The new New Honda City needed a long haul, probably a more honest statement would be that its driver was looking for a drive so when an opportunity came knocking, it was hard to refuse. We were to go to ‘Chomu Palace’, in Chomu, Rajasthan (near Jaipur) to see if its a good enough venue to host a big press conference. Apparently a bulk of shooting of Zee’s new serial, ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’ happened here so it would have made a perfect site to host the opening conference. It was an important thing to attend to and one should not refuse (I would have still gone, even if we had to go to find out whether its more of Pinkish-Red or Reddish-pink though). So we went and I thought that I would share a quick review and pics for any fellow Ghumakkar.
Location
Its very close to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. If you are driving from Delhi, you do not need to go all the way till Jaipur, take a right after Shahpur and its about an hour from there. Actually, depending on the vehicle, there are two options to reach. You may also take the Ajmer by-pass and follow the road that goes to Samode Bagh Palace. Very well laid tar, NH8 is boring but smooth, the inner roads though are a pleasure. It amazes me to see how even small towns have enough of royal litter spread all around. The name is pretty true to what the state offers. In terms of time, it wont take you long to reach this place from Delhi (4 hours max) provided you can avoid the morning rush. I usually start very early but for this one, we did a lazy start and found to our dismay that actually till Manesar and a little beyond, you need to constantly negotiate through almost-city-like traffic. Here’s the mandatory map for the initiated.
View Delhi – Chomu Palace in a larger map
Infrastructure
Its an old heritage building which has changed many hands and the most recent owner has converted this into a Hotel. We were told that its as old as 300 years and on more probing, we learned that before it was converted into this lavish hotel, it was a flour mill. As with most of the heritage properties, every room has its own charm and probably no two rooms are same. There are 58 odd Suites with the ones which can hold only two people to ones which can hold a whole big Indian family.
It can get truly pampering to stay in one of those big suites.
Each room is very well equipped with some of the old world furniture, well thought royal artifacts, modern up-market toiletries and so on. You can imagine the detail from the fact that we could find a umbrella and a coat brush too, the usual dryer, room tea-maker-kit were definitely very conspicuous. We were on a ground level suite and it was fairly clear that the LCD was somehow squeezed in, it lied on the window stilt and the only way you could experience your stupid-box is by being on the bed. Difficult to blame but that placement did appear very tacky, more so since the rest were well designed. I was very impressed with the air conditioner which was very well concealed with a wooden Jaali, the jutting out Samsungs and Hitachis in a heritage room are always an eye sore.
There are large manicured lawns and though Chomu gets its own share of heat, we were surprised to find enough balcony-greenery. There is a swimming pool which was incidentally not very clean but I could sense that it wont have taken more than a polite call to have it ready. Needless to say, that it should have been ready without the need for any request.
The whole area is pretty big so if you take a good round-the-building stroll, it wont be over in a jiffy. A real test of a good palace is the sheer size and ‘Chomu Palace’ scores well there. The mix of stone and green keeps the whole eco-system fairly balanced. It has its share of nooks, a small temple, multiple narrow typical Rajasthan-palace stair-cases and what not. A good exploration of the property would keep you busy for a couple of hours.
The dining hall is not very big so I would imagine that when they are full, it would take some effort to re-arrange the setup to accommodate more people. Food was actually very nice. It lacked the usual cooked-by-the-book texture and tasted as something as if its especially customised for you. The staff is not stiff-lip and talks to you in your own lingo, very effective. Some literature on tables about the history of the palace might make the experience more engaging.
One thing which you would want to know that all rooms have single king size beds so that work well for a family or close friends but I guess if its a coporate do, and you want to put two people in a room than better to be informed. What else, well the mini-bar was somehow missing from our room. The thrifty variety like me prefer to carry their own stuff and use the in-house refrigeration to get that extra value of their money. Staff was more than willing to get me an ice bucket but a CFC driven machine would have helped better.
What to do
Well, nothing much. Just chill out, dream about kings, have a party. It seemed an ideal fit for a corporate outing. We did venture out to local market and were surprised to find that it was pretty big and well spread. It falls on Sikar-Jaipur connection so may be that makes it a good big stop.
All in all, it gets full marks for not only having a envious infrastructure but also keeping it pretty spic-n-span. The whole credit for the smooth, silent and warm operations should be awarded to Mr. Gurmeet Singh, the General Manager at the property. His warmth makes a big difference to the whole place – and the whole staff seems to follow his attitude down the line. Here’s a link to their website and other details from their website.
Chomu, District Jaipur (Rajasthan), INDIA – 303702
Ph.: 91-1423-300300 Fax: 91-1423-300400
E-mail: info@chomupalacehotel.com
Website : www.chomupalacehotel.com
General Manager: Gurmeet Singh,
E-mail: gm@chomupalacehotel.com
A weekend well spent. If you do choose to go, cite Ghumakkar and you might get a couple of drinks free during your stay.