I’d give it six stars if I could!

Stayed for seven nights in January 2017 after a mammoth ‘Golden Triangle’ tour in the north. In summary, I’d have to say that it’s a beautiful, relaxing hotel made extra special by the staff, who were unfailingly happy, welcoming and helpful. The resort itself would best be described as barefoot luxury – this isn’t a place to come and dress up for dinner, and all the better for it. If you want to truly relax in beautiful surroundings with attentive staff, this is the place for you. As we’ve moved to another so-called 5-star resort not 45 minutes away, we’ve begun to appreciate the Neeleshwar’s unique brand of laid-back, relaxing luxury even more. The rooms themselves are lovely – spacious, full of natural materials (including a coconut palm in your open-air bathroom!). I agree with other reviews that suggest tea-making facilities in the room would be beneficial, but the verandah service also meant that you could phone for tea/coffee and it was delivered to your verandah in minutes – at a cost of around 400 rupees/£4.50 for two people, often accompanied by cake or cookies, so the hotel is certainly not over-charging for the service. The grounds are beautiful – it truly is like walking through a tropical jungle to get to the pool/beach. The pool is stunning – large, quiet, plenty of loungers, no noise! Food in the two restaurants was faultless. Try the aloo gobi, if available – it certainly shames the mush we get served in Indian restaurants in the UK. The spa and treatments were both excellent, and reasonably priced. Again, the spa is not one of these with annoying chill-out music on a perpetual loop, but total silence – so peaceful! There are some local attractions, but we found it hard to pull ourselves away from the place – the furthest we ventured was an hour on the complimentary bikes to visit the fishermen hauling in their catch. Please also visit the shop early on in your visit – it’s not one of those typical hotel gift shops selling tat, but it actually has some really nice, reasonably priced items that you’d actually want to buy. Not to mention a tailor sitting there amongst bolts of material, happy to run up anything from a pattern or your measurements as you choose the fabric. Go visit – you won’t be sorry, and we usually avoid this type of thing like the plague. My final comments are reserved for the staff – I don’t know how they select them, or what training goes into making them what they become, or whether they’re all just naturally lovely people (probably), but they’re probably the nicest staff we have ever come across, and you can see by my reviews that we’ve stayed in some world-class hotels (I offer this just as a comparison, not a boast!) – these are the nicest people we’ve ever met in a hotel situation, and they go out of their way to ensure you have a peaceful, happy break.