Review -Lotus Palace ⭐️
The pool terrace, which overlooks the lake
Editors Note (12 December) - Sadly the Lotus Palace has now shut. However, the Africa themed Kidaka Resort, from the same owners, remains open.
Overall - Highly Recommended
The Lotus Palace has appeared in numerous SL destination guides, and it’s easy to see why. It combines a five star Indian themed resort hotel, with a lake, Indian village and a nature reserve / jungle.
I stayed here twice, once for two days in a lakeside Bhavan (villa), and more recently for the purposes of this review for six nights in the Maharaja Royal Suite.
In summary The Lotus Palace is an exceptional resort, it’s really hard to find many faults with it.
Sometimes it’s a victim of its popularity. The first time I was there, it had just received a blast of Second Life publicity. So there were a few dumb assses on the public terrace, and trying to get into the rooms.
But that’s hardly the hotel’s fault, and for my second visit that wasn’t an issue. Lag was also a problem for me on my first visit, but it was much better for this recent visit.
Room service
What I particularly loved was the incredible amount of detail and the small touches. From the tiger murals on the bathroom wall to the room service butler-bot.
After almost a week here I was still discovering things, so the Lotus Palace definitely deserves more than a day / night or two, if you come and visit.
The detail
Maharaja suite living room
Rather than a resort, think of it as an all encompassing Indian themed experience. There’s the main hotel, built in the same style as the palace hotels you would see in somewhere like Jaipur. A lake surrounds the hotel, with villas on the shore.
Indian village, on the other side of the lake
There’s an Indian village, and a large jungle with various types of wildlife and attractions such as temple ruins, a tiger habitat and nature ponds (which you can sit / bathe in).
Among other things, the hotel itself has a restaurant, small bar, two lounge rooms, a garden, a pool. Some of these are open to hotel guests only (wear a group tag).
The rooms
Suite plunge pool and courtyard
The rooms include the 750L per night Maharaja suite (which I stayed in), other themed suites at 500L, Lakeside villas for 300L, Superior Rooms for 250L, Standard Rooms at 150L and treehouses in the jungle / reserve for 100L
My advice here is go cheap or expensive. Splurge on a suite and get a private mini spa and huge living area in a skybox. Or take a treehouse at 100L. The advantage of the latter, is that you get a group tag and so access to all the guest only areas such as the spa.
The Ratings
Overall look and feel
The main hotel at night
Simply incredible. God knows how long it took to build this place. I was blown away. In addition to the initial ‘wow’ factor, you actually appreciate it even more the longer you stay as you discover all the little details, touches.
Rating - 5/5
The rooms
Suite bedroom
The suites - Because of what you get, and because they are private skyboxes, 5/5
Rainforest reserve with a tree hut in the background
The treehouses (or rather rainforest huts) - These are pretty simple, but because they are in the jungle and because you get access to all hotel facilities, I think they represent amazing value for money at only 100L a night 5/5
The other rooms - I liked the lakeside villas (Lakeshore Bavan). The standard rooms are in the main building, which can occasionally have a few SL daytrippers, but the superior rooms are (like the suites) in skyboxes - 4/5
Overall rating - 4.5/5
The Anims
I’m not a huge fan of the RW Contemporary bed but it seems to be an SL hotel room staple from what I’ve seen so far. Guess it comes down to preference.
The Lotus Spa
What I did like though were the anims in the rest of the resort, especially in the spa, which we had to ourselves every time we visited
Rating - 4/5
The facilities
As mentioned, I loved, loved the spa, which I always found empty - it’s also in a separate skybox.
The bar is small, I prefer the ones in the Essencia and Rizzi as public meeting places, but I guess these three hotels all have a very different ambience, look and feel.
The pool and pool terrace are great for photos, there’s a restaurant and private terrace dining area (which I didn’t try). Having to get a small motor launch to navigate around the lake is also a really nice touch.
Rating - 4.5/5
Other things to consider
Is the hotel adult - yes
Room prims - ranges from 50 prims for the Maharaja Royal Suite, down to 10 prims for the rainforest huts. Which to be honest, is all you’ll need there, it will allow you to rez bits and pieces for photos for example..
Privacy - Excellent for the suites and superior rooms, as they are in skyboxes. You can reach them via elevators, but I only had intruders once. Less so for the standard rooms in the main hotel.
When I stayed in the lakeshore villa on my first visit, I did get a few people walking in, but the owners subsequently reduced the ejection time on the security orbs.
Prices - Range from 100L for the rainforest huts to 750L per night for the Maharaja Royal Suite.
Lag - It was a problem on my first visit due to the number of AVs in the public areas. Things were however much improved on my recent visit. I couldn’t always run ultra in the main hotel (I have a 2016 macbook pro), but in the suites, in the spa and jungle / nature reserve, I could.
Summary - Highly recommended
Indian village
If I was going to take a significant other or special someone on a romantic trip or date weekend, this would be the place. But really, just for the experience, everyone should stay here at least once.
With a big thank you to Natasha Silverstone (hotel shots) and Di Lorgsval, (Indian village shot) who feature in this review.
