Location : Near Lake Vaitarna, Igatpuri, Maharashtra
Travel duration from Mumbai : 3.5 hrs. approx.
Distance from Mumbai : 150 kms. approx
Best time to visit : Monsoon ( June - Sept), Winters ( Nov- Jan )
We stayed at Jayshin Lake Vaitarna Resort in the month of November 2020. We were skeptical given the fact that #Covid scare was still around, yet many people were traveling hence we gave it a shot too. We went there to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. As it was a Weekday, we were getting pretty steep rates online, however, when we called them directly to see if we would get any better rates, it turned out to be very very expensive. Hence we went ahead and booked on Booking.com. ( It costed us approx. 5K including meals i.e. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner for two)
This property is very close to Vaitarna Lake.
Room: There are of two categories – Chalets and Glass House. Apart from this on the other side of the property they do have Family Villa as well. When we visited, there weren’t many people hence resort happily offered us an upgraded room with a panoramic view of the lake and surroundings. Rooms are big in size with full sized windows. Have all the basic necessary amenities. The only improvement they need is bigger screen for TV and get rid of plastic table and chair. Rest everything is fine.
View from the room.
Common areas: Property has a small pool ( which was closed when we visited) and some loungers around it. Its very therapeutic to simply sit by the pool with a view of the lake.
Resort also offers recreational activities such as boating, kayaking, ATV at an additional cost. We ended up playing badminton for 2 hours straight. Apart from this throughout the resort they have maintained beautiful flowering plants and lawn spaces.
Restaurant – They have one restaurant where the food served is very homely. They do have some Chinese dishes on menu strictly because of the public demand. However, I think people should opt for desi dishes at such local places.
Pros: Portion, Indian food. For dinner we requested them to send the food to our room. They sent such huge portions that four people could eat. Here are some pictures.
Paneer Bhurji and Chapati that we had ordered on arrival.
Cons : Breakfast was below average. Not many options. Both Upma and Tomato Omlette were quite bad.
My recommendation – Opt for A la cart.
For next day’s lunch we ordered Matar Paneer with Chapatis and Chaas and it was quite delicious.
Another very good thing here was, when we suggested that we'd like to have our meal outside in the open space, the staff was kind enough to arrange our meal at this beautiful spot under the tree !
Verdict :
Huge space, lake facing room, quaint, good homely meals, very humble staff. Highly recommended.
P.S. It sells quite expensive on weekends, so do check beforehand. Also, please get the liquor / chips etc from Mumbai itself, there is nothing around and its a big struggle to make arrangements later.
Room – 4.5/5
Ambiance – 5/5
Service – 5/5
Food – 4/5
Value for money – 4/5
Cover Image Courtesy - Weddingz.com
Good places