff, not a lot of English spoken, but they were clearly happy to have you there (notably the owner's son I think he was, or otherwise young sub-manager, and who did speak pretty decent English, was eager to please), and they were open to helping with local information, possibly arranging taxis, whatever. Otherwise unobtrusive, always a plus to me (Indian hotel staff sometimes can be).

It was the kind of place I saw many of last year at some Rs. 3-400 & was perfectly happy with at that time and for that money; this year, I had to swallow a lot at paying about double for the same kind of places (and you can see this one was on the cheaper side then even), but that's just how it seemed to be, pretty much anywhere I went. So given that standard, nothing wrong with it.

Heading back to the station btw and on the main street and a little to your left here (so to the right from the station, and on that side coming from there), across the street there's the (fabulously named ) Hotel Prem Popular Punjab, which has a swell (not as in fancy, mind, but just a really nice place, and nothing overly grubby about it either) bar & restaurant downstairs, with some interesting choices of food (notably Punjabi, of course, but other cuisines as well), all quite affordable too. A nice hangout, and if there's any foreign tourists around the area and you feel like a chat, chances are you'll bump into them here. Similarly and as usual, more often than not there'll be some locals ready to strike up a conversation with you. One could stay here, their card if that was up-to-date lists prices as "super deluxe non A/C" double Rs. 800, executive A/C Rs. 1200, + 15% tax.

That old Muslim quarters, east of the bus station indeed, LP calls the "Old Town," with one of its main streets being Juna Bazaar. I was told the entire area is rather known as the latter. (That street runs west-east; I think to scout for hotels here, you'd rather want to look for some of its main streets running north-south. That you'll come across heading east, of course, it really shouldn't be difficult to find your way nor a place to stay here.)

The Shree Maya terrace was closed when I was there in Oct '08. They seem to have moved the entire restaurant into a nice courtyard on the ground floor. We rather enjoyed taking a beer up to the terrace, which we had to ourselves.