Arriving at Annapoorna Farm Karjat

After a seemingly endless auto ride from Karjat railway station, we finally arrived at Annapoorna Farm. 

We were greeted with a smile by Mrs. Smita Kalamkar (more of this lady’s extraordinary hospitality in the other blog post on the food arrangements) who asked us if we would like to have breakfast (upma). Since it was a little past 11.30a.m. already, we decided we would just have tea and have lunch directly which she said would be available after 12.30noon. 

Gate and entrance road into Annapoorna Farm Karjat

A young lad took our bags and led the way to our cottage room. When we reached the room, we found the room locked. The other room in the cottage was being cleaned by a staff member. The lad asked him where was the key of our room. It turned out, from what we understood of their conversation, that the previous guest had either not returned the key or it was misplaced and the spare key too was not to be located. So, while the other room of which the key was available was being cleaned, we were given plastic chairs to sit on. Since the porch too had to be cleaned, we could not sit in the shady porch but were out in the blazing sun beneath a tree which had not greenery (it being the dry heat season, a lot of the tall, larger trees were shorn of greenery). 

By this time I was a in a really cranky, irritable mood & was honestly giving a re-think of whether we really wanted to extend our stay (we had decided earlier to stay only on Friday & Saturday night and leave at 4p.m. on Sunday, but then decided to avoid the usual Sunday’s railway mega block and stay an extra night). After a long, bumpy ride you just do not expect to be left literally withering out in the sun! I would advise the owners to keep more spare keys so that guests are not inconvenienced in this manner. It made a really poor first impression and first impressions do count.

After a 15min. wait, we finally got to step into our room. Tea and limbu sherbet (which too we requested for) was by that time brought for us. The limbu sherbet was good, but the tea was watery & tepid with less sugar. We did not even bother to finish the remaining tea in the thermos. A little after 12.30 a staff member came to call us for lunch. And what an amazing lunch it was! Read more about the food: 

It drove away my cranky mood completely and by the end of our stay we whole-heartedly agreed with the TripAdvisor reviews of Annapoorna Farm that the food was the BEST part of this place.

More useful resources:
1. Travelling to Annapoorna Farm

2. Meals


3. Review


4. General Tips

5. Activities 

6. Accommodation


7. Tariff & Contact details