The Bangala retains the character of the men's club that it originally was. Still owned by 'Madam', the hotel is run by a highly knowledgeable manager and has an impressive range of facilities, including a great swimming pool, library, small shop, and communal seating areas in which to relax by the garden. As hoteliers ourselves, we found it pretty flawless apart from the mozzies. Add to this the sheer bizarreness of the Chettinad ghost palaces, and it is well worth a couple of extra days added onto a Kerala tour. The drive alone over the Western Ghats down into Tamil Nadu is awe-inspiring.

A real pleasure to stay here a couple of days on a trip to southern India. Located a little off the beaten path of the usual temple-tour routine, this is a renovated old men's club in Karaikudi. Management puts in great care and service is impeccable. Great pool facility and nice restaurant. Food is usually well-regarded by many travellers, personally I found it a little on the bland side, clearly geared to an older, western crowd. Well worth spending a couple of days as a relaxing detour to visit the famous Chettinad mansions in the town and in nearby vicinity.

We stayed at the Bangala along with two other groups of family friends.
Two positive aspects of Bangala are: delicious food and the well-maintained swimming pool.
However, We were disappointed by absence of intercom (therefore we couldn’t order our morning tea or for that matter connect with the staff and our friends). Since we were with our friends, we did not mind absence of TV in our room. The cot was small sized (for a couple), beds were hard and the pillows harder. The window airconditioner didn’t work and didn’t have a remote either. The toilet (closet) is wrongly installed in Room 10.

Everybody working in Bangala was so very kind and helpful,the Lady herself asking her guests every day about their well-being.Every detail in decoration is well chosen and from local handycraft,I believe.You can get various first-handed informations about Chettinad-Culture,last but not least:food is excellent!