A quaint hotel by the sea...
by Travel-travail on
On our first trip to Alibag towards 2019 end, we had visited Varsoli Beach and spotted Sanman Beach Resort (SBR) at the forlorn end of a not so popular but very beautiful beach. From the first sighting itself, I longed for a stay at the property. With Covid-19 playing havoc in 2020 and inflicting maximum damage to the tourism sector, we patiently waited. In February 2021, we finally decided to visit Alibag again and the property was fully booked in all the weekends right till end April. We landed at Alibag on a Thursday by the catamaran service from Gateway of India for a two-night stay at SBR. Lets make something amply clear at the outset Sanman Beach Resort (SBR) is no resort, it at the best can be described as a small hotel. But three aspects, the property can truly boast of are its location, location and location! From the hotel entrance, one needs to cross a 10-ft. wide road and another 15 ft. of a sloped path through the boulders placed there to prevent the erosion and one hits the beach. SBR has three rooms at the front and three cottages across a small patch of garden with lush greenery all around. The rooms numbered 1 & 2 have unhindered sea-view on one complete end of the room with large glass windows. The room # 3 has its sea-view blocked by another property in its front. We stayed at room # 1; it was quite a spacious accommodation (20 ft. x 15 ft.) with a large king-sized bed and a futon sofa bed to take care of the kids. The toilet (8 ft. x 5 ft.) was adequate with all modern fittings. We enjoyed kanda-pohe and bread-omelette as our breakfast on two days. The pomfret and bombil (Bombay Duck) fries ordered in two evenings were simply superb to say the least one can expect the freshest seafood in Alibag. The behaviour of one and all - young fellows managing the front office of SBR and the wait staff serving food was impeccable. If we visit Alibag again, Sanman Beach Resort will always be our first choice.