Ive just returned from Matheran, a beautiful Hill station near Bombay. I visited Mouthshut.com for Matheran Hotel reviews. So before leaving for Matheran I had short-listed hotels like Divadkar’s, Rangoli Retreat, Woodlands, etc etc...
After reaching matheran (many have explained this before on mouthshut.com abt how to reach matheran etc), myself and my wife went out checking difft hotels. Most of them are in market place, which is like a typical Hill station market and is also crowded with horses, ppl, and is very dusty+ noisy (disadvantage for Divadkar, rangoli R etc....).
By chance while checking Woodlands hotel, we came across, Cecil Hotel. Cecil Hotel is 15 min walk from the market and 15 min walk from the Dasturi Naka (where vehicular traffic stops). U can take a walk with ur luggage or can take a coolie. Cecil Hotel is midst of a dense Forest. So if u enjoy beauty of the nature and are not obsessed with swimming pools, gym etc then this is the best place. They have small cottage kind of rooms. The cost is Rs 600-650 per head inclusive of food (2 meals, 2 snaks, 3 tea/coffee!). AC rooms are for 850 rs per head. Bookings are not compulsory. However u can call up and enquire: 02148 230216/230047.
Food (Pure Veg) is really good and the staff is very no-nonsense type and disciplined. Food is mixed and not soley gujrathi. For example, If u request u can get regular Dal in place of sweet dal! U can order extra tea if u want. Regular rooms dont have a TV, whereas AC rooms have TV. Dont worry abt the TV though, as they have a community hall in the open air, where one can watch TV. However we preffered relaxing in the Verandah.
This place is very close to Monkey point and hart point. So one can take a short walk to these beautiful points. Overall my trip to Matheran was really memorable, because of the Hotel we stayed in and obviously because of beautiful and cool Matheran. I highly recommend Cecil Hotel for all those nature lovers who visit Matheran for peaceful, simple and beautiful little pleasures of life!
Thanks for reading this review.