I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the Athena hotel. Having initially booked for 30 nights I subsequently extended for another ~2 weeks. The staff are wonderful. The location is not entirely convenient for the Ramana Ashram, which is ~45 minutes’ walk away or ~8 minutes by Autorickshaw (~150 Rs). The location has the advantages of being less noisy and polluted than being in the immediate vicinities of either the Ramana Ashram or the Arunachalesvara Temple. Girivalam Road is close by via a short access route that joins the road at the Niruthi Lingam.

Happy with my stay at Athena Room-202, first floor. It was a Queen Suite with a comfy double bed and balcony. Location is very near to the highway and jus few meters is the hotel. Nice room facilities with a chair and sofa in the room. Balcony had additional two comfy plastic chairs. Nice view of the Arunachala hills from the room and balcony. A very spacious car parking provided. Restaurant was placed in the ground floor and room service was very good. Very happy with the quickest check-in and check-out at the facility. Overall it was a wonderful trip and thanks to Athena and it's staff for the great hospitality.

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The hotel was clean and located just within the Tiruvannamalai hill. It has a balcony and we can see the hill clearly from our room, which was extra special for us. The morning atmosphere was amazing since we heard birds chirping as we experienced a little bit of a village breeze. The sun rise was extremely beautiful and we snapped photos/videos from the roof top area. Beside, the name Athena was significant as the Greek goddess’s image was there in the hotel signifying the importance of wisdom. Moreover, the blends of Indian culture with Greek, truly made me felt a feeling of acceptance. What a concept! All the staff there were extremely respectful and polite to us.

The corner room was huge. The aircon worked well. The room was very quiet. The evening buffet was simple, but OK. Some of the staff were nice, and some avoided smiling or eye contact.

The breakfast was really only for Indian guests, so I could not really have much to eat. The bathroom is one big room with the shower in the middle, so, as soon as you have showered and changed, and you want to use the toilet, you have to take off your socks and roll up your trousers to use the toilet, or even wash your hands in the basin.

1. Quiet. On the balcony could sit and mediate looking at Arunachala Hill 2. Very accommodative staff (barring a few). At any time of the day, they arranged an auto to reach various places. This auto driver was very professional and extremely reasonable. 3. Good food. Very reasonable breakfast.

1. Hotel needs a lot of minor work in every room. We switched two rooms. In one, there was only one working electric outlet. In another, the lintel (below the TV) was broken and was dangling at an angle. 2 All the bathrooms need to be brightened and spruced up. 3. Had to walk at least 1.5 km just to reach the girivalam path. As a Senior Citizen, after the girivalam trek - I found it impossible to walk to Ramanashramam - 2.5 kms.

The rooms were pretty big as compared to other hotels located in temple towns ...I being an avid traveller to various temple towns felt the space is quite spacious and well maintained...the bathrooms were clean and met my expectations...the hospitality of the staff at front desk and restaurant require a special appreciation...the food was quite tasty and had a homely touch as they customised it to our taste ...They have a pretty large outer space to walk around and the swimming pool was well maintained too...They now have a dedicated space for kids to play around which is quite a relief for families travelling with small children during their temple visits...the space they have created is spacious enough and well equipped with children play equipment safe and child friendly...Overall an contentful stay with a blissful view of Arunachala from the room balcony and to top it I had the most peaceful sleep all throughout my stay there...I would surely recommend families especially with kids and solo travellers to go ahead with their stay plans in this beautiful place called Athena

Excellent staff courtesy. Great location. Great food choices in the restaurant. Cleaned tidy rooms. Would definitely stay again and highly recommend.

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big spacious rooms, had a balcony facing the Arunachala mountain

no hand towels, toilet paper is of a very low quality, no mop in the wet room so there is a huge risk of falling on a wet floor. no instructions on how to use the safe in the room or we didn’t no at first that there is a heater for the hot water

Clean, neat, very friendly staff, Ashraf and Raj (at the front desk) went the extra mile. After completing the girivalam, being a senior citizen, I needed transport to get to various ashrams. They engaged the services of an excellent individual called Paneerselvam. He came with me, stayed patiently and dropped me off without a fuss. The food was good and service staff courteous.

Needs upkeep. In one room only only electrical outlet was working. In another room, the lintel was broken, and things kept sliding off. More coat hangers are needed in every room.

The location is very serene & the view of Arunachala hill from my room was beautiful. We stayed in the king suite which is very spacious. The room was clean. Food was good & the staff members were courteous. Mr. John was cordial & I thank him for all the help.

There are lizards in the room. A big lizard fell on my foot when I was in the bathroom. The are mosquitoes too. The shower doesn’t work properly. It’s very old & has to be replaced. Both the main shower & the hand shower weren’t working properly. The room service has to be improved. They took one hour to get a cup of tea.