We went to this palace for a business meeting and had mixed experience. The good thing is the hotel in coordination with an NGO has trained the local tribe on short tours, bird watching and they speak good English, I was very moved by their knowledge about the locality, birds, environment and current affairs. These people are employed by the hotel and it is helping their livelihood . Bird watching and morning walk is a must when ur here.

Rooms: the rooms are exceptional and have a very good view. When we moved it we were impressed by the setup. But I thing the hotel management have forgot to tell the staff to clean the rooms everyday. We stayed for 2nights and 3days and not even once the room was cleaned.

Food: food was good for the location of hotel ( very remote). Don't expect professional chefs.

Sleep : very very quite and good. You will be waked up by birds.

Spa:still under construction. This is going on for long long time.

Do not very go for the forest safari. The hotel charges too much. As per the govt prices each jeep which can accomodate 10 people should be charged rs150, but hotel charge 450 rs per person. If you are travelling by own vehicle the go to a place called k gudi (30 km) and directly deal with forest guys, they will charge u less and cover more area.

Our group wanted to have a quick getaway from Bangalore and Gorukana seemed to fit our requirement - around 180 kms from Bangalore and a relaxed 4 hour drive including 2 stops along the way. The route we took was Bangalore – Kanakapura – Malavalli – Kollegal – Yalandur – Forest Checkpost – Yalandur/BR Hills Road – Gorukana and the roads were pretty good (though two-laned) most of the way. We had booked 2 cottages and were welcomed with a "Jamun" juice welcome drink. The modern cottages are spacious for a couple and is double decked - a ground floor with a double cot plus balcony (with a view of a small lake) together with a large luxurious bathroom and a mezzanine deck with 2 single cots and views to the outside. The cottage actually seems ideal for a family of 4 or for 4 singles. All meals were part of the package together with high tea in the evening. The food was decent and had good options. The activities provided by the resort are a nature walk in the evening, forest safari in the morning and a tribal (Soliga) song and dance performance in the night around a bonfire before dinner. A dedicated attendant/naturalist will be allocated to every group and this brings about a personalized feeling. A special mention is the hospitality - the resort staff are always caring and very knowledgeable about the activities and history of the place. Overall it was a time well spent! The background and purpose of Gorukana is also worth a mention, together with the location, ambience and setting of the place. Gorukana also has an ayurvedic facility, but this was getting a facelift while we were visiting and has a store that sells organic products like honey, juices/sherbet, spices, etc. The forest setting gets a bit chiily towards the evening and hence would recommend that a shawl or jacket be part of the backpack! Just be one with nature here!

BR hills is really a beautiful place and you enjoy the drive to this resort. One thing which is remarkable with Gorukana is the service, from the time you get in to the time you leave you have people at your service. We couldn't enjoy much as the day we landed there it was raining heavily and we had little sun the next day morning. The drive from resort to k gudi is really amazing. Few drawbacks of this place is that they dont have any vehicles to take us around and they rely on our cars even for sightseeing. Limited activities if it rains and completey rely on jungle lodges team for jungle safari.

This is one place I guess I and my family will never forget and will keep visiting as and when possible. The place is amazing, the resort is very good, comfortable and the experience is un-believable. Right from the time we were welcomed at the resort till the time we checked out, it was a moment to remember.

The place is excellent, done very well and made as per the taste of nature lovers like me. The rooms are clean, bathrooms are very good and clean, cottage surroundings are well maintained. The food served at the restaurant is very tasty and very well done. The staff is very good, caring, attentive and have a welcome attitude towards the guests.

The only drawback or shortcoming is their own jungle safari, but that shouldn't be an issue if you can manage to take the Govt. one which they will arrange for you. I also heard that they might get the permission for their own safari by next year which will be very good.

I would thank all the staff and specially Jademane (Naturalist) and the Steward(Mohan) who took special care of ours.

Tip: Try to go in larger groups of more than 15people as we missed some of the fun coz we were only a small family. They couldn't do a bonfire and tribal dance for us since we were not large groups. Though we missed that but we had good time without that as well. Maybe next time we will make sure to go in the season as well.