Palace On Steps  

Location Smile on the face of hotel staff when we are checking out!

Attitude of the personnel No proper planning in allocation of rooms Reaching this place with luggage is difficult Long waiting hours for a snack and tea at restaurant No clear information by the guide arranged by the hotel infact arranged a vehicle with a lousy driver with no proper AC

I can't understand this hotel have three stars. I think one star.

Location

Guidance of Babu for visit to Mandir and local trip which is really most most expensive.

Location near the Ganges River

Bad relation price/quality The restaurant staff Restaurant bad service and not clean

Nothing.

Dirty, inaccessible. I had booked the hotel for my parents visiting Varanasi for pilgrimage. Once they reached, they just ran away and never bothered to take a second look, though they paid for the intended stay. Over the phone, they did not even know where to start about what went wrong. Cancel on Varanasi if this is the only hotel you are stuck with. A recommended site such as Booking.Com should seriously reconsider what hotels they list.

Alternate arrangement

Room booked was sold to different customer . Demand for more for alternate room. Felt like black mailing.

The view on the ganges

This is one of the most overrated places I have ever visited in my life. I booked a king room, paid 5500 rupiees but it is not even worth 300 rupees. Filthy insect filled room without any comfort. A bed with clean bedsheets, but the cover was as dirty as the roomfloor!!! Luckily the shower had hot water so I could properly wash. What a shame this place is, and why? With a small investment even these rooms could indeed look like a palace.

The terrace view

Everything else. Actually Palace on steps is only the name of an head office of 3 guesthouses. I was probably in the worst. They charged me almost ten times of the prixe because of "Kumbh Mela time". Paying 24€ for such a bad quality of room and service is quiet unfair and not honest. The boss is really unfriendly. I definitly not recommand this place, of for its normal price, 500 rps... I've wrongly attracted by name and photos...

- the view

- tiny room - frequent power outages - very tiny and basic bathroom - difficult to find

The hotel staffs tried to get as much money as possible from us even by cheating. Be careful!

Very helpful staff who really struggles to fulfil all wishes of hotel guests. Hotel is comfortably located, just over the Ganga river. From our balcony we could see all the important places in Varanasi. Also hotel restaurant has a charming view and very good chef.

Location! Location! Location! Right on the Ganges! Staff are friendly. Accommodation are basic but sufficient. Vicky (hotel guide) gave us good service. Restaurant up to standard. But once again: Location! Location! Location!

Avoid the guide are the cremation site: we were lured into a dark building and basically forced to give a bigger donation to the poor than what we intended to do. This whole episode tainted sacred Varanasi.

Location only

Comfort

Palace on Steps has a top location, with my room, and I think all or most others overlooking the Ganges. Very convenient for exploring the small streets of the old city, for strolling up and down the Ghats or for sailing on the river - easy to go back, say at lunchtime or dinnertime to relax before going out later. The room was clean and the warms shower worked without any problem. The staff showed a very helpful attitude and reacted promptly to my requests. They made me feel welcome.

The facilities are very basic. Examples: No chairs in room, no waste basket in room or bathroom, TV with 30 - 40 channels, though not a single one in English. No heating facilities on room, it was 5 - 10 degrees Centigrade at night during my December stay - outdoors and in the room. Bathroom: no toilet paper ( was promptly given when asked for), no shelf to put toilet accessories, no hooks to hang towels, no means of pushing water off floor after shower. A more fair name would be: Guesthouse on the Steps, do not expect high level of comfort. If you dont expect luxury and can tolerate rough edges, this is a fine hotel at an attractive price and a superb location.

Really aside of Ganges river. Roof top restaurants are also nice both breakfast and dinner. Hotel offered Ganges boat trip for reasonable price.

Our room was next to a staff room, so very noisy by their chat and TV sound at midnight.

Very good place to stay in Varanasi - Location is excellent, rooms are clean, hot water! Prices in a restaurant is a bit high, but it's large and tasty dishes. Hotel staff can arrange boat trips, city tours and so on. We got car-tour Varanasi - Khajuraho - Gwalior - Agra - Fatehpur Sikri - Jaipur - Amber - Pushkar - Delhi for 8 days for a good price and it was nice: 1. It's faster and more comfortable then by train or buses and cheaper than by fly 2. No problems with bus or train tickets 3. No need to find taxis or reekshas for sight seen But if You need 100% comfortable car-tour, please, read the cons part :) But hotel manager and driver always tried to do their best, so I left all my cash to driver at the end of the trip! Thank You Sanjey and Rinku for a good trip!

A bit hard to find. Cons about car-tour Varanasi - Khajuraho - Gwalior - Agra - Fatehpur Sikri - Jaipur - Amber - Pushkar - Delhi for 8 days: 1. WARNING! Ensure that Your driver knows routes to all locations that You are going to visit. In other case You'll need very good GPS. Unfortunately our driver know how to drive in Varanasi only, because he always asked me where to drive (left/right/straight) - God bless GARMIN! If You will not have a GPS and Your driver will be same as ours - You will loose all Your time in a path-finding. 2. WARNING! Ensure that Your driver can understand and can speak English. Our driver understood "right/left/straight" only. Even if You'll tell him "Now left, then right" he will not understand You. So for comfortable trip - be sure, that You can chat with a driver - 8 days is a long term. 3. If You will buy it with hotels booking: hotels in Agra is very poor and dirty, Pushkar is good but overpriced as for me. All other hotels was excellent. But hotel manager and driver always tried to do their best, so I left all my cash to driver at the end of the trip! Thank You Sanjey and Rinku for a good trip!

Location: right on the Ghats with incredible view!

Food was mediocre for the price we payed!

The room was excellent, very large and the showers/bathroom facilities were also excellent. One of the local boys who is friends with the hotel management also makes an excellent tour guide - his name is Lalit, and he works for whatever you think his services are worth, unlike many of the guides in the area who will try to rip you off - if you stay there make sure you ask the management for his help!

We spent 2 nights in Palace on Steps. The hotel is situated in a perfect location along the River Ganges. It has a big terrace cafe looking over Ganges, where we met different travellers from all around the world. Also, although it's a bit expensive, we got a river view room with a balcony. It's clean and comfortable. We enjoyed beautiful and peaceful sunrise in the morning.

In general, it's a little bit more expensive compared to other hotels in the same area. Staff of hotel are friendly but also keen on offering guided tour or pickup car to guests for extra charges. In spite of fantastic river view, outdoor area is surrounded by aggressive monkeys. Be prepared and don't be shocked! They have a super smart dog Kalu as the best safe-guard. Wifi is only available in lobby area at ground level.

Restaurant with good and safe food. Indeed a great view over Ganges. Good service and very friendly staff. Your stuff are safe in the rooms.

Many problems with Wi-Fi-connection. A lot of noise in the rooms with view over Ganges (kids playing games till late evening and life begins early in the morning at the banks of Ganges).

Location

Attitude of staff. Breakfast service. Arrangements for sightseeing taxi.

Better than the usual rubbish accommodation in India, which really doesn't say a lot.

Like many other places in India, don't expect to get your money's worth here. The service is near non-existent, the breakfast included was below average to say the least, and the cleanliness left much to be desired. Note that the location right on the Ganga in the end just means much more noise and smell. Stay inside a bit and avoid sleepless nights like we did.

Läget precis intill Ganges och gamla stan är perfekt. Maten i restaurangen var bra, vi blev förvånade över den höga kvaliteten eftersom personalen verkade ganska ointresserade. Location right next to the Ganges and the old town is perfect. The food in the restaurant was good, we were amazed at the high quality because the staff seemed quite disinterested.

Personalen var ganska ointresserad och upptagen med andra saker. Aporna runt hotellet var lite jobbiga. The staff were quite aloof and busy with other things. The monkeys around the hotel was a bit annoying.

Clean rooms with brand new shower, friendly staff. I especially liked the friendly tour guide from the hotel who came free of charge (please tip him generously), he arranged for us to enter the golden temple and assist the cremation ceremony. Also sunrise or sunset boat trip which came as a small fee. Magnificent view from the rooms by the water and the rooftop restaurant

Breakfast was too light and simple (eggs and toast)

Nice service in hotel, a small restaurant inside, but be careful about the monkeys. It is very good view to see gange river just in your room.