Make My Trip

Minutes later we were pulling into the driveway of the  Alcor Spa Resort in Kuthar, Himachal Pradesh, and were greeted by the cheerful young founder Tanya Natrajan and her dogs Frodo the dachshund and Duke the German shepherd. In fact the spa experience is very much at the heart of Alcor which started out as a chain of spas in Delhi offering the full range of treatments from aromatherapy to cream scrubs to foot reflexology. The sight of the rays of the rising sun streaming through the lush greenery and a couple of red-billed blue magpies perched on the green railing outside peering curiously through the bay windows was truly mesmerising. Less than an hour’s drive from Kasauli and yet a world away in terms of the isolation and silence of its natural forest environment, the Alcor Spa resort is an ideal relaxing getaway for those who want to escape the madding crowd.

At first glance, the hotel seems a bit of a disappointment compared with the grand edifices like the flagship Neemrana Fort-Palace or the recently opened Tijara Fort-Palace that I have experienced before. The Innova comes to a crunching stop on the gravel in front of the left-hand portico and we are greeted warmly by the manager Raju and ushered into the cool interior of the building. In the case of the Piramal Haveli which was built in 1928 as the home of Seth Piramal Chaturbhuj Makharia and is currently being managed by Neemrana Hotels, there are eight rooms all of which open out onto the outer courtyard. The walls, lit by fluted glass sconces, are painted a pale bluish-green and rise up to a vaulted ceiling divided into three sections - they remind me of upturned canoes lined up side by side.