Taj Mahal

I stayed with my family in a double room. It is a big hotel porem is older. But things work very well elevators, air conditioning, shower. TV only passes local programming. The breakfast is very rich and tasty with regional options. There is a pool on the roof from which you have a good view of the city of Manaus. It also has a restaurant.

Location and price are the reasons to stay here. The hotel is old, rundown and doesn't offer a lot of services. On the other hand, other than when I go to a resort or a special hotel, I mostly use hotels as a place to store my bags, to sleep and to shower and then to get back out into the world to explore wherever it is that I have traveled to. And this hotel is in a great location, right on the edge of the historic center of town and easy walking distance to a lot of what you will want to see, do and the restaurants you will want to eat at. The hotel is clean, although it is rundown enough that it looks shabby and somewhat dirty, and the lighting is somewhat dreary. The bed was comfortable, the air-conditioner worked well, the shower was okay. The highlight of the room - #1214 and I advise you to book it if you stay here - was the view. It has a balcony with a spectacular view over the Teatro Amazonas and the city and out to the Amazon River, and sunsets. There is a small rooftop pool and a restaurant above that - neither of which we used. The breakfast buffet in the morning was extensive and reasonably good, but not spectacular. If you don't speak Portuguese you will probably need Google Translate or something to communicate with the staff. I speak English and Spanish and neither did me much good. When I go back to Manaus, and I probably will, I will probably try to find a somewhat more charming, boutique hotel - although there don't seem to be a lot of them. But for a first visit when exploring the city was my highest priority, this was just fine.

Check in was conducted by a receptionist who did not speak English & was so slooooow. I would have thought that staff employed in the hospitality business would have an idea of basic English, saying that I don’t speak Portuguese. The next obstacle was that the elevator was broken & took an age to fix. Room was very basic, old fashioned & appeared none to clean. Firm bed, flat pillows, no in room safe, air con was ok. Had to turn bedside lights off by unscrewing the light bulbs!!!! Fixtures & fittings in both rooms were tarnished & stained. No toiletries in bathroom, thread bare towels, shower pressure ok. Hair drier. Thankfully I was only here for 10 hours on a stop over. Cheap but definitely not cheerful.