Rudra Hotel

The owner was helpful and cooperative, and the room was clean and comfortable. Dashashwamedh Ghat and the temple area are only a few minutes away on foot, which made getting around easy. A great choice for a convenient stay in Varanasi.

Electricity kept cutting out during my stay, and the water supply was unreliable, which made even basic things difficult. The AC also switched off after around 2 hours, so the night was uncomfortable. Maintenance and service were poor, and the stay fell short of what I expected. I wouldn't recommend it until these problems are fixed.

The location worked well, with places to eat nearby, and the staff handled check-in and checkout quickly and pleasantly. My one-night stay was good value. The room was quiet, clean, and equipped with what I needed, and I would book again for a short visit.

The best part for me was the location: Dashashwamedh Ghat is less than 100m away, and there are restaurants nearby with good food. The hotel sits in a narrow lane, at the last house, Hotel Rudra. Because of the ropeways construction, bikes sometimes cannot get close, so we walked from Nandi Chawk, about 1-1.2km. We were young, so that was fine. The walk and lane are worth knowing about, though the location itself is great. The young caretaker was helpful and behaved well. He said he could take us to places on his bike, but we never discussed the cost. The owner seemed to prefer that we use an auto, perhaps because he thought the boys might charge us for guidance. We made our own arrangements instead. The owner also seemed to keep the caretakers under his thumb. At check-in the owner wasn't there. We had booked a bedroom for 2 adults through agoda, and the caretaker let us choose from vacant rooms on the ground and first floors. We picked one we liked. The next morning the owner said it wasn't the budget room and was more expensive. For a moment I thought he'd ask us to pay extra, but there wasn't a crowd or festival rush, and he let it go. I told him his boy had given us that room and we hadn't forced our way into it. It was a tense moment. I think he might have charged us if it had been busy or he had a better customer to give the room to. When I was with my fiance, the owner suddenly asked her if she knew me and whether I was leading her on with fake promises. It was ridiculous and embarrassing, though neither of us reacted. He tried to justify it by saying he'd take me to jail immediately if I did that, and that many people do. That's not an appropriate way to question someone. He also showed his name plate and said he was a politically exposed person. To be fair, he did give us useful advice about where to go and which places to visit. One evening I called the caretaker asking for a good saree shop with low prices. They took us through a narrow galli to a shop and then left. We didn't like any sarees there. As we were leaving, we heard the shop boys on the phone saying they'd quoted higher amounts for all the sarees they showed us, but we weren't interested. We were the only customers. It seemed to me they had planned to get a commission by bringing us there, which may explain why the owner suggested autos or our own arrangements. Even with those awkward moments, our time in Varanasi was pleasant. Thanks for taking the time to read about it. Go enjoy the place, and take blessings from baba biswanath, annapurna, hanuman, and kal bhairav. If you can, get a sugam darshan ticket, it can help a lot. You can also try to find a pujari inside the temple. If the sugam darshan queue is long, they may take you through the protocol line, the special line. They charge for that. The funny part was that after everything, he asked for 500 for 2, and I gave only 151😂😂. Still, he showed us the temple and performed puja very pleasantly. Ok bye.