Pawan Hotel, Agra

Advantages: Taj view, great service, delicious food
Disadvantages: Limited dining, slow food, poor wheelchair access

...after setting off, we were winding our way through the back streets of Agra, and eventually up a nondescript private road, before pulling to a stop in front of the Oberoi Amarvilas. FIRST IMPRESSION AND ARRIVAL Simply stunning. The driveway winds alongside part of the hotel before ending at a courtyard to one side of the hotel. The doorman pointed us up some wide steps, between two huge, carved elephants, and into a covered terrace. The other side of the the terrace was a large courtyard, filled with square pools, each with a central fountain. Paths ran between the pools and, surrounding the courtyard, was a covered passageway, with small seating areas in each corner. The entrance to the hotel building was to the right, and to get there we had to climb down a few steps into the courtyard then back up to the entrance. It struck me... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Great staff, great food, great room
Disadvantages: None!

...or stay in - dinner is waiter service and very reasonably priced as well as being delicious (I recommend the mango ice-cream). The staff are always attentive and polite without seeming too formal. Overall, I recommend this hotel thoroughly to anyone travelling to Agra.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: World Heritage Site, beautiful, impressive, must see, etc.
Disadvantages: Crowds, conmen, oppressive atmosphere

...-melons, the young plants shielded from the wind with screens of woven pampas grass. Beyond, a flat scrubby area was scheduled to have been the site of a matching mausoleum in black marble, to house the remains of Shah Jahan himself, like a mirror-image in negative. Needless to say, it was never built. Baulking at his father's extravagance and neglect of more pressing affairs of state, Shah Jahan's son, Aurangzeb, to whom he had entrusted command of the army, deposed him. Shah Jahan spent his declining years in comfortable confinement in the Red Fort, a mile or two further along the Yamuna, from which he could see the Taj Mahal and the untouched site across the river. Always a mistake to entrust complete control of the armed forces to anyone, as the Pakistanis among others have recently discovered. * Agra Fort, also known... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful