It was one of the better days in Delhi; a canopy of grey clouds had formed in the sky. For someone not used to Delhi weather at all, the rains came as a huge relief to me. As we drove through the busy industrial quarter of the NCR, the heavy downpour reduced to a mild drizzle and my driver played some old Hindi songs to perfectly compliment the setting. It turned out to be a day of blissful pampering for me, first by the rains, then by the services at Radisson Blu Faridabad.
On NH2, amid busy factories and adjacent to the Bata Chowk Metro Station, I got my first glimpse of the new Radisson Blu Faridabad, one of the first five-star properties in the neighbourhood. I was welcomed warmly by the hotel staff to the Tea Studio in the lobby, which was filled with sweet aromas of vanilla and tea and then escorted to a magnificent Deluxe Suite—my home for a day. The living room was large with light yellow interiors and matching furniture, the bedroom even bigger; both rooms had LED screens. The bedroom and the bathroom were separated by a thick wall of glass that allowed me to watch TV while taking a nice long bath.
Nupur Gupta, the hotel’s PR manager, was my companion for the day; she showed me around the property and I realised that Radisson Blu Faridabad was an all-in-one package. From boardrooms with audio-visual facilities to a large banquet hall with a buffet corridor, from the spa that offers couples’ massage therapies to the health club and swimming pool, the hotel caters to every need.
Lunch was at House of Soy, the hotel’s pan-Asian restaurant which boasts a live kitchen. A few minutes later, Chef Avanish Jain joined us and over a conversation which ranged from Russian caviar to snake meat (Nupur cringed the whole time because she’s a vegetarian) and the joys of travel, we had a sumptuous three-course meal while watching the rain fall outside. My favourites were: the wasabi prawn, the baked fish and jasmine rice, and the coconut jaggery ice cream.
After some binge watching and a short nap, I headed down to the Tattva spa to get a soothing foot and upper back massage. Dinner and breakfast was at the Broadway multi-cuisine restaurant that had both buffet and a-la-carte options. The only minor let-down was the closing of Cove The Bar because of the highway liquor ban, but to make up for that the hotel offered a range of non-alcoholic summer beverages; the hazelnut cold coffee was one of the best I have ever had. Overall, Radisson Blu is an escape haven, and a great, new addition to Faridabad’s hospitality landscape.
THE INFORMATION
Location: Sector 20B, Mathura Road, Faridabad, Haryana 121001
Accomodation 124 rooms
Tariff ₹4,340 onwards
Contact +91-129-2666000; radissonblu.com/hotel-faridabad