Champaner Heritage Resort — Hotel in Gujarat

The Champaner Heritage Resort is a 50 km drive from Vadodara and if you are looking for a quiet overnight trip, to explore how the mid-century royals in Gujarat lived somewhat humbly, this is a great option. It took us less than 2 hours to drive from Vadodara to Champaner and the roads were smooth and the drive extremely scenic.

The living areas and the accessible areas of the resort are slightly smaller than the typical heritage property but the drive to the main building is impressive, with mango orchards on either side of the shaded driveway and the occasional screech of a peacock filling the air. There is ample car parking and due to the limited number of rooms at the resort, it will never be crowded with too many people. Check-in was a smooth and efficient experience done right at the entrance, a very impressive area with 150-year old metal-studded doors, beautiful frescoes on the walls representing different hunting and courtly scenes, and shallow containers of water with floating flowers in them.

We opted for a suite since there were three of us, (my husband and I, and a friend of ours with his dog) - our suite was on the ground floor surrounded by lush well-manicured gardens. The suite was beautifully maintained and honestly, the pictures do not do the rooms and suites any justice. The floors were solid marble and the rafters were original wood. There were a few ancient pieces of furniture in the suite such as the grand mirror which opened into a decently sized cupboard and the washroom was clean and well maintained. We felt like royalty lounging on the sofas provided in the suite and the decor both inside and outside was tasteful without being overdone.

We ate lunch, our first meal at the resort, at the resort restaurant, an air-conditioned tent a quick 4-5 min walk from our suite. We opted to eat the rest of our meals at the suite itself. The food was passable, the dal was beautifully tempered and the rotis were generously coated with ghee. Please note the menu was mostly vegetarian and if you would like some non-vegetarian options, you will have to book your meals in advance. We had masala omelets for breakfast which were very nicely done. It was extremely easy to call for room service (there was a phone in our suite that connected to the reception) along with a working WiFi.

The resort has a medium-sized swimming pool surrounded by a rose garden - you can choose to get a nice tan in the summer sun or take a nightly swim when the pool is lit up. I believe there are other activities as well such as archery within the resort but we chose not to partake in those.

The resort staff were very hospitable and understanding and Mr. Ramesh and his team were a huge factor in ensuring we had an absolute, fantastic experience. Most importantly, the resort allows pets and the staff was so kind towards Lola, our friend's dog. If you are looking for a peaceful overnight trip, away from the bustle of the city, surrounded by greenery and the sounds of nature, then we highly recommend the Champaner...

Last week I visited this wonderful place – Champaner Heritage Resort and I have to say something about it. I have a single word to describe about this property – AMAZNING.||From reception to room service and from restaurant to recreational activities in and around the resort, it was a wonderful experience to us. Mr. Hemant and Ms. Sejal has taken every small step to guide us well to explore this beautiful world. Ms. Jyotsna at reception has been always courteous and cooperative during our entire duration of stay. If you are planning to visit this place, you do not need to make any plans or tour schedule, they will guide you with all the activities you can do during your stay. And trust me, you will enjoy all of them. They also arrange a Farm Visit for their guests. I suggest to do it in the evening as you will be able to enjoy mesmerizing sunset during this time. ||Highlight of the property is approx. 3500 mango trees. Yes, this property is having its own mango orchard and there are chances that your Camp or Tent might be under a Mango Tree. Though you are not allowed to pluck the mangoes directly from the trees but you don’t need to. Why? Because you will find lots of mangoes fallen from the trees and you are free to eat them, off course in a limit. ||With almost 4 different options to stay, we opted for Royal Nest Tree House and decision proved to be correct as we had the most wonderful time we ever had in any of our trips. ||Food have been delicious and they really offer wide range of options during Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. You must select the APAI plan as you won’t be able to find any appropriate food outlet nearby the property as it is bit secluded and located in really internal parts from the main highway.||They show you two beautiful lakes with one natural lake which we saw during the Farm Visit with the Sunset View and other is an artificial Lake within the resort with different types of birds in and around it. We were accompanied by ducks during out time by the lake. ||Suggestions: |1. You can visit this property during Mid-August to Mid-March as summers can be really hot over here. But at the same time, you may miss to enjoy mangoes here as summer is the best time for this majestic fruit. |2. They need to place some signboards for the directions right from the main highway. Finding this property, even with the help of a Google Map, is a task and may need some logical skills. ||Lastly, kudos to the team and to the management for putting all the efforts to make our stay pleasant, and memorable and also for giving all the amazing...

"A digital detox amidst the best of nature"

TL;DR: Beautiful place, wonderful people running it, decent food, no mobile connectivity except Jio, but a must-have experience.

Around 12kms from the foot of the Pavagadh hills is this secluded resort, tucked away in the lap of nature. Surrounded by lush green lawns on all sides, the Champaner Heritage Resort is a wonderful weekend getaway, about 60kms from Vadodara.

While weekends are full of guests visiting the resort, weekdays are when you could practically have the resort all to yourself, with their staff craving to serve you with their best.

Rooms are distributed among 3 zones - Champaner House, Bhamaria House and the Tent city that is about 250m away from the main property. Rooms are not the best in class, but are large in size and adequately equipped for a weekend. Although we stayed in the Champaner house that overlooks a huge lawn of grass, the tent city is where the real experience lies. With 16 beautiful tents surrounding an artificial pond, the tent city area is beautiful during the day as well as the night. But the tents are generally booked and hence booking them well in advance is recommended.

Food is pretty decent and reasonably priced. One has good options for breakfast, lunch as well as dinner. Fortunately for us, the resort organised a special kathiyawadi dinner for all guests at the tent city on one of the nights that we were there. We were travelling with our one-year old baby boy, and the staff were more than willing to prepare special food to suit his palette. Mr. Prithvi and his team at the F&B department do a wonderful job in making their guests feel at home.

There are some indoor games and activities as well which could be useful if you travel with larger groups. But for the rest, the green lawns and the 40-acre estate with over 3000 mango trees are more than enough to give you a very relaxed stay.

On a connectivity front, only Jio seems to work well at the resort. They say Vodafone works too, but we had a bit of a struggle getting it to work. They do have wifi in the resort, but it is non-existent most of the times, but the lack of connectivity at times seems welcome in an otherwise technology-intensive life.

Overall, it is a wonderful place. Mr. Joy, Mr. Gowda and their team go out of their way to welcome you. On weekdays when there are fewer guests, they love to have conversations with you, telling you more about the place. Make sure you indulge in those!

I would definitely recommend spending a weekend (or even a couple of weekdays) at the Champaner...