Reviews: Hotel Bombay Palace, Pahalgam

Pahalgam is in our opinion the most fascinating place in Kashmir!

View from Hotel Bombay Palace captured using selective color feature of our Nikon D5300

The gustling sounds of the continuously flowing water of the Lidder river brushing the black rocks and the lush green riversides with the backdrop of even greener mountains marked our entry in Pahalgam. We are talking about the month of June. We were told that the entire place is covers with snow in winter which starts around September-October and lasts till March.

We stayed at Hotel Bombay Plaza which is a boutique 3 star hotel near Lidder river. And we can declare it with no doubt that it was the best that we stayed in, in terms of hospitality and service.

The hotel is located around 2 kilometres away from the main market though  and one has to cross the main market to reach here which you may take note of. But we will share a protip here : Enjoy the banks of the Lidder river and the surrounding garden near the main market while entering Pahalgam before checking in here. We did the same and that way we didn't have to go back 2 Kms again.

For the rest of the places worth visiting (Read: Chandnwari, Aru valley, Betaab valley and Baisaran) transportation is arranged by hotel itself. The prices are fixed so we didn't need to worry about that.

We reached the hotel around 2 pm. The check in was smooth. The manager quickly arranged for carrying our luggage without having to ask for it (basic courtesy but missing at many similarly priced hotels). We were five adults and were given two adjacent rooms on the very first floor without having to ask for (That was probably the best thing to happen since there is no lift).

We had a breakfast inclusive plan but since we had to leave early morning next day we requested for replacing breakfast with dinner and charge us the difference. They gave us 50% discount in dinner. (Mind you, the same was refused at another hotel in Jammu). The veg dinner was delicious to say the least. There was this guy called Sohail Khan who served us chappatis with what seemed like a motherly care. Incredible. 

The rooms were small but comfortable with wooden finishings. Electric blankets were available. Wifi service was not mentioned in my booking package but they gave us the password on request without any extra charges. Before bed, I complaint of mosquitoes in room and they promptly arranged for mosquito repellant sprays as well as liquids. The one thing which they can improve upon is the cleanliness of washrooms. We won't say they weren't clean but could have been better.

Our check out was smooth as well even though we had to leave at 5 am. Sohail, the guy I mentioned above, woke up timely and arranged to transport our luggage to our car and filled my two empty bottles of water on request.After we left the place, we remembered that we had forgotten to get bills for our sightseeing taxi. (We had to get the bills for later reimbursement) I called. Mr.Ashiq who is one of the managers I suppose, and within two days he arranged and had sent us the bill on Whatsapp as promised. Awesome!

We would really like to thank the hotel for their excellent services and making our short stay at Pahalgam memorable. You guys are as amazing aa the place itself.  We would love to recommend this place to anyone.

Overall we would rate it 5/5 for their hospitality especially.

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