Jan 06, 2016 12:23 PM
11600 Views
(Updated Jan 07, 2016 06:14 PM)
Recently I visited the famous hill station - Ooty for 2-nights holiday. I did not do a prior reservation as some of the friends said the place would not be crowded and there would be plenty of hotels and lodgings available in the city and I would find one very easily.
While I had stopped at Mysore for lunch, I happened to strike a conversation with one of the tourists who had returned from Ooty and he suggested this place called'Divine Hiland' in case we wanted to have a quieter vacation, away from the city hustle-bustle.
Location: The guest house is located about 4 kms away from Ooty. As you enter city, keep traveling on same road towards Coonor (on the Coimbatore road). At about 4 kms there is a place called'Manthada' and the hotel is located to your right, on a scary hair-pin-bend style slope, in a valley. Reaching the hotel with your car is very tricky. Since the hotel is on the right and on a deadly slope, there is no way you can take a right and drive to it. Best is to go a little further and take a turn back to travel to Ooty and then get to the hotel - much easier!
As mentioned earlier by the fellow traveler, the place is awesome. Very quiet, looking right down the valley with amazing weather.
Rooms/Ambiance: There are various types of rooms available - which was nothing but structures made of iron/steel and plastic sheets, standing with the help of cemented poles arising from the valley down - looked quite scary. But they were unique (will try and add some pics here). The couple rooms were like small rockets (round rooms with a sharpened pencil like top). We opted for a 4-bed room which was quite spacious, with 2 huge beds, thick blankets, dressing table, cupboard and a TV.
Cons: The place is the only USP of this hotel, everything else is not so great. The guest house must have been like a paradise when it was newly built but it clearly showed there is no maintenance that is happening. Everything is growing older - the rooms, the paint, the lights/other fixtures, the pathways.
TV did not work, they said cable problem - we did not bother much as we were mostly outdoors.
Hot water (which was a must when temp at night was below 10) was promised from morning 7, however it was like warm/lukewarm. The owner kept telling us to let the cold water flow out and hot water would start but that wasn't the case.
Restaurant: They have a restaurant and we just had one meal there, the day we reached. Owner's wife cooked for us the local south Indian meal - which was ok. You can travel to Ooty for other meals/snacks.
Please bear in mind, during this season - the temperatures falls well below 10 and the city kind of starts shutting down by 7, so either have your meals before that or get it packed.
Price: The rooms are reasonably priced. We paid 1500/- for a 4-bed room per night. No hassles of how many people/kids staying, no tips, taxes, no any policies!
Overall, this was no luxury stay but looking at rate, its a budget stay. The place has ample scope for improvement. It is run by a couple - the husband manages the stay and is quite jolly to talk to and help whenever required.
