A stay on the border of the Tiger Kingdom - Our experience with Tiger Den Resort @ Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan, India

Recently when we were in Ranthambore, we stayed in Tiger Den resort which is located quite near to main gate of Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan. This Photo Journey shares some of the photographs from resort, it's facilities along with appropriate information/experience/views.

If you are going to Ranthambore via road, there are chances that you get impatient while searching for Tiger Den. It's located on other extreme of Sawai Madhopur and very close to Ranthambore National Park. Tiger Den is searchable on Google maps, so just switch on GPS and track till the entry gate of Tiger Den. 

There is enough parking space in front of reception area. Restaurant is just in the middle of resort, which is near reception area. Food at Tiger Den is quite good. Service is restaurant is good but Indians may feel ignored, if there are foreigner tourists around. Staff is less as compared to guests being served in restaurant at any point of time, which leads to delay in services. But since most of the times it's buffet, you will get basic stuff on time and hot. Overall food is good and decent service in restaurant. The Laal Maans was simply awesome. 

Above photograph shows deluxe cottages having huge lawn in the front. Rooms at Tiger Den were clean and well equipped with stuff you expect. Clean washrooms having no water geyser. Hot water is available only for specific period of time. So when you come back from safari with your body full of dust, you may loose the chance to have bath with hot water. Not always, but when you laze around the reception area and miss out the time window when hot water is served. 

We were there at Tiger Den for two nights. I must say that overall stay was very comfortable without any hassle in planning out things within & outside the resort. I was there with Aircel team and was hardly involved in planning stuff, but things were quite smooth and staff was available when needed. 

We stayed in these deluxe cottages having green lawn in the front part. All these cottages have doors with glass on top part, which can be covered with curtains. Something very odd that we found in this resort. These curtains don't really cover the glass completely, and hence make you uncomfortable in you rooms. But it's not unmanageable. Spacious room with AC, basic seating arrangement and tile flooring. 

There is small seating area just outside each cottage. These are nice places to sit when it's sunny outside. Resort has good number of green plants and hence overall temperature is less as compared to Ranthambore town. Tiger Den has dedicated a small portion of the resort for colorful flowers and every guest loves to cross via this garden. 

There are duplex rooms on other side of Tiger Den resort in Ranthambore. Since I haven't stayed in these rooms, so it would be difficult to comment on this. But definitely the space around these duplexes is better than delux cottages, because of more greenery and swimming pool in the middle of these duplexes.

Location of Tiger Den is comparatively  better as it's located away from hustle bustle of the city. While most of the other reosrts are located on main road which connects Sawai Madhopur railway station to Ranthambore National Park. Swimming pool in Tiger Den is quite big and well located. A dip in this swimming pool after tiring jungle safari can be a very good idea. Some of my friends felt that since it's closest to the National Park hence they felt like ebing there in the wild. Rooms don't have televisions. 

I must mention that in April 2014, the resort was charging for WiFi and it was significant amount. I don't remember the exact cost per day but it was definitely very high as compared to what I would have consumed my 3G connection on roaming. 

There is a shop inside resort from where you can buy some tiger merchandise, but at higher cost. Most of this stuff is available in main market at lower cost and chances to negotiate in market are better. Quality of some of the stuff in this shop was better. I found overpriced books in this shop which were available at entry gate of Ranthambore National Park as much lesser cost.

Camel rides are also organized by the resort at extra cost. I noticed some tourists going out for a tour in camel carts but don't have much details. So you can check about such tours when you plan to book resort and negotiate well to get a good deal.

Earlier I have stayed at Welcome Heritage Resort and would prefer that resort over Tiger Den if don't have any good reason in terms of cost or other things.  Hope this information would be helpful for you. Please feel free to comment back with your feedback or queries.