Hotel Taj Plaza, VIP Road, Agra

What can I say. An experience at the very least. Let’s start with our “upgraded” room, may I add, with “no extra charge”. Firstly, hygiene and cleanliness isn’t in their vocabulary. Let’s start with the negatives: 1. Stains and holes in the bedsheets 2. No sheet cover, just a blanket from my grandmas era, covered in 18th century dust. 3. AC-there was a machine but we were told it didn’t work, so maybe for show? They did upgrade us with a mini desk heater. 4. Mould on the ceiling had been painted over. 5. Disco lights surrounding the bed. 6. Taps hadn’t seen a cloth since the dinosaurs. 7. Toilet was a disgrace. 8. Mouldy toilet roll and bin that hadn’t been cleaned or emptied since the renaissance . 9. No hot water because everyone is out the whole day and nobody apparently comes back until 9pm. (They turn the boiler on at 7). 10. Served mouldy bread at breakfast. Sent it back and received a butter-less and jam-less slice of untoasted bread. The restaurant “manager” claimed the bread was fresh and dismissed the mould. 11. The coffee had an oily film floating on the top. 12. Hair and grease in my food. 13. Glimpsed at the kitchen and it looked like WW2. Now the positives. 1. Great location 👍🏾 2. Great view of the Taj from the mess of a rooftop bar 👍🏾 Should you stay here? You decide. If you do, take an exterminator with you. Oh and a duvet and pretty much everything else.

Don’t ever go in here scammers!! I arrived in Agra with my wife late in afternoon and fancied a beer. Our hotel did not serve alcohol so I went to the street and this hotel over road had a guy standing outside and he said they have beer. I thought ok so followed him in and made way to roof top. Place seemed a bit run down but I don’t mind as long as they got beer. Guy seemed friendly enough and was nice view of Taj Mahal. I ordered one glass of wine for my wife 700 ruppee’s and a kingfisher for myself 550 rupees. Drinks took a while to arrive and guy was talking on about getting a guide and he can do currency exchange. When the drink eventually arrived I noticed something odd that my wife’s drink was already poured and she had not been shown the bottle. He opens the kingfisher which I noticed had front label scratched off and date scratched off. He poured it I took a sip and it was disgusting. I noticed lid to bottle had rust and was also a crack on the bottle. My wife said her wine tasted like a weak apple juice. I was not happy about this as we had been served fake drinks so I told the guy we was leaving and he became argumentative and aggressive. I had to firmly tell him to back off and we are leaving and he was demanding money. We was walking back down the stairs and he was getting really close so I pulled out pepper spray me and my wife was carrying and he stood back and went down stairs. I was cautious as I was with my wife and did not want her in any danger and there was more guys down stairs. We got downstairs and got the hell out of there! Anyone who comes across this place stay away I was only in Agra an hour and this was my first experience of the place with these absolute crooks!

I will start with the positives - the manager went out of his way to help us find a bus that we booked that travel agents in Agra said did not exist. The bus from Agra to Kathmandu stops on the side of a motorway and was due at 12.30pm. He insisted on coming with us in a taxi he arranged and waited until the bus arrived 2 hours late. The hotel also has excellent Wi-Fi on each floor. The views from the roof terrace of the Taj Mahal are superb. On the downside the breakfast is just butter & jam toast, the rooms are in need of renovations and the cleaning could do with a woman’s touch (in respect of showing men how to do it properly).