Bodhi Tree Hotel, Swiss Park, Kolkata, India

Inquiries:

You can visit the hotel's website at: bodhitree-cal.spaces.live.com or check out Hotels.com for the best deals on other accommodations in Kolkata (Calcutta), India.

Location:

The Bodhi Tree hotel is located in Swiss Park, Kolkata. The closest metro station, Rabindra Sarovar, is approximately 5 minutes by foot and it's a 20 minute ride on the metro (red line) from Dum Dum station, which is the closest station to the airport. Dum Dum station can still take over 30 minutes to reach by taxi (in traffic) which seems to be the case most of the time in this area. Most of the attractions in Kolkata are connected by the metro's red line, so it's a convenient base to explore Kolkata. The immediate area where the hotel is located is a relatively quiet residential area; a nice base from the seemingly chaotic and loud Kolkata. Our taxi driver from the airport had trouble finding the hotel, but did eventually find it by asking around.

Room Comfort:

The room we stayed in at this establishment was beautiful, spacious and contained many authentic and unique decorations. Moreover, there is a lot of artwork at the hotel, which moonlights as an art gallery for local artists. We stayed in the Vajrayana room of the Bodhi Suite. The room and suite were beautiful and very comfortable. The area and hotel are quiet, so the beautiful room and comfortable bedding made for a really good night's rest. We didn't find the black and white motif of the bathroom as appealing, but that's a matter of taste and nothing else. The bathroom included many beautiful personal touches to make it more appealing. Describing how beautifully decorated this hotel and its rooms really are does not do the hotel justice. You simply have to see it to understand what we are trying to articulate.

Cleanliness:

The hotel and room were spotless. There were some flies, especially in the bathroom, but that's nothing unusual for hotels in India or elsewhere with similar climates.

Service:

The staff were friendly and nice, going above and beyond their call of duty to make our stay memorable. Check-in was a bit time consuming as we had to fill out a detailed from, but that's standard among hotels in India. The staff were very good and thorough in showing us all the features of the room. At check-out a staff member checked the room in front of our presence, seemingly to ensure that we didn't leave anything behind.

Food:

We had breakfast at the hotel and didn't particularly like it as much, but in fairness to the cook and staff, they did prepare it about an hour before the scheduled breakfast time, which typically starts at around 8AM.  We have to give them a lot of credit for making breakfast for us one hour earlier so that we could catch our early morning flight. Also, the chef did enquire whether we enjoyed the meal at breakfast, which was a nice touch. Don't get us wrong, the breakfast wasn't bad. It was actually nicely prepared and contained a good mix of food, its just that we didn't like the flavour. It's a matter of personal taste rather than poor quality.

Overall Value:

This hotel is a great base for a wonderful holiday in Kolkata and for exploring Kolkata. It offers beautiful and very clean rooms for a reasonable price. We recommend this hotel for a multi-night stay, but not for an overnight stay during a stopover flight as the location isn't ideal if you are flying in and out of Kolkata without the intention of exploring the city.

Other Notes:

• Be aware that the metro trains in Kolkata have "Ladies Only" sections. Be respectful of those signs.
• Some metro stations, including Rabindra Sarovar, forbid carrying big bags and/or luggage into the metro station during certain times of the day. Even though we took the metro from that station to Dum Dum during the restricted time, we were able to convince the police officers to let us through. Although they gave us a hard time, they eventually understood our desperation and let us through.

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