Travel: CECIL HOTEL @ MATHERAN

I have always stayed at Cecil Hotel during my trips to Matheran. We have checked a number of hotels here, and feel this place is total value for money. We called them and booked our rooms in advance. 

Varda in the open space below our rooms

Cecil Hotel is set in a sprawling property with old buildings. The rooms are large with high ceilings and can easily accommodate four people. They allot you rooms as per requirement. There’s an attached bathroom and a dressing room to boot. 

There’s a veranda running outside the rooms with a railing. Then there is the sit-out beyond that, with the garden full of plants, trees and a few flowering shrubs. The place is quite rustic and that just adds to the charm. They have 20-odd staff working at Cecil Hotel. These men are friendly and helpful. 

The package includes stay, breakfast, lunch and dinner at Rs. 1400 per person. It’s a pretty good deal. They have a huge dining room that has tables and chairs to seat fifty people. By Mumbai standards, the room can comfortably seat a hundred. Breakfast is served on the veranda outside the rooms along with piping hot coffee or tea unless there’s too much crowd. In such a case, they serve it as a buffet in the dining room. Lunch is served at your table and it’s a set menu. It’s the same with dinner. There’s an old-fashioned brass bell outside every room, to call for room service. 

Gujarati Thali

The food is in the style of a Gujarati Thali most of the time, though they do serve Pav Bhaji or Chinese Fried Rice & Manchurian Gravy on some nights. They also try to please the customers by making something special if we tell them a few hours in advance. 

A section of the dining room

The place is silent and calm, all the time. There’s a section of garden with swings and see-saw for children. There’s a badminton court and one can borrow racquets, shuttlecock, badminton balls, etc from the office. They also have indoor games like carom and chess. Yeah, all olde worlde! 

Venkat

There were four dogs that hung around, obviously fed by the staff. They were quite friendly and were helpful in chasing away the monkeys that run amok in the area. There were also a couple of adorable kittens that lived in the kitchen. 

Two of the friendly doggies

It’s the best place to unwind, I would say! 

Monkeys

Monkeys on the railings outside the veranda. The one on the left is eating a kulfi that we gave him