I happened to read another review that said Le Auroville and Rainbow resort are the same - hence posting my comments here.I have seen many rather BAD reviews about the place - although this is not the best place after the Eden Gardens, it isn’t as bad as portrayed; So, I’m writing this piece to air my opinion!
As some others readers had accused a favourable review as concocted, I’m clarifying that I have nothing to do with these folks... just happened to spend the last week-end at this place.
Some of the aspects that I felt were critical for others to know about this place:
Location : Excellent (VERY away from the general traffic) Surrounded by Hills and "forests"
Staff : Very hospitable / warm; A very PR-savvy director (I guess) - but also delivered what was promised
Acco : We stayed in an acco that had two rooms and only one toilet-cum-bath. We felt that two toilets would have made things a lot easier. We somehow didn’t see rooms that’d be for a single family. If I was to have gone there with just my family, Rs. 1500 would have felt like a lil on the higher side!
Food : Definitely not FIVE STAR - but, not as demonic as another reviewer wrote... Very home-like food - As a rather finicky parent, I had no hang-ups about letting my eight year old-delicate-darling eat there! We rode into the place at around 10.30 PM... still the folks there were not grumpy (as mentioned in another review)... they gracefully set the table for us (with more than adequate quantity of food) and a bucket of water for us to wash our hands - they left us in peace after ensuring that we didn’t need anything else.
Facilities : a large "lawn" (generally grown grass - not qualifiable for the title of a lawn) with two swings (one in running condition!) and a patch (not pitch) for cricket, two bats, three make-shift stumps, one quite-open(broken) tennis ball and a decent football to play with. All this was OK as we didn’t really visit Yelagiri to play cricket, after all! We still enjoyed it! A nice Bon-fire did help us stay up till 2 in the morning. Stone benches all around the "lawn" for you to settle down wherever u so wished to! Am told soon there’s going to be a pool, etc... we saw the space cleared up for that, too...
Now, about Yelagiri itself... Many reviewers have said that apart from a lake, there precious little else to do here... Guess their priorities are a little misplaced... One shd go to a place like Yelagiri for peace and that bonding with nature - a great trek can almost be guaranteed! If you’re expecting joy-rides, etc, u shd go to Wonder La or Fun world rather than complain that Yelagiri doesn’t have them! You could hire a cycle and peacefully pedal your way around.
Request that you don’t carry liquor, etc there to get high and create a ruckus - there’s peace - just let it be!