Hostelavie, Udaipur

Hostelavie - Udaipur is a jackpot! For the price of a hostel, you end up in a luxury resort with an open-air swimming pool and a beautiful garden area. While there are a few minor details that are not quite right, overall, you will feel that you got a lot more value for your money than you expected.

The Location

The hostel is located on a small island on Lake Pichola that is connected to the mainland by three bridges. This means that it will be easily accessible both on foot and by public transportation no matter from which way you are coming. Its secluded position on the side of the lake makes it an ideal place to relax and the swimming pool right next to the shore with palm trees around it provides some picture-perfect sceneries. The city palace and the historic centres are only a short stroll away from here and some nice sunset points can be reached on foot as well. However, the area in which the hostel is located in rather far from the train and bus stations so if you are traveling on in the morning, make sure to leave plenty of time to reach your transportation.

The hostel is located on the territories of Shree Vilas, but is housed by a completely different building. When you are approaching the location, make sure to ask locals where it is, as there won't be any indications for the hostel.

Rooms and Bathrooms

The hostel's building has three dormitory rooms, each of which offers eight beds. The bunks are an upbeat colour and the mattresses are really comfy. They have spacious lockers under them, for which keys are provided. Each bed comes with electric sockets and a bedside lamp. What is rather strange, though, is that there is a single light switch for all three rooms, so the light is either on in every single room or in none of them. The bathrooms are outside the building and some of them are of a portable container style while some of them are just tiny cabins with either a toilet or a shower inside. For such a nice place, it is a bit of a letdown that what is supposed to be the hot water is barely even lukewarm.

Common Spaces

The majority of the common areas are outside, which is ok, as the nights are mild in Udaipur, even in the winter. The swimming pool is a huge bonus of this place, just like all the relaxing sitting areas and swinging bed around it. There is a separate common area for backpackers with huge pillows to sit on and traditional Indian board games. However, if the weather gets too cold, there is ample place in the building of the reception with comfy sofas for socialisation. While there are several Wi-Fi networks around the hostel, these disconnect every five minutes, which can get extremely annoying.

Summary

All in all, if you are willing to overlook some of the shortcomings of this place and focus on the added extras instead, this place will feel like a paradise amongst all the budget hostels. Lying on one of the sunbathing beds next to the swimming pool looking out at the panorama over the lake, you will definitely not regret that you have picked this place.