Jun 17, 2009 05:42 PM
26121 Views
(Updated Jun 25, 2009 07:54 AM)
LAVASA is situated on 7 hills near Pune. It is being developed as a self contained town ship and some hotels, boating, hospitals etc are operational.
We selected the place for a weekend as children were due to join school in a few days. Booking was done with Hotel Fortune, managed by Welcomgroup. Use of my credit card for booking through travelguru gave us a discount of 10% on the package.
We started at around 11 AM from Mumbai one lazy Sunday. Driving through Express Highway to Pune was as nice as it always is. On Bangalore highway we had to call up the hotel to get directions since no one seemed to have heard of Lavasa. As directed by the Hotel we reached Chandani Chowk and took a small road uphill. Lavasa is 65 KMs from here. After a nice 65 KM drive, we reached Hotel Fortune, Lavasa at around 3 pm.
Check-in at the hotel was a breeze and was handled very professionally and quickly. Very soon we were directed to our rooms while the valet parked our car in the basement of the hotel. The rooms, though slightly small were very comfortable and modern. Glass wall separating the room with bathroom put naughty ideas in minds of couples. Room was very much complete with Refrigerator, Tea making machine, electronic safe, LCD TV, Ironing board and iron etc.
Lavasa is still developing but has good boating infrastructure available. Not to be missed are the water scooters, which after your acceptance, are driven as James Bond drives. Then there are cruise boats that give you a chance to shake a leg on hip music played in the boat. By the way, hotel gave us a free ride on this boat. We have all driven dashing cars at any of the malls. This is the only place where you can ride dashing boats. To top that this also has water jet to wet your competitors on other boats. One of the major attraction that has to start yet is "Candle light dinner on barge". These barges are just large enough to hold a table for 2. Ideal place to whisper sweet nothings to each other.
Like all Fortune hotels, Breakfast is included in room rent. It is a lavish but standard breakfast everyday. Our package had meals too that were available either in the restaurant or in the room. Menu for Buffet is lavish but left much to hope for A La Carte in room service. The complimentary fruit plate is worth forgetting about. Location for Table Tennis table is not very good, due to limited width of the passageway where it is set up.
Hotel Staff right from the Valet to the Housekeeping are all very helpful and cheerful making the vacation great.
Not much to do in Lavasa at this time. Some movies are played in information center but we gave that a miss. Nice place to laze around, eat like king and sleep like . whatever. Hope you get drenched in drizzle. That is when you will love the moment you decided to take this vacation.
