Stay at a Palace at Rs 100 a Day

That is if you have a government job. Otherwise it would be Rs 300. But considering that you would bstaying at a palace built in 1875, with all the period furniture around and the tennis court size rooms with 30 feet high vaulted ceilings, even this amount appears measly.

The city is Alwar. A beautiful getaway, steeped in Mughal and Rajput history, just 150 km away from Delhi. And it’s not a hotel we are talking about, but the Circuit House. The Maharaja of Alwar’s State Guest House till 1947, the Circuit House is about 4 km away from the Alwar Railway Station, situated near Hotel Meenal of RTDC. The huge, well-maintained two-storied palace has 12 rooms (or suites) for guests, in the midst of a forest-garden spread over 15 acres.

Every room has AC, TV, huge queen beds, boudoir, and period furniture thrown in. There are more than 100-year old teakwood furniture even in the dining room, with a 16-sitter ‘legless’ dining table in the middle. The wide balcony at the first floor level will not just give you a green view of the well-manicured lawn in front, but also a beautiful sunrise with chirping of birds, and a look at the secret passages and alleys and anterooms at the corners.

While you seep in the ambiance and start feeling rejuvenated, the old cook Hiralal will whip up a fluffy Omelette, fine Darjeeling tea, and toast and milk-cornflakes breakfast. Then have a walk in the forest around, where deer and Nilgais will cross your ways, and scores of peacocks will stare at you from the tree-tops and the alleys.If I go to Alwar again, I will stay nowhere else but the Circuit House, I have already threatened Chouhan, the Chief Caretaker of the Circuit House, Alwar.