Review of Araliayas Resort, Udaipur

Those of you who have been to Udaipur would probably know how crowded, chaotic and touristy the city is. Most hotels in the city centre offer small, shabby rooms amidst a congested group of buildings. Traffic snarls and tourist traps surround these hotels. In order to move away from these troubles and to truly experience the joy of being on a holiday, we decided to stay at the Araliayas Resort, Udaipur which is a luxury resort on the outskirts of Udaipur.

Here is our detailed review of the Araliayas resort –

Room

The primary factor determining the quality of one’s stay at a hotel is always the standard of the room. We stayed in a deluxe room at Araliayas Resort and we were mighty impressed with it. The room was sufficiently large and very clean. The decor of the room lived up to the resort’s claim of being a ‘luxury property’. We appreciated the fact that the resort followed basic hotel guidelines in terms of designing the room. Charging points were available right next to the bed, side tables were correctly placed and the distance of the television from the bed was also perfect.

The bathroom in the room was huge. The room also had a small changing area outside the bathroom with a full-sized mirror. Overall, the size, quality, and maintenance of the room impressed us.

Food

For most tourists, the food offered plays an important role in determining where to stay. We are true foodies and love hotels that provide a buffet service and were therefore pleased with Araliayas Resort. The resort offers a fairly large buffet spread for dinner which includes starters, soup, salads, papad, choice of rotis, sabzis, a meat-preparation, dal, rice and a sweet dish.

While Akshay loved with the laal maas that he had for dinner, the vast spread at the breakfast buffet won me over. I relished not only the pre-cooked uttampams, idlis and medu vadas but also thoroughly enjoyed the custom-made omelettes.

Araliayas resort also has a restaurant serving a-la-carte dishes. The food prices at the restaurant are definitely a bit steep but the tasty food justifies the pricing to an extent.

Staff and Hospitality

Araliayas Resort has a large team of men servicing each of its departments. Our experience at the front office was seamless. The housekeeping team was prompt and whenever we seemed to struggle with something, a member of the team would magically appear before us. To give an example, when we were struggling to lock the door of our room, we just looked around for help and within a few seconds, a housekeeping employee came running to help us.

The restaurant staff was also excellent. At breakfast, the restaurant was brimming with people and yet the staff had no difficulty in catering to each of their guests.

Property

We chose to stay at this resort primarily because the resort had vast open spaces unlike most hotels in central Udaipur. The resort also has its own nursery. We could gaze endlessly at the colourful flowers planted alongside the lush green lawns.

For kids, the resort has designed a small play area.

Facilities

In-room facilities include a tea-coffee maker, basic toiletries, and fresh towels. A 24-hour hot-water supply is also available and proves to be a relief after a long day out in the cool weather of Udaipur.

The resort has a gorgeous swimming pool as well. However, it being winter when we travelled, we didn’t dare to use the pool. Nevertheless, the pool worked as a perfect back-drop for our candle-light dinner. The resort also houses a spa. (We didn’t use the services of the spa and hence cannot review the same.)

Location

The location of the resort might not be the most favourable for those wanting to spend all their time outdoors exploring Udaipur. The resort is about 10 kilometres away from the city centre. Ola and Uber cannot be booked from within the resort and hence one is forced to book the taxis or rickshaws affiliated to the resort. However, note that, from the city, you can book Ola and Uber easily to take you to the resort.

We checked in at Araliayas resort after we had finished sight-seeing in Udaipur. Since we only had to go to the airport from the resort, we didn’t experience any troubles on account of the location of the resort.

Price

The tariff of a room in this resort during peak season is only Rs. 4,500 per night inclusive of breakfast. Honestly, the pricing of the resort pleasantly surprised us. In our opinion, it will be difficult to get a better deal for a property that is so well-maintained, professionally run and that provides so many onboard facilities.

Additional reasons for which we loved the Araliayas Resort

The resort had arranged a Rajasthani folk-dance and music performance by locals at dinner-time. We had missed the folk performance at Bagore ki Haveli and hence getting to witness one here was a treat.
The chef Mr. Lal Singh was really kind and went out of his way to cook Jain varieties of food for his guests. (No, we are not Jain, but Jain guests at the resort highly appreciated this!)
At dinner, campfires are placed next to the dinner table creating a lovely ambiance.

Overall, this resort is ideal for a family with small kids as it has ample open spaces for kids to play in. Even couples wanting to spend some quality time away from the hustle-bustle of the touristy side of Udaipur could head here.To truly benefit from the beauty of this resort, make sure you reserve one day in your itinerary just to relax and spend time at the resort. You can get more details about this resort at their website.