Neemranas The Verandah in the Forest

What People are saying

Phenomenal experience in the 19th century heritage bungalow

ManRobinon 29/08/2017 08:40

The 19th century heritage bungalow gives you a royal experience of old world charm , away from the hustle bustle of the city life ....exactly in the middle of the forest..very spacious rooms, 4 course candle light dinner was awesome, very close to the lake as well which is agai an add on to Neemrana's bungalow. Evening tea was also nice with varieties.
It's not far from Mumbai also only an hour drive from Mumbai to the car parking spot ( Dasturi )
Right from Dastur parking you will enjoy the ride on horse .

Special kudos to the entire team and the gentleman at reception all were very helpful and polite always....
A memorable trip .

Perfect colonial experience

Sneha_Sawanton 19/08/2017 22:51

After arriving at Dasturi and walking for about an hour on the trail towards Charlotte lake we finally reached this place. The long walk was totally worth it for the excellent location - couldn't have been a better place right in the middle of a misty forest. The villa is a huge old time parsi house with its Persian flavor making its presence felt in the furniture, crockery, balconies and ofcourse the verandah. The rooms were pleasantly colonial in their architecture and interiors - though the sofa covers & cushions were old & dusty. Food was strictly average & overpriced. However they have an amazing dining hall and breakfast area that compensates for the average food. There aren't any facilities like TV, AC, pool, play area etc. What made the difference was the villa - perfectly old styled - you may not be impressed in the first look but the place grows on you. We had booked Verandah after recommendations from few friends and we definitely weren't disappointed.

Average Experience

Harshad2014on 19/08/2017 20:19

Matheran..... Well only hill station in Asia to ban all types of vehicles. But wait this review is about Neemrana's - Verandah in the Forest, so to start with yes this is the best place to stay in Matheran but not what I expected it to be

This was my first experience with Neemrana's properties I got to know that they restore old heritage buildings hence I was quite exited for this experience and had a lot of exceptions

To start with the booking agents in Delhi were very helpful I had some change in dates and they were accommodated easily also the booking agent did do a great Job in selecting the room for us

Location: Right in the middle of forest away for hustle and bustle of the town this place scores 10 on 10 on the location aspect. However as stated in my first line 'only hill station in Asia to ban all types of vehicles' it makes this place little far off, if the train line is not working you walk 5 KM if the train line is working you walk 3 Km

You may ride on the horse back however looking at the approach road to the resort which had some steep incline I don't think it is a comfortable choice. Surprisingly I saw lot of old people paying a visit to the resort

Rooms: I stayed a room named Chenoy and all thanks to the agent in Delhi the room was superb. It was a Grand Room the bed was comfortable and it had a good bathroom. there were lots of windows in the room which made ventilation easy

However I may not say the same about the other rooms in the resort. I saw some of the rooms quite shady and some of them weren't as big as ours they felt cramped up. The rooms on the ground floor seemed to be void of light

Resort: Well this is a heritage building which is been renovated and made into a resort. So they have done a good job on renovation aspect and restoring.

These days its a cliche to brand a resort as a 'NO AC' 'NO TV' 'NO INTERNET' 'CUT OFF FROM CITY LIFE'. These tags are making a bee line on most of the websites
however the resorts must have that caliber to carry these tags and this is where Neemrana's - Verandah in the Forest fails miserably. With No TV/Internet they fail to provide other entertainment source to the guest. They do not have their own library where in the guest can borrow books. I saw some coffee table books in the resort however their condition was worse. The boards games are not maintained. Internet (wi fi) was available around the office. I have stayed at properties like The Machan in Lonavala and Machil Farm Stay in Sindudurga where there was no TV however we still managed to have a good time as the resort had some activities planned for all days

The NO AC part was still doable as the rooms were well ventilated

Tip: Carry you favorite novel!

Service/Food: This is where the resort takes a big beating. Service simply does not exist. Staff is poorly trained with the resort that charges 4300 per night without food at least one can expect a better staff. The staff is clueless about the place where they work. Breakfast was complimentary and just average nothing special about it

The biggest rip off was the dinner and lunch which costed 750 plus 12% GST per person. The resort does not believe in the concept of Ala la cart you are forced to eat their buffet. We were still able to manage our lunches from outside after walking for 4 KM however the same for dinner was impossible given the remote location of the resort.

On the first day of our stay which was Friday there were only 4 guest in the resort including us however we still had to go with their fancy nonsense 4 course buffet instead of having the liberty of ordering the food from Ala la cart.

The food was bad most of the time except the only thing I remembered was one desert which was the walnut pie that was well done

Verdict:
Matheran is place for treakers commute is a issue be ready to walk to stay in this resort. Neemrana's - Verandah in the Forest is a good resort on the hill I did not see other properties that were good as this

but on my next trip I will think twice before I step in Neemrana's property if I have other good choices around

Best Hotel in Matheran

Roshan112on 29/07/2017 13:38

Though in my review, month visited suggests as July 2017, i beg to differ. It was July 1917. A classy vintage property named as Barr House or Verandah in the forest took us back to 100 years ago. Absolute British charm property, hats off to Neemrana for giving such vintage touch to the property, each n every piece of furniture is antique even the steel bathing vessel and mug. The portraits of Parsi Legends, pictures of old Bombay, windows, doors gives u the feel of a room dated way back to previous century. The huge dining table which was set up with a candle light dinner with all the electricity lights off gave us the most special n awesome feeling of a Royal dinner. Food was absolutely great, both Indian and Continental was a delight to eat. Staff were amazingly courteous and very helpful to our requests... Isolated from the world is Matheran but the property is even isolated from the crowd or market of Matheran... which was so great for our peaceful and tranquil time right in the middle of the forest... Walking distance to Charlotte Lake and other points like Echo and Sunset points were cherry on the cake. Overall we had an amazing experience of this property. N wud definitely like to come back soon.

Awesome property, awesome location, the best in Matheran without doubt

Pawan_Prabhaton 28/07/2017 14:52

I have stayed at this property and I can say it is the best in Matheran. The hotel is classic. The verandah is great. The service is great. The food is average. This property will take you 100 years back in time. Highly recommended.