Shahi Palace Hotel Jaisalmer

I have stayed here before and it was again enjoyable. There is rooftop restaurant and the room is nice and clean with hot water. The building is well designed and the room has natural light

I have to admit, I had never wanted to visit Jaisalmer on my previous trips to India. A night in the desert, camels, dunes, sand... just doesn't appeal. However, I did decide to bite the bullet this time, and after reading several reviews of Shahi Palace Hotel on Trip Advisor, I'm pretty sure my choice of stay would have been approved by anyone luckily enough to stay there. I stayed as a solo tourist in one of the budget rooms. Shahi Palace Hotel is of course, run by Akshay (TA forums Digital Jaisalmer) and meeting Akshay was perhaps the favorite part of my entire trip, he's such a people person and gave off good vibes wherever he went. On arrival, he let me choose a room which had everything I needed, including an a/c unit and additional ceiling fan. Everything was nice and clean including the bathroom with hot water. The double bed was comfy to lie in, so much so that a quick rest turned into several hours of deep sleep (I was really tired lol). The following morning when Akshay found out I was interested in seeing Baolis in the area, he wanted to come with me and I'm glad he did, as I picked up a lot of information from him that I wouldn't have known about on my own. We visited some 12 wells, some were for the Rajput community, others for Jain, one was specifially meant for women to bathe in, in the hot summer. We also caught a sunset at Bada Bagh before watching tractors take water from a nearby well via a big hose pipe. Later in the evening, Akshay suggested I try the butter chicken at their rooftop restaurant. I had never tried this dish before, mainly fearing it would be creamy and too rich – but it was heavenly, not too hot and with lots of flaky naan bread to mop up all the gravy. What a final evening, sat in full view the imposing fort, lit in the evening, eating that delicious meal. I mentioned to my driver Nett earlier in the day that I didn't think I would like to spend a night out in the desert but he went and showed me some of his mobile photos and I was very jealous. I think I'm going to give a night or two in the desert next time and will be using Shahi Palace as a base. All in all, a great stay, highly recommended and one I want to do again soon!