Which of these 3 hotels in Jaisalmer,& Bikaner suggestion?

tsk1979

After lot of online research and mail exchanges we have shortlisted 3 hotels in Jaisalmer
1. Fifu Guest house
2. Shahi Palace
3. Moonlight Hotel and Resort.

The DEal is as follows:
Fifu we get room for 1050-1650/night (three nights)
Shahi is similarly priced too

In both of these safari is extra and prices range from 2000-3000/couple

In moonlight resort they offer a package.
1. 2 nights in Hotel in Jaisalmer, and 1 night at moonlight resort at Khuri
Package cost with Breakfast and Dinner = 8700 for mud huts, and 10700 for Swiss tents.
discount is 20% on advance booking.

The last option is working out to be the most expensive option.

I searched for moonlight, but did not find any reviews.
fifu and Shahi have excellent Fort views and are very highly rated on Trip advisor.

We are 2 couples with a 8yr old child, and will be in Jaisalmer for 3 nights.
We will drive directly from New Delhi to Jaisalmer(12-14 hrs via Jodhpur)

Please give your valuable inputs

EOS

tsk

When do you plan to go ??
Check out RTDC tented accomodation at SAM. Way cheap...

Aishah

Hotel Moonlight is very nice indeed with an excellent restaurant on the roof. As EOS says, your pricing depends on when you are going. If not in peak times, you can certainly get cheaper. Of all these places you have short-listed they are all on a par with their facilities, cleanliness etc. Hotel Moonlight is mostly patronized by Indian tourists, which may be why there are no reviews here for it. If you stay there, please add a review for us!
Two others I recommended on another thread - these are newly built and within walking distance of the Fort entrance. Easy for parking too:
Hotel Royale - telephone 02992 252601
Gorakh Haveli - 02992 252978
Both with very nicely appointed rooms and bathrooms. Restaurants on roof.
All places mentioned have views of the Fort.

__________________
"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

tsk1979

Thanks Aishah, we are going there in the second week of October.
Thats why I found moonlights rates a little on the high side.
As for RTDC, we don't want to go to Sam, because its too crowded.
I was unable to find any information about the moonlight resort at Khuri.
Is it in a "cluster of resorts" which means bang in civilization and not really at a remote place.

What we are looking for is some lounging out on really remote dunes, and then coming back to a nice tent etc., to stay.

So if you can recommend me to a nice tented acco at Khuri, with an option of going out for a short drive(we have a 4x4) or a walk to a lonely site.


I will also locate email ids of the two hotels you mentioned, and talk to them.
We are planning to finalize bookings with advance payment by end of next week.

Aishah

Do you know I haven't been out to Khuri for around 2 years now - the last time I went I got a shock because it is practically like Sam now with these tented resorts scattered everywhere. (Not quite as many as Sam). What I think you could do is either chat with hotel people where you stay, see if they have any Khuri connections, otherwise just go out yourself, look around and see what appeals. There are also village huts type resorts there too. I reckon you could do this by yourself, approach people there and strike a deal for rates. It is not quite the busy time of Divali - the last two weeks in October will become more hectic. Whatever you do, don't be guided by touts near Gadi Sagar roundabout or the turn off to Khuri - they are often on motor bikes, and they divert cars coming into Jaisalmer and take them out to khuri to stay first. They get huge commission and consequently guests are paying terrible prices for their overnight stays out there.

tsk1979

Thanks Aishah, from a price point of view Shahi palace is looking like the best option.
This Desert safari thing is confusing me,
Staying in a place where there are tents all around is not really fun.
I guess we will take one of the tented acco, and ask for a guide to take us to the dunes at night till around 1am or so, and then come and stay back in tents.
Are there any jeepable dirt tracks nearby which can take us into the desert?
A short hour long ride to the desert after the sun goes down would be fun!

EOS

tsk

email id of hotel roayle is reservations@royalejaisalmer.c om
i got this on phone when i talked to them yersterday. Their rates are similar to what you are getting at fifu or shahi palace. They have opened a month or two back and are located very near to the fort. The photo of the room they sent me also looked good. Just now received a mail from them that they also have a tented accomodation at khuri. Give them a ring and talk to Ms Arti Sharma. since they are new ask for a good discount.
check them out and let me know what you finalised.

I have'nt finalised on the rate since i am looking for acco. around new year. I am about to give a ring to Gorakh Haveli today to check them out.

Aishah has personaly seen these hotels and i think i'll go by her advise.

Also talked to RTDC for their camel safari at SAM. Their rates are Rs.600 per person with evening entertainment and dinner at SAM. I think thats pretty reasonable. Their tents at SAM are for Rs. 1125 per couple on MAP basis..!!

Aishah

Thanks for adding this EOS, I didn't know they had tents out at Khuri. Going by the excellent standard of the hotel I should think they would be good.
the RTDC camp is good - and their rates look fine.

EOS

The accomodation they are offering at Khuri is Mama Guest House. Did a google on it and came to know its one of the oldest there.
They also have something at SAM. I have asked them for details.

As for RTDC the rates are very reasonable for normal days. Its just that they have jacked the price to Rs.2400 for 31st. I guess government run hotels are also waking up to join the party

Aishah

Isn't it annoying! The thing is that New Year literally everything is booked out - rooms and desert accommodation. Mama Guest House is quite good. In fact if you haven't booked in advance, it's sleeping in your car as the only choice! I've known quite a few people caught out this way.

EOS

yes its very annoying. Recently in a trip to Mysore i was caught in a long weekend there. everything booked. Finally after a search of 2 hrs did manage to find a place. But again rates were jacked up triple..!! Tourism is increasing in India but fascilities are not expanding at that rate.
Learnt a lesson there..!!

tsk1979

I doubt middle of the second week of october(not even weekend) will be rush time.
its supposed to be lean season, right?

Aishah

Definitely not 'lean season' tsk, October starts quite a lot of foreign groups coming here, also Indians travelling prior to Divali, some schools are closing earlier etc. But the real rush will start around 18 Oct onwards, from that weekend. Many bus groups of Indian tourists from then on, particularly from Bengal.

tsk1979

I have sent mail to Royale Jaisalmer. Lets see what do they say.
One question for those who have done the sector.
Do you recommend we stay in a tent at Khuri, or take a camel ride/drive to the heart of the desert and sleep under starts?
Is it possible to pitch a tent at remote place, and are such tents available on hire in Jaisalmer?

Aishah

Depends on your comfort level - sleeping under the stars, directly on the sand, can be not so comfortable. Personally I would stay in a tent or hut out at Khuri, but then I like my comforts! Hiring tents can be done at Monica Tent House, but you're not going to get ones that are all that easy to put up I think (I could be wrong here). All the tents I've seen take a bit of manpower to erect. If you had a large plastic tarpaulin, and plenty of quilts etc. you could sleep under the stars.