Hotel Ravine Palace is a 3-star hotel in Lansdowne which is a tiny cantonment town and hill station in the state of Uttarakhand. After the string of budget hotel stays in the last few trips, I finally splurged a little bit on the hotel this time in Lansdowne. The fact that I was accompanied by my sister and her family, made the decision a no-brainer to choose a slightly luxurious hotel with better amenities. We booked two rooms for a couple of nights for Rs 13,500 (1 Room = ~Rs 3400/night)
We had booked a rental car and left Delhi at 6 in the morning. We made a couple of stops, one for the breakfast and other for a temple visit, before reaching the Hotel Ravine Palace at around 1 PM.
ALSO READ: LANSDOWNE TRAVEL GUIDE
Table of Contents
Room and Amenities
Our rooms were a couple of Mount View Executive Room. The room was big and spacious (380 square feet). The bathroom too was very spacious and clean. The rooms did not have AC but you hardly need an AC on a hill station anyway. The room had a balcony from where one can get the amazing views of the mountains.
The Hotel Ravine Palace also has Executive Valley View Room which is similar to Executive Mount View Room except it provides the view of the valley. You also have the option to stay at Suite Mountain View Room and Suite Executive View Room. These rooms are slightly bigger (500 square feet).
One can still experience the valley view by staying at Mount View Rooms. One can go to reception balcony on the ground floor, small garden at the basement balcony or terrace.
There are many indoor games for guests like Table Tennis, Foosball, and Snooker. The guests can engage themselves with these games on a leisure day if going out of the hotel is not an option. Playing Table Tennis and Foosball is free but one has to shell Rs 300 per hour to play Snooker.
DJ Night is organized every night on the terrace. But it was unfortunate that no guests went to attend DJ Night when we went there one night.
Food
We had booked the rooms with complimentary buffet breakfast. The restaurant was clean and service was quick. Breakfast only included vegetarian food and omelette. The cuisines were mostly Indian which included Idli/Vada with Sambar, Puri/Paranthas with Aloo Subzi, Poha. Other options included Omelette, French Fries, Potato Nuggets, Sandwich. In beverages, they had juice on one day and buttermilk on another day. Milk with cornflakes was also provided. All the items were finger-licking delicious so much so that I had over-eaten both days.
Pros of Staying at Hotel Ravine Palace
- Amazing mouth-watering breakfast. A satisfying meal in the morning can do wonders to rest of your day.
- Big and spacious rooms.
- Many indoor games and daily DJ night for recreation time.
- The Hotel Ravine Palace is located some 5 kilometres before the start of Lansdowne main area. As a result, it is very peaceful and away from the crowd.
Cons of Staying at Hotel Ravine Palace
- There is no mobile network coverage at the location. Only BSNL network provides coverage there. If you have to make any calls, you have to either use the room landline phone or go to Lansdowne main area.
- The wifi is patchy. In the absence of mobile networks, wifi becomes even more important. But forget about making WhatsApp call, simple search sometimes takes an eternity.
- No restaurants close to the hotel. You have to either dine-in at the hotel restaurant or go to the Lansdowne market area (7-8 kilometres from the hotel) for meals.
- Since Hotel Ravine Palace is located before the start of main Lansdowne area, you have to pay Rs 105 each time as a toll tax to take your vehicle in Lansdowne.
Verdict
I enjoyed my stay at Hotel Ravine Palace. The pros of the hotel overpowered all the cons for me. Yes, lack of mobile network and inconsistent wifi was a bit of bother; but we were mostly in the main Lansdowne area where the mobile network was excellent. Even if you are staying at the hotel, you can treat it as a digital detox where you are forced to play indoor games than doing facebook or WhatsApp.
Both the days, we had got our dinner packed from the restaurants before leaving the Lansdowne area for the hotel. This way, we avoided eating the expensive dinner of the hotel.
If you visit the Lansdowne using public transport, then it is prudent to take a hotel in a Lansdowne market area since most of the attractions can be visited from there on foot. Also, there is no public transport from the Hotel Ravine Palace to the main part of town.
But if you bring your vehicle, Hotel Ravine Palace is a place to stay. It is a bit expensive but worth the money.
More Information
Hotel: Hotel Ravine Palace
Location: Palkot, Lansdowne, Uttarakhand
Average Price for a couple: Rs 3400
Wow. I am new to blogging. And seriously I just learnt how to write detailed reviews for hotels. I am so bookmarking it, not only for the hotel itself but also for reviewing😇😇😇😇
I have known about Hotel Ravine but only through word of mouth. The way you covered and described everything in detail is something that has convinced me to stay here during my next visit. Such a lovely family friendly place this it.
It is a lovely hotel Anshul. If you like staying away from all the noise, then it is a very good option. Wifi is a bit of bother but I would still recommend it.
The views from the hotel are a great feature and the clean room with a wonderful breakfast to start your day, sounds like a good recommendation to me.
The room looks great for a three-star hotel. I like how you mentioned the pros and cons of the hotel so people who are looking for this information knows what to expect and can decide best. As mentioned above, I would like to know the surrounding areas of this hotel to know what to expect around it. It looks like you and your family have a great bonding because of less screen time. Sometimes it is good to disconnect and connect to the people that surround us.
Nowadays we are always on facebook or WhatsApp or doing something on mobile. For a couple of days, it is not such a bad idea to forget about the phone and play or connect with other people.
This hotel is gorgeous! I can’t wait to visit India some day!
I would love to see more of the views from this hilltop town. Food looks great. Hotel has a very western feel to it. Good review.
Looks like a good, family-friendly hotel. Too bad about the inconsistent wifi. I’m more frustrated with bad wifi than with no wifi. If I know going in that there would be no wifi I could plan ahead and make my decision based on that but if I arrive somewhere where it says there is wifi but it does not work well – I find that frustrating.
I totally agree with you, Sheila. Hotel needs to improve the strength of wifi drastically. Poor wifi was not a big issue for me but for somebody who required heavy need of wifi can be frustrating. I hope Ravine Palace works on this aspect.
Thanks for the thorough review and you have got it covered! From rooms, location, food to entertainment. Will keep it in mind when I am visiting India again and when I am in town.@knycx journeying
Thanks and I hope you will get to visit India soon.
Whenever I search for a place to stay, I make sure there is wifi connection. And yes, it’s such a bummer when they have wifi but you can’t really use it due to unstable connection. I don’t mind about the amenities, what’s important to me is internet because it helps me search for helpful stuff while on a trip. Hehe. You really made an honest review here.
I totally understand if this hotel does not appeal to many. Internet connection has become a sort of necessity nowadays. And providing poor wifi by a 3-star hotel is not expected. I hope hotel owners work on this aspect because apart from this, hotel amenities are great.
Hotel Ravine Palace sounds like a great choice as long as you have you’re own vehicle. Having poor wifi can be annoying but it’s definitely fine for a couple of days as like you say it means you will spend more time enjoying playing games and relaxing.
This post is tight ahead of our planning a trip to Lansdowne. Thankful for this review if a hotel as we would be looking for such a wonderful stay in the mountains. Good one👍
I hope you have a wonderful Lansdowne trip. Let us know your experience if you are staying at this hotel.
I think for a considered 3-star hotel the hotel Ravine is super decent! The decoration and the games room do not look bad at all either! Nice and affordable choice !
Hotel Ravine Palace looks like a good choice. It has all the facilities I look for in a hotel, but it’s s a shame about the WiFi. The game room looks cool!