Ri Kynjai

The place is costlier than most 5stars... but then you dont get a full calm/clean/serene lake view from those. Huge wood pannelled rooms, excellent service, a well maintained small compound, decent food (not greatest - but decent), limited breakfast fare, a nice walk down to the lake, courteous staff... ... but I repeat... just get a lake view room and sit in the balcony. Unfortunately though - they had some woodwork/furniture-making happening and the noise from that was an irritant for a few hours initially. I regret not spending more time in the room later... since we had to the customary 'sight seeing' to do. How come sights from your hotel balcony dont count in that ?

Its a great place to chill, relax and soak in extraordinary natural surroundings with forests and the most beautiful lake we came across. With clouds kissing the lake and the mountains. Service was very good. The cottage was very elegant in wood and was speckless. The balcony overlooking the lake and forest was the place to spend hours. Food was decent. Spa was very good and the staff warm and helpful. Great experience.

Ri Kinjai is about 15 to 20 minutes drive from Shillong Umroi Airport. The Hotel charges 3K for pickup or drop to Shillong Airport in an Innova. Local agent may charge about 2 to 2.5K for the transfer in an Innova. The resort provides cars to goto specific places but does not provide full day cars. An innova for full day from agents cost about Rs 4500/day. The Hotel has 5 Cottages. Two of the cottages Nos. 4 & 5 are interconnected with a passage. There are about 25 rooms in total. The grounds are well maintained. Most guests seem to be from Gauhati, thus this property must shine out amongst options available to them in the northeast. Pros: 1. The view of Umiam Lake from the Cottage Balconey is Excellent. This is the major strong point of this resort. Sit in your balcony & observe the view. 2. They have a nice walking track that goes down to the lake. This is the best activity available at the resort. 3. The Khasi massage at thr Spa is good, any other massages on their menu is not worth wasting ur money on. 4. Wooden cottages are big but have outdated furniture & the attics in the cottages are not useful. 5. Housekeeping service is nice & helpful & room service is fine. 6. The restaurant manager is a cheerful man & in his presence the restaurants service runs well. Cons: 1. It takes about 2 hours to reach any restaurant or sight seeing place in Shillong from here as traffic in Shillong & the highway near Shillong moves at snails pace of 5 km/hour between 8am to 10pm. The only place worth going to for sightseeing is the Mawphlang Sacred Forest & Elephant Falls. On your way back just after Elephant Falls there is a nice cafe named ML 55. Dont even think about visiting Laithlum Canyon, Dawki, clean village, or Cherrapunji if you are staying here. It took us 3 to 4 hrs either way for Laithlum & there was fog when we reached there so visibility was 10 feet. Waste of time. 2. Food at Resortss only restaurant is average. 3. The worst part of the experience at this resort is their Buffet Breakfast. No matter what time you go, half the items will be empty, no refilling, no glasses or bowls, no waiters to take orders for tea or coffee, their service is worse than a Hotel that charges 2K while they charge about 20K. Waiters are untrained. On Sunday their manager was present during breakfast tome so their service was better. 4. Rooms have no wifi. They give a usb dongle on request but that is only useful with a laptop & not with phones, ipads or amazon fire sticks. 5. No blackout curtains in any room so you will be forced to wakeup at 5:30am everyday as sun rises early in the north-east. 6. The jacuzzi Bath tubs are broken relics or showpieces as they dont work in any cottages. Bath fittings are old. Toiletries provided in bathrooms are local convenience store brands. 7. Room furniture is outdated & it vibrates when we walk on the creaking wooden room floor. 8. In Oct, temp was 23 degrees celsius in daytime & rooms dont have any A.C., only old noisy old pedestal fans. 9. Electricity keeps coming & going, some lights & sockets run on generator. 10. You get a feeling that there is no value for the money you spend as the resort cuts corners in guest experience.

We visited the restaurant at the Ri Kynjai & thoroughly enjoyed the view of the serene calm lake, misty hills covered in clouds & the lush green landscape. The bonus was that it was pouring & we were at the perfect place for a scrumptious lunch. The resort is set in a sprawling area well set with wooden cottages and cherra stone. The restaurant serves authentic traditional Khasi cuisine along with a mix of Chinese & Indian for variety. The caramel custard was one of the best I have had so far.

Serene atmosphere, courteous service, spacious room facing the Umium lake, superb ambience, delicious meals.. thoroughly enjoyed our Shillong stay.. Although a bit away from Shillong, it has the forest charm with all the amenities.