Hotel Pushkar Palace

The balcony views are great, the location is central, and the staff were fairly pleasant. The place feels like it’s stuck in the 1980s, though. It may once have been THE place to stay in Pushkar, but now it’s like walking into a museum, and not in a good way. The rooms look decent at first, but they’re dated and honestly not clean. Apart from the hallways and inner garden, it seems hardly anything has been updated or maintained for years. The furniture is worn, dusty, and feels sticky. The bathroom was grimy, the shower didn’t work properly, and breakfast looked unappetising and was inedible.

The hotel looks good from the outside, and it was very quiet. Our room was okay, and they gave us a third bed, but it was a very old fold-out with three pieces of wood installed and a small mattress added. It only had a cover sheet. Breakfast was very good, though. Fine for one night.

I felt uncomfortable with all the portraits of kings in the rooms. Seeing them first thing in the morning was almost haunting. I visited in November, when the property had very few guests apart from a few foreign tourists, and the empty, dim corridors made the place feel even eerier. The restaurant was the worst part. The head staff member was extremely rude and had a lot of attitude. He was overly friendly with the foreign guests, greeting them warmly and asking how their night was, but didn’t even look at us Indians or offer a simple good morning. It was shocking and upsetting, and I never expected to face racism in my own country. That one person’s behaviour ruined what could have been a decent stay. I wouldn’t visit Pushkar Palace again because of him.

The buffet meals were excellent. There were also wide steps and a big space for Arthi nearby. While we were there, the DSP of Haryana was staying at the hotel too, and the other guests were all foreign tourists. It’s the best hotel.