Pearl Palace Hotel

Pearl Palace is an exceptional place. It's very, very good value - big clean rooms for half the price you'd pay elsewhere. The rooftop restaurant has great views, and what's more is well run and efficient even when busy. And it's not surprising the place is busy, well positioned as it is in a nice residential area, but still only 5 minutes by rickshaw from the station, and 10 minutes to the Pink City. Book in advance - we saw some who just turned up at reception being turned away. They have an easy and efficient online booking service.

The hotel in Jaipur was highly recommended by Lonely Planet and hostelbookers.com but I was not overly impressed. Primarily because I thought I requested a room with air con, instead had a loud fan that did not really keep the room cool during the day and the food was not that great. In all fairness, they let us check into our rooms pretty early and the place was nice inside! Overall, the place was good for what you pay for.

The rooftop restaurant was nice nice to sit at, but the beer was warm and I tried the Thali, which was said to be 'tasty' in the Lonely Planet...I have had better Indian food from a frozen box! I'm sure their other food was good but the Thali tasted like mass produced summer camp food and it did not help that it was served on a school-like metal lunch tray!