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Hotel Relax Review : A Welcome Reprieve in Delhi's Chaotic Paharganj

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User Rating 2 Star Rating (1 Review) write a review

By , About.com Guide

Hotel Relax Review : A Welcome Reprieve in Delhi's Chaotic Paharganj Sharell Cook

The Bottom Line

Want to be amidst the action of Delhi's Paharganj tourist area but don't want to compromise on comfort? The Hotel Relax is an attractive budget hotel.

Pros

  • Central location, walking distance to the New Delhi train station.
  • Ambient balcony overlooking the street.
  • Large rooms and bathrooms.
  • Elegantly decorated.

Cons

  • Front rooms can be noisy from the street and temple below.
  • Back rooms don't have windows.
  • Quality of service and helpfulness of hotel staff can be variable.
  • Rooms can be overpriced if you don't bargain.

Description

  • 4970 Ram Dwara Rd, Nehru Bazaar, New Delhi, 110055.
  • Book by calling 91(11)23562811 or emailing vidur109@hotmail.com
  • Rooms cost 1,500 rupees ($30) per night.
  • Credit cards not accepted.
  • Rooms have hot water, satellite television, refrigerator, and 24 hour room service.
  • Front rooms have shared balconies.
  • Foreign exchange services are offered.
  • The hotel has a travel desk, and car and driver are available for sightseeing.
  • Airport pick-up is available on request for around 500 rupees.

Guide Review - Hotel Relax Review : A Welcome Reprieve in Delhi's Chaotic Paharganj

Paharganj has traditionally been a backpacker's haunt due to the plethora of cheap accommodations and restaurants that line the length of its main bazaar. However, its sights, sounds, smells and seething masses of humanity are enough to captivate the attention of any visitor to India.

The Hotel Relax provides a welcome reprieve from the dime-a-dozen budget hotels that populate the Paharganj area. Well located in a street just off the Main Bazaar, it offers a step up in both cleanliness and comfort, with a good dose of charm.

The hotel has large, airy rooms that open onto a wide central foyer on each level. Both the foyers and rooms are elegantly decorated with statues and artwork from the owner's import business, located in a shop adjoining the hotel. However, the really attractive thing about this hotel is its sizeable, pot plant filled balcony that overlooks the street scene below. It's an ambient place to drink, dine, and relax (as the hotel's name says!) while taking in the ever changing landscape outside.

While the Hotel Relax does have a lot going for it, don't expect the service to always be reliable or the staff to always be helpful. It's also inconvenient that the hotel doesn't accept credit cards. Other than these factors, the hotel makes for a pleasant stay. Rates are quite flexible, so do ask for a discount.

User Reviews

 2 out of 5
relax if you can, boycott if you will, Member Flykester

I have stayed in the Relax 5 times over the past few years the last being my last ever! It went bad for me slowly. One puts up with things. It is India. At first impression the Relax is all that one could want for a pahagahnje retreat, a shining white beacon in a sea of squalor but the management is mean beyond belief, mainly to the 'boys'(the real workers) Guests are tolerated as cash cows only. Cash only, rip off exchange rates, rude service, sloppy plumbing, dirty bathrooms, very ordinary food, warm beer, noisy between floors. The staff not behind the desk are just so nice it pains me to bag their work but the management are total unreal. The last straw came when arriving late and exhausted to our regular hotel to snatch a few hours sleep before further travel the next morning, were rudely greeted then shown the last room available. I think a staff room, filthy, full of mozzies 1 double bed and a mattress on the floor. This offered at full rate take it or leave it. Thank you very much we dont need your custom. I felt outraged. Flykester

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