We booked this spot in advance, and for three nights, however on arriving were disgruntled to discover that the hotel was a building site! The owner never bothered to tell us this when we booked - obviously knowing that the hammering and drilling would put us off (as it had obviously done to other guests). When we complained, he told us it was only till 5pm in the afternoon! Well, so much for sitting and relaxing in the garden and reading a book during the day... However, the owner had lied: the building noise continued till 10pm. Oh well. The room was clean, and given the other options we saw in Ella, the rooms were not bad (not fantastic either). In fairness, one member of the staff, Shiva, did try to make our stay convivial. However, be warned: the scary new monstrous building addition the owner is hatching is awful. It doesn't fit in with the charming bungalow style ethos of what was there before.
On a note about Ella in general: There is a lot of building work going on around Ella - and it's all terrifying stuff - concrete monstrosities carved out of the mountains - certainly not what tourists want: most of them will land up being pokey, damp, cold, characterless rooms with views (so often what we saw in the Indian Himalayas). Sadly the natural charm and beauty of Ella is going to be destroyed by these man-made horrors. Visit Ella before it becomes another Dharamsala with concrete boxes dripping down the mountainside.
