Around India In 80 Trains

We arrived into Madurai at about midnight and having let the Hotel Chentoor desk know we were going to be late, spent a good 20 minutes trying to wake the night manager who was asleep on the floor behind the desk. Exhausted we headed upstairs expecting to find the "spic-and-span" rooms that the Lonely Planet mentioned, only to find the grubbiest room to date with the most disgusting bedsheets that looked like someone had died in them. Reticent to even let our feet touch the floor, we crawled inside our own cotton sleeper sheets so as not to have to touch the bed - as the picture shows there was dried snot on the sheets. The AC didn't work and it was a pretty hot and restless night for us both. Thankfully it was a hot day the next day, so the lack of hot water didn't make too much of a difference, but we were glad to get out of there asap.

The upside was that the hotel was a ten-minute walk to the Meenakshi temple and a five-minute walk to the train station, so if your life depends upon it, and you HAVE to stay there, don't let auto drivers swindle you into a long-winded journey.

One of the other things the Lonely Planet mentioned was the bar downstairs which is so dim-lit it's barely possible to see anything in there. But at least they seem to serve all day which is a bonus.

Double rooms start at Rs.700