Cossimbazar Palace of the Roys ( Rajbari)

We stayed in room 001 at the back. Room was small and average. There were 2 double beds in the small room positioned ackwardly. Only 1 chair to sit. Absolutely no space even to stand for both of us. Toilet was in very poor condition too with a very old door…Overall experience nowhere near ‘ Rajbari’!!! Very expensive as compared to facilities provided. Staff was very nice. Food was good.

We two senior citizen couples had stayed there from 16th to 18th February’24. It had been a very nice experience to spend those two nights. The room facilities were very good ***** with all their attending people. Buffet Breakfast was complementary & was fairly good. But some more varieties of items may be included / added. Lunch, dinner & evening snacks were available as per the Menu List and were very tasty. Being senior citizens we have some observations: In the bathroom near the shower, some rack should be there to keep the soap, shampoo & other items. Apart from the above, a plastic / wooden stool should be provided for the elderly people. We had already told these things to Mr. N.Ghosh. Apart from the above, we were very satisfied & will again plan to visit there.

Wonderful experience. Stay, food and service was great. Everyone was so eager to help and took great care of the needs of the guest. There was an element of personal touch in the holiday. As if it was not a paid stay but a personal invitation. There were carefully curated experiences for the guests. The stories associated were so intriguing that would make you crave for more. Make sure you keep at least 2 days to enjoy the property.

It was co0mpletely unpanned visit to this palace hotel which is maintained by the owner.. built in 1730's it has been many battles and subsequent damages to the structure but the whole palace has been resurrected to a lovely place for couple of days stay ..I have had the opportunity to meet the owners who were travelling from Kolkata and i was amazed to hear so much of history behind this ancient 300 yr old palace built during nawabs of bengal's where ruling before mughal's and britishers came to India...

We spent a little more than 24 hours in this old Rajbari steeped in history. Had a very pleasant experience. The ambience was great with old and antique furniture placed all over the property ***** with chandeliers and other artefacts. Manash and team, the staff members, gave us excellent service with a smiling face. We were the only guests during weekdays. Went on a palace tour which takes you to the inner chambers like the Naachghar, erstwhile dining room, Thakur Dalan etc. (being renovated) which is really a very interesting aspect of the stay here. A bonus was witnessing the evening aarti at the family temple. This Rajbari actually adds to the already rich history of Murshidabad. Just a small suggestion - it would be better to have road signages to help guests arrive at the palace, notwithstanding GPS!! Overall enjoyed our stay. Would love to meet the owners and hear about the rich history of the place. Would definitely recommend fellow travellers to visit this Rajbari.

An excellent place to visit and Stay. We went when it was not busy. The staff are amazing and so keen to make your stay comfortable. Rooms were spacious and the bathrooms are modern. What I liked is that old touch was well mixed with modern day amenities. Beautifully maintained. The open courtyard reminds you of bygone era. The dining room is tastefully dine and the icing on the cake was the the fabulous quality of food that was served. We had the Rajbhari thali and boy it was worth every money quality and quantityqise. The open grounds are huge and the small tour was interesting. The evening arati takes about less than 10 minutes but it added to the flavour. A must stay if you are going to Murshidabad.

Established by Dinobandhu Roy in 1735, the palace houses a museum, a temple, a watch tower, a tennis court, gardens and 14 rooms for guests to stay. The experience is different and interesting. The beautiful Pataleshwar and Basspur Shiv temples are located nearby, on either side of the hotel.

The palace is overall fairly maintained, but the staff at the restaurant were very unprofessional and slow. We were promised a package worth 60k for 4 people over 2 days which included breakfast, lunch and dinner. All the meals were said to be served in an all-inclusive buffet but when we went there, there was hardly anything on the buffet counter and we had to separately ask for meats, fish and carbs. That too they would be very slow to serve and the staff would claim that there was a limit to how much they could serve at the package price which is opposite to what a buffet should be. They also often messed up what we ordered. We talked to the manager (who was uncooperative at first, until we luckily got hold of one of the owners and complained to him), who finally said that he would cut down the buffet cost and serve us set meals. The next meal we had had very small portions and bad cuts of meat. Also, it was handled by the same inexperienced staff. The room layout and furnishing is also not up to the mark. The whole stay was not anything worth the price. Definitely do not recommend the rajbari but murshidabad and behrampur themselves are great places to visit with a rich history and interesting sites.

COSSIMBAZAR - THE STAY We had planned for a relaxed and non taxing holiday – and we were rewarded exactly that by the hosts at the Cossimbazar Palace of the ROYS all through our stay. The huge mansion has all the trappings of a colonial palace – tall ceilings, archways, temples, fountains, gardens et al A traditional welcome over, we were guided to our rooms (Rooms 1&2) on the ground floor (a covered palatial courtyard, doubling as the sitting area (period furniture, sparkling chandelier, a tall atrium and a a cute piano giving the area a befitting ambience) separated the 2 rooms. The rooms were reasonably large, the linen spotless, the beds royal and high (there’s a stool that one can use to climb on to the bed), almirah reminding one of the good old days, well made toilet with most trappings, the air con working and good, a fridge in the room, tea- coffee maker and a marble topped centre table and chairs bringing up the rear. We strolled across the palace’s grounds (one witnesses the care and love of the owners in the upkeep of the gardens – full of giant trees that grow well in the region – mangoes, guava, water apple, seasonal vegetables, flowering tree beds (large flowering tress like Nagalingam) – all adorn the huge gardens set amidst a couple of ponds. The front façade resembles the typical British era royalty – triangular frontage, a huge clock tower looking straight up, manicured lawns, a couple of fountains, technology playing its part in changing colours in the evening – all working to make the atmosphere surreal! What enhanced the beauty of the stay was an hour long audio visual presentation by the present owner, Mr Palalbh Roy – the history of Cossimbazar (never knew that this was an international riverine port -the principal reason for the traders to flock the area leading to the massive development of Murshidabad). In Mr Roy’s words – had the port not been there at Cossimbazar, perhaps the history of India would have followed a different path. The artefacts strewn all round the palace are stunning to say the least – well curated collection of over 2 centuries by the ancestors and the British Managers (for some time the estate was administered by the British Royalty) – all spic and span (demonstrating the willingness of the present owners to showcase these in true spirit) – these adorn shelf spaces even in all the resident rooms. Mr Roy was candid and honest to let us know that the title of RAJA was not conferred on the family for keeps, but were given to individuals of the ROY family over time for the service that they had rendered to the society. The palace grounds abound in well kept temples – deities that are worshipped every day by the Pujaris; we were told that all the major deities – Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi are worshipped with much fanfare annually, besides celebrating Holi, Ratha Yatra and all. Ever evening that we were there, the palace had organized cultural shows – a magician one day, and a performance by the local kid