The Bottom Line
Pros
- Excellent riverfront location, a few hundrend meters from the main Hari-ki-Pauri ghat.
- Food is amongst the best in Haridwar.
- Has a private bathing ghat.
- Offers a range of additional services, including live music, havan, and escort to evening aarti.
- Complimentary cycle rickshaw transfers from/to railway or bus stand.
Cons
- Set menu/buffet meals only.
- No room service.
- Most rooms don't have a view or a balcony.
- Isn't accessible by car.
Description
- Address: Pilibhit House, 21 Ramghat, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, 249401.
- Phone: +(91) 1334 - 265207, 226443.
- Standard deluxe rooms cost 5,000 rupees plus tax per night. Superior rooms are 6,000 rupees plus tax. Includes breakfast.
- All credit cards accepted.
- Internet bookings available.
- All rooms are air conditioned.
- Alcohol not permitted.
- Only vegetarian food is served.
- The hotel has a spa that offers massages and other treatments. Yoga can also be arranged.
Guide Review - Review of Haveli Hari Ganga Hotel Haridwar
I arrived at the hotel feeling anything but spiritual after a long journey from Mumbai. However, it soothed my soul from the moment I stepped inside. The entrance to this renovated 90 year old mansion, originally built by the Maharaja of Philbirt, is lined with lanterns. At reception, I was greeted with a welcome drink and had a mala (string of prayer beads) placed around my neck.
My standard room was spacious and invitingly decorated with colored glass light fittings, bright paintings of different chakras, and a huge and very comfortable bed set on an elevated marble platform. The bathroom was just as roomy and appealing, and I was pleased to find the shower had strong water pressure and plenty of hot water. The only windows in my room opened out onto the hallway though, which was a little disappointing, but I could live with it as the room was so attractive and homely. The fact that the hotel also has a large open air balcony, with plenty of sitting room, overlooking the Ganges also compensates.
Haridwar has plenty of cheap restaurants catering to visiting Indian pilgrims along the ghats, but quality food is not so easy to come across. Therefore, I was glad to find that the food at the hotel is amongst the best in the city. A buffet dinner, costing 450 rupees a person, is held every night. Indian cuisine as well as freshly made pasta is served. Of course, it's vegetarian as Haridwar is a holy place but it's very tasty.
While I dined in the evening, I was serenaded by live bhajans (devotional music) being played in the adjacent courtyard (which also houses a temple). Other notable services provided to guests are a havan (fire ritual) in the mornings, and a guide to take guests to the evening Ganga Aarti at Hari-ki-Pauri.
Why is having a guide necessary? It's easy to watch the ceremony from a distance, but if you want to participate in it (which is highly recommended as it's a much more powerful experience) the guide will ensure you get one of the best spots available right by the river and receive pandit's blessings. A word about the pandits though: they will ask you for money at the end and it's likely to be thousands of rupees, particularly if you're a foreigner. Don't feel obliged to pay such an amount though. A fee of 501 rupees (the extra rupee for good luck) is quite generous and acceptable.
