The Mountain Courtyard Thekkady

It is a very beautiful property at a good altitude with mountain views, nestled in between Elaichi gardens. There was beautiful fauna and flora all around. We saw a rare variety of squirrel in the garden, different species of birds, flowers and plants. The timing of our stay was such that we also experienced some intermittent drizzles that made our stay even more enjoyable. The staff are the best, very courteous and friendly. They put every effort to organise a birthday surprise for my family, at my request. Thank you very much!!!

Lovely resort, must live if you are coming to thekkady, felt near nature, food was also good, would have stayed more if had more time

Enjoyed my stay there, nothing negative

Room and location

Gym and play area not good

We stayed at Mountain Courtyard for 3 nights. Overall, it was a pleasant stay. The staff were genuinely warm, helpful, and accommodating. They even surprised us with a cake for our anniversary, which was a very sweet gesture. Our room was spacious, with high ceilings, a very comfortable and cosy bed, and a beautiful view over into the forest. The team went out of their way to help us with eco-tourism bookings that were difficult to arrange without an Indian SIM card.

This property is advertised as a 5-star hotel, and unfortunately it doesn’t come close to meeting that standard. The facilities are very limited and poorly maintained. The gym equipment is almost unusable, with broken machines and lights. The swimming pool, which we had really looked forward to, was dirty and unheated, and there’s no poolside service. Ordering a drink or snack meant walking to the restaurant fully wet or dressed in swimwear, which felt uncomfortable. The games room is dark and uninviting which is fine for a quick game of badminton or ping pong, but not somewhere you’d want to spend time. The dance show which is held every evening is in a basement room with poor sound, despite there being a beautiful outdoor stage that remains unused, the scenery and poor sound didn’t do the performer justice for their skill. The atmosphere of the resort also felt lacking. The grounds are peaceful and scenic, but there’s nowhere designed for guests to gather, relax, or socialise. The very pretty bar seems only to open at 5pm for tea service for one hour (which we actually enjoyed), but otherwise there’s no evening space to unwind with a drink, alcoholic or otherwise (the whole hotel doesn’t serve any alcohol). After dinner, there’s little to do but return to your room, which is disappointing given the potential of the setting. Other practical issues added to the frustration. Wi-Fi only works properly in the rooms, and the TV is essentially redundant unless you want Indian shopping channels. Getting in and out of the resort was also difficult, as we often had to wait 20–30 minutes for a rickshaw, with staff telling us drivers were busy. Combined with the extremely steep and potholed road leading up to the hotel, this made transport slow and unreliable, and made it harder to plan excursions. The food was okay, but nothing special, we only ate dinner at the hotel once and chose to go into town the other nights.