~~ Mirasol -- The Soul Of Daman ~~. Review on Mirasol Water Park and Resort, Daman

The above words are the thoughts echoed by the Supertramp Poet W. H. Davies. In this busy life we don’t have time to pursue any activities which reek of leisure. The jet-set speed of our lives, the manner in which we live, takes a heavy toll on our mental and physical health. We do need to slow down once in a way to avoid burnout. What is better than taking a short vacation to a destination which can be reached within a couple of hours. So during  the Diwali weekend, we decided to goto Daman, which takes only three hours to reach.

Surfing on the net for good hotels, I found only 3 to my liking- one was Cidade De Daman( A 4 star one), second Miramar Hotel and the third one Mirasol Waterpark & Resort. As the waterpark was main attraction, I checked the website of the resort. Finally satisfying myself, got the bookings done the previous day of the journey. The booking choice was either through credit card( I am very apprehensive about using cards for bookings) or depositing the advance in their HDFC account, I preferred the later.

We left for Daman, early in the morning to avoid the traffic and we really had a pleasant drive most of the time. We reached there in 3 and a half hours (there was some traffic on the way, with due thanks to the conditions of our roads) and didn’t have much difficulty in finding the place as my Hubby is a frequent visitor to Daman. We found our place of stay and initially didn’t like it as construction work was going on. My son wanted to return immediately, had a tough time cajoling him to stay there. After presenting ourselves at the reception, we were shown to our room. The room was not to our liking, so we got it changed from Super Deluxe to a Suite.

The Suite had a bedroom and a hall area with a sofa-cum-bed. A small fridge, a charming mirror, a big screen TV (not LCD). The beds are iron beds with very comfortable mattress ;-) .The rooms are done tastefully in earth tones and creams. The bathroom consisted of a glassed area for the bathtub and shower. Prints of lovely floral/abstract paintings adorned the walls. The wardrobes are of smaller sizes, which is little inconvenient, in Deluxe rooms they are absent altogether.

There are various types of accommodation available to suit everyone’s pockets. Duplex, Suites, Super Deluxe, Deluxe, Executive Rooms, Tents , Family Rooms, Dormitories are available which you can choose depending upon your group size. The accommodation is on the expensive side as the tariff excludes everything except stay. (Ours was Rs 5000, just for stay)

There are conference facilities available for working vacationers or simply to those holding a conference. The Conference hall is a huge one, I think it can seat atleast 450-500 persons. I am sure it must be tastefully done too, as the rest of the place (didn’t have time to see the interior). I was told that they have all the required equipment for the conferences as well as the catering facilities for a large group too.

The place is huge, has three restaurants, one is open one called Gamdu, a typical village styled, with a large seating capacity. It’s roof is matted and green jute covers the entire roof. Large wheels are placed strategically to enhance the look. Traditional cloth lampshades can be found hanging from the roof. It has a bar too for those who like to drink. Daman is a drinkers haven, people come from the surrounding areas to indulge here. The food is tasty and served well before the promised half an hour. This place needs to be a little cleaner as food is handled here. ( Construction activity is going on around the restaurant and it needs to be cleaned a little regularly). The food is value for money.

There are two more restaurants in middle of the lake, to reach these restaurants, you need to cross a small bridge. The second restaurant is an open air restaurant, facing the lake. The third restaurant, is an airconditioned restaurant called Marine Moods, just above the open one. Yet again, this too is done very aesthetically, in shades of purple, right from table cloth to the uniform of captains/waiters. I was disappointed with the food here, it wasn’t as tasty (or maybe I didn’t like it as I am fond of spicy food) as the food available in Gamdu. The service is a little slower here but the price of the food item is same in all the restaurants as well as when you order using room service.

The main attraction of this place is Water park. Many schools come here for day picnic. The entry fee is Rs 300 for adult and Rs 250 for a child. The Resort guests get 30% discount, many resorts which have water parks allow their guests free entry but not this place. The costumes and towels are available upon paying a deposit and a small fee. You can buy the costume too on the other hand. The used costumes are continuously washed as I myself saw, but I preferred to buy the costume. If you compare the size of this water park to others, then you maybe disappointed, as this is considerably smaller. It has several types of water slides, the highest being at the height of three floors. There are slides for children too in a separate pool. There are mushrooms(typical in all water parks) on which water is continuously falling. There are swings too where you can sit and get wet. In several places there are jets of water with varying speed, very relaxing for aching muscles, but wished the water was warm. You can float in the lazy river on a foam mat, there are no tube floats, the mats are unable to bear even a small child’s weight. There are 8-10 lifeguards always on alert, so safety is assured. There is a wave pool which can be enjoyed twice during the day, the waves do not rise very high as in other wave pools.

If you want, you can go boating in the lake in the swan shaped boats and actually get to meet the beautiful swans swimming along. The water in one side of the lake wasn’t too clean, it needs frequent cleaning too. There is a Mini Train too in which you can circle the lake. The boat ride and Mini Train charges are not included in the water park charges, you have to pay separately. I don’t know the charges as we didn’t ride them.

At present there is no other entertainment except pool table and water park. Their future plans include 40 additional rooms for which the work is in full swing, massage and recreational facilities, a mini theatre and more rides in the park. The staff is very cordial, the service is quick too.  This place may not look very promising during the daytime but let darkness arrive and this place gets transformed into a fairyland with strategic lighting. This place is great to unwind and relax for a day or two only. This is the best place in Daman to stay at present, I cannot say about the other places as I don’t have any idea. We came back the next day itself though I wanted to stay for another day as planned earlier, as both men in my life were adamant to return. Daman is a place to spend a day or two at most and I would say Mirasol is the soul of Daman.

PS. I got this category included through Mouthpad and they have included this under Amusement Parks but since it is a resort as well, I have written about both the resort and water park in my review.