Oct 05, 2009 05:38 PM
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We started from Bangalore - NH48 - Hassan road. On the way we also saw Halebid & Belur temples. These are one of the best pieces of art that everyone should visit. I would suggest to take a guide (Rs 150) for better understanding of the carvings.
To reach Castle rock home stay drive from Belur to Chikmagalur (30 min), then to Aldur (20 min), from Aldur drive 9Km exactly or 20 minutes towards Arainoor. On right hand side you will find Castle Rock home stay.
The stay provides you with a living room and 3 rooms attached to it. There is a TV in living room with DTH. The rooms have toilets attached. Rooms & toilets are very clean. Just that one of the room had some damp walls (lots of rains in this area). 2 rooms are cozy and fit for double occupancy while once room is big enough and can easily adjust 4 people. Rooms have big cupboards. Best add-on is 24 Hr hot water supply and solar power backup. Beds were clean and dry with additional blankets.
Overall rooms can be rated 7/10. The owner & his wife were very cooperative and helpful. Also the food they provided was exceptionally good. You can ask what ever you want to eat. You can't expect food like a hotel, mind it, its a home stay :-)The food was homely, best because you rarely get home food while traveling. Breakfast, Lunch, evening snacks and Dinner were served.
Food I will rate 9/10.
The owner is a nice and kind person. The whole experience was nothing like a business. He told us to transfer some amount as advance for booking confirmation, I did so but the transfer failed due to some reason, but he did not mind this and confirmed our booking.
Finally Price???
Rs 1000 per person as of Oct'2009. But because we were in group and also stayed there for longer period he gave us a nice discount. (I should not disclose :-)).
The only negative I felt was that the place was little away from tourist spots like Kemengundi or Mulayangiri. But not many home stays(costly) are near to these :( and long weakends means booking them a month back.
As compared to other Homestays I inquired, who charge atleast Rs 2000 per head, this was the best deal. And I will love to go back and stay there.
At the closing note I will suggest all the travelers who want to book a home stay in Chikmagalur that never go through agents or agent websites (Sites which list many homestays). These agents will ask some 2K-3K from you but actually pay less to actual home stay owners. Instead google the homestay and almost many have their own websites.
You can call them up and also ask for some discounts.
