Blue Poppy Swiss Cottage camps — Hotel in Uttarakhand

We stayed in Blue poppy resort at Auli for two days; a family of four, with two kids ~ 7 yrs. We had mixed experience as we outline below. As others have said, views are fabulous from the rooms, Auli is great, rooms are okay to good, decent staff, etc. So let me just focus on what went wrong with our trip and why you must be on your toes:||1) BAD ON Arrival Experience: Cancellation Charges: We had booked one night at Blue Poppy Premier in Joshimath (on our way to Badrinath) and two nights at Auli after visiting Badrinath. We had paid 50% of the total for three nights as advance. Because one of our kids fell sick, we delayed our travel in to mountains and hence missed our first booking at Joshimath.  We were in touch with the hotel throughout and informed them. As per the T&C, we understood that our 50% advance at Joshimath was gone.||Then we came to Auli, after Badrinath visit, for our two day stay. The hotel guy (on phone) now started behaving very rudely and said unless we pay the balance amount of the cancelled stay at Joshimath, they won't give us a room at Auli. I told them that's not what T&C says but the hotel guy started talking on "ethics" and all nonsense and said we have to pay and otherwise no room at Auli; and hung up my call (the hotel reception guys had no role apart from collecting money). How on earth did this makes sense -- I asked him are you taking us for a ride for booking with the same property at two locations?  ||I then escalated the matter to the senior manager, Mr Devkant, on whatsapp, who too initially said we have to pay the full amount since it's peak season. I then copy-pasted T&C which clearly said its 50% cancellation charges for no show, after which he immediately agreed and said we don't have to pay additional 50% for Joshimath cancellation. ||We started with a bad on arrival experience, was quite worried what if they become stubborn and don't let us in (especially with two small kids, at high altitude himalaya in peak season where finding alternative rooms is difficult). |FIRST LESSON: ONLY Pay 50% advance, not full amount to them. If we had paid full amount to them before arrival, they could have taken the full amount for Joshimath instead of 50%.||2) NO HOT WATER after early AM hours: We are paying close to Rs 14,000 for a night for our family suite, but they refused to give us hot water after our arrival saying its available only from 7 - 9 am. I understand I am at Auli, logistics of water and heating is not easy. But thats why we are also paying 14k per night to get all facilities. I had to ask do you really want me to beg for hot water after paying so much? Finally they agreed and let hot water in for our kids bathing.||3) BAD/AVERAGE FOOD Quality and Unhygienic Kitchen and handling by staff: We had requested for Jain food but when we ordered it came with onions -- the chef refused to acknowledge it had onions (we are extremely sensitive to smell of onions/garlic and we know when we say it). Kids could not drink milk given because it had coffee flavour (they clearly didn't wash dish properly). We also saw staff taking our used water glass and keeping it in the washed-tray WITHOUT WASHING IT. We also saw him drinking water from the glass and keeping it back on washed-tray without washing it. Kitchen looks very dirty and does not inspire confidence. Overall disappointed with food, although they made amendments after we seriously complained to the staff.||So if you want to go to Blue Poppy, be cautious with money, and have modest expectations while paying 5* cost! Some staff were very nice, understood our complaints and did as much as they could but it's overall management's...

Accommodation at the camps: The ghangaria camps are in a beautiful location, in between tall mountains, we can see waterfalls and a glacier However, the camp was terrible. We had a mouse, and two spiders in our room over the course of 4 nights. You will get wet and cold when you go to get dinner (there is no cover or properly paved path between the tents). The floor on one side of the bed had stagnant water, so we could only get down from the other side. We often lost water in the bathroom. No heating (obviously). If you leave something outside accidentally it will be unusable by morning due to moisture and insects(be careful about shoes). The only reason to stay in the camp is the view around it. But even in that case, blue poppy fares far below the other camps around it (maybe except for the one right in front of it, closest to the helipad). This is because every other camp is situated on a much higher level than the camp right in front of it, ensuring better views. Looking from the outside, the other camps had better common grounds, cleaner paths to the camp and to the rooms. Blue Poppy team says that the hotels in ghangaria will have a mule dung smell. Truth is, everywhere in ghangaria you have mule dung smell, even at the camps. So you if are smell sensitive this isn't the holiday for you, the camp will not save you (unlike they promised). While many hotels in the village aren't very good (and thus are cheap), there are some new hotels in the village that seemed to be much better than the camps (and were at a similar price point).

Food at the camps: Not only was the food in the camp terrible, but also expensive. A tea was 80Rs, and Aloo pyaaz pakoda 300Rs, and the same things cost 30rs and 40rs respectively at the village. While the MRP on all products is 2X in ghangaria, it is a lie that you don't get decent food for a decent price in the village. In the camps they created a false illusion of scarcity due to isolation, which is easily broken when you walk 15mins up to the village. BTW, early morning, evening tea are not included.

Their overall tour package is also extremely poor. Do not go with them. Their pricing is nearly 3X market average, yet what you get in return is subpar across every aspect of...

We had done direct booking with Blue Poppy and travelled to Valley of Flowers in last week of July 2025.The hotel and food at Joshimath is excellent. But one has to stay at Ghangharia for 4 nights and that place and many other things need total overhauling.

First shock was our vehicle broke down on highway after two hours from Haridwar.Two hours wasted till we got a new vehicle.The road is such that Tempo Traveller needs to be from a good travel agency with preventive maint and servicing done.

AT Ghangharia: The Tent were upto mark with all facilities. But *Dining room hygiene was horrible..pickle sugar salt masala were kept open whole night. *Water was served in plastic glass , even we had to drink hot water in plastic glass *Rats & spiders were in room during night time. Approach road to Tent was bad. Bathroom height was more and was uneven and one has to be extra careful while entering and exiting. No water in flush tank and water jet water was also very slow. We did got what we wanted in Breakfast ,but Food was not upto the mark...curd sour....rice hard.. As pertheir instruction there was no sweet dish in Lunch.

They say Blue Poppy is 5 star Holiday. But owners are not 5 star people.Very cheap attitude of Owners.when package includes breakfast, lunch and dinner,how can you demand money from guest for evening tea.! The guide was very efficient and staff at kitchen n room attendant were best of best. The full tour would be 4* plys if owners put some efforts & need to visit Ghangharia Tent site and work on...