Geeta Bhawan

We left disappointed after paying so much, and I wouldn’t recommend this place to non-vegetarians. The biggest frustration was the food arrangement: only vegetarian food is allowed inside the villa, so for non-veg meals you have to walk to a makeshift dining area outside. This restriction wasn’t mentioned in the booking, and the area, while nicely equipped, is cramped. Going out in the rain with an umbrella after drinks and then walking back was a real inconvenience. It also makes no sense to allow smoking and drinking indoors while banning non-veg food. The food itself was average and expensive for the small portions. Choices were limited, and some dishes were too spicy, some had no salt, while others had too much. WiFi kept dropping, and because the villa is remote, most mobile networks had no signal inside. The property has plenty of bedding for around 15 people and is generally clean and well equipped for indoor games. The swimming pool was the exception.

We found the rooms clean and well kept, the caretakers polite and cooperative, and the food good. Geeta Bhawan Villa has a large garden behind it, a nice pool, and plenty of indoor games, so it’s a comfortable place to stay and relax. The jacuzzi wasn’t working, though. Aside from that, we had a good stay.

We tried the food vendor’s Maharashtrian lunch and Chinese dinner, and both were extremely tasty. The garden is huge, with enough room for outdoor games, even a full game of overarm cricket. The villa itself covers about 25,000 sq. ft. and has three bedrooms plus a massive common hall where around 20 people can sleep comfortably. They provide as many mattresses as needed, which worked well for our group of 35. There’s lots of parking on the premises. We fit two cars there, and a 45-seater Neeta bus parked comfortably outside. The property is about 4 km from Karjat Railway Station; we came by road and found it accessible. The bedrooms are nicely designed, with one upstairs for extra privacy and two downstairs. The largest ground-floor room has a jacuzzi. A separate breakout room has table tennis and a pool table, and they also provide poker sets, cards, UNO and other board games. The pool is a decent size, though it felt crowded with so many of us. There’s a speaker setup beside it for music. For downtime, there’s a treadmill and a nearby swing. The common area has a 55-inch smart TV and high-speed internet. Disco lights made our late-night party and dancing more fun. We thought it was worth the money, especially for a large group wanting a comfortable, fun getaway.

The property itself is good, but our stay was rough. The electricity went out, leaving us without AC for almost the whole night, and it seems power cuts happen often. In the morning the pool wasn’t clean, but we were still asked to get in, so we couldn’t enjoy swimming.