Anora Resorts — Hotel in Tamil Nadu

About 85 kms from Chennai, on the way to Pondicherry along the ECR, and about 25 kms past Mahabalipuram and 65 kms before Pondicherry town, you will find this compact little resort. The landmark before you reach the resort is a now non-functional tollgate (Pooncheri ?), which was in use once on the ECR from Mahabalipuram to Pondicherry. Lookout for a signpost of the resort on the left, soon after crossing the old tollgate. Take that narrow path down for about 200 meters to reach the entrance of the resort. After a short driveway of about 50 meters from the main gate, you will reach the entrance of the resort building where the modest reception desk will be.|I had done prior booking, paid the required advance amount and was told by their head office reservations team to pay the rest upon my checking in. When I was told of the amount to be paid, it differed from what I actually had to pay. There was some confusion. So I asked the resort’s reception team to speak with their centralised reservations team in Chennai who had done my bookings, for details and clarifications. After the call was made, the confusion was finally sorted out. The centralised reservations team in Chennai had given me a special offer, which the local reception desk at the resort was blissfully unaware of, resulting in the confusion. Fresh Pineapple juice welcome drinks kept us hydrated during this back-and-forth clarification process !|They have some basic indoor board games like Carrom and Chess and a Table tennis table. There is an outdoor play area too, with some swings, a jungle gym, an artificial putting green, and some open ground to play cricket, volleyball, football and field games.|The open-air public swimming pool was small but nice, with an attached shower section. However, there were no proper facilities provided for getting the towels or for dropping the used wet ones.|Overall, the place is peaceful, calm and quiet and the resort is worth a visit. With a good chef in attendance and some improved maintenance of the resort precincts, there is every possibility that this property could become the resort of choice for repeat visits from guests like myself.|I had pre booked a ‘Splash-Plunge Pool Room’ especially for the sake of my kids. It was an interesting and a novel change from the usual rooms that one is used to ! If you have small kids in your group, then the ‘Splash-Plunge Pool Room’ of approximately about 7’x4’x2’ dimensions would be tremendous entertainment and amusement. Kids can have a gala time enjoying themselves in their own personal splash pool, set inside the room itself ! The room size was comfortable. The bathroom was quite large too. But the small tube light above the mirror was not working. Requested for it to be replaced. It was never done until we checked-out. Every time I asked, they would say they've placed an order for the tube light and they are expecting it to be delivered anytime !! It never got delivered. So we could not see very clearly inside the bathroom ! Little things like this matter a lot, really.|The beach was a good 15 minutes away by car from the resort. You have to exit the resort’s main gate and drive out and away, to reach the beach. When I made my booking, I specifically enquired about the beach and I was told that the beach is "walkable distance away from the resort". Only when I went there did I discovered that it was incorrect and, infact, false information. After many twists and turns of driving along jagged roads, we reached a public beach that was rather crowded with a lot of the local crowds besides all and sundry. There were a quite few anglers too !|The breakfast buffet was the usual standard fare. It was not too bad, nor was it too good. Sadly, lunch and dinner menu were very limited and basic. Most of all we ordered from their menu were responded with a resounding “not available”. Only two or three dishes were there for us to choose from. When I probed as to why, I was told by the restaurant staff that they do not have a regular Chef and so they are only managing with whatever help is available at hand ! Needless to say, dinner was a huge disappointment. So were the snacks section. Pretty much nothing in the menu was available. That was very bad.|The resort is built in the shape of a crescent moon, with a large cemented artificial pond of about knee-deep depth which was dry for the most part, but was filled with stagnant mossy green muck towards the reception end. Our room had a lovely sit out overlooking this open water space. But a putrefying rat nearby made it impossible for us to enjoy the sit out on account of the nauseating stench it emanated. I had requested the resort’s maintenance staff to remove the rotting rat as soon as we noticed it immediately upon our arrival. But until the day we checked-out two days later, the putrid rat still remained there, shutting us indoors and making it impractical for us to enjoy sitting outdoors. The stink was seriously stomach-churning. Problem is, the resort has one too many stray dogs, cats and we even saw a cow foraging inside the resort grounds near our sitout door, for any leftover food. Since almost all guests eat sitting outside of their rooms and throw wastes all over the place, it naturally attracts these scavengers...

Booked The Splash- Private Pool Room and The Dew- Private Jacuzzi Room

Following is my review, Room was not clean upto the mark. Walls are not clean, mosquito bites at night, indoor play area is worst, jacuzzi was not clean and yellowish around the tub, we need to clean it. PRIVATE pool was ok, public pool was good but it is very small. Lunch we ordered biriyani , noodles and tandoori, those were not great upto the mark. Dinner chappati, roti, panner and veg gravey. Dinner was good, but gravey contains more oily, but it taste good. I think ordering biriyani here is not a good choice, go for north Indian dish, that was my thought when we had dinner.

Tea, not a best one, go for coffee atleast sunrise will save you.

Interior not that great, looks like resort was hit by lockdown, celing , welcome area has physical damages. Room is not worthy for what we paid.

Got VI mobile signal but no internet service, even the resort is not providing wifi.

Resort is not closer to beach and it is not safe at night.

Outdoor swimming pool was good, no dress code, enjoyed with my family. But when other family joined, the pool was full , so we could enjoy, so we moved out. It would be nice if the pool size is big enough for the rooms what they have.

Indoor pool was neat, we cannot swim, but good for kids, we can just float or stand in the corners. They didn't provide enough mats, so room will be spoiled will water after enjoying pool. Suggestions is that to have some mates and provide wardrobes. Ok felt worthy for the indoor pool room, but room is noth worthy.

Jacuzzi, it is not clean, we cleaned and used it. They dont have any options, only on and off, you cannot control anything. Not sure why we need jacuzzi without any control.

Indoor game room, nothing was there after 15min of search we found table tennis ball. Didn't try carrom or chess , hope you know why...

Night was horrible with mosquitos, please have ur lotion or vaporizer to avoid bites.

Next day morning, had complimentary breakfast, it was worthy, masala omelet, ghee dosa, onion dosa, podi dosa and masala dosa , vada, idly, sambar , chutney and coffee are...

The place is ideal for people who are looking for a lazy, indoors staycation and don't plan to go out much. The resort is in a remote location, so if you need anything, even basic medicines, you'll have to travel about 10+ kms. Not recommended to walk out during the nights, as the locality nearby didn't seem entirely safe (atleast to us). Inside the resort though, we felt cozy and the rooms were clean. The reception provided us with amenities and cleaning services promptly except a few times, which was rectified immediately. The food was top notch, we totally enjoyed the food despite it being on the expensive side. I would give the food a 5/5. (There are no restaurants nearby). The private pool inside the room was about 3 and half feet deep and quite small. Consider it to be a very large hot tub rather than a pool. They promptly sent people to clean the pool any time we requested it. Mobile signal ranges were extremely poor and we barely got any connection in Jio and Airtel. The wifi that they provided was quite weak too and didn't work well. The beach is about 2 kms away from the resort. I would recommend to hire the shuttle vehicle that is occasionally available at the lobby or ask them to book you one to take you to the beach. (Mind you, they do charge exorbitant prices. 200 rs for 4 kms bothways). Despite all this, I would still recommend this resort and give it a 4 star as it really did provide us with an enjoyable experience. As long as you know what you're getting into and you're okay with the downsides, it's a...