The Candlewood Park Beach Resort

We had an average stay in the property. The cottage room was dark and infested with mosquitoes. Room service was average. The kitchen opens at 8 am, closes in the afternoon and opens at 6 pm. Very inconvenient kitchen timings. The reception does not open until 9 am which made early checkout really gruesome. The private beach is clean and beautiful. Also our room's bathroom door was broken and very difficult to lock. No toiletries were provided adequately. Shower gel or shampoo vials were empty in the bathroom. The swimming pool is clean but the temperature of the water is not maintained.It is freezing cold.Even after-showers beside the pool do not have hot water.Not a stay that i would like to look forward to the next time.

Drove down to Mandarmani for an overnight trip with family. Was eyeing Candlewood for the past one week since we were planning for Mandarmani but couldn't book because of the mad rush for the long weekend of 26th Jan. So decided to book after the rush subsided. It was a great decision because the prices dropped to near half the rates, the beach was less crowded and the roads were empty. We booked our rooms in Forestta - this is an addition to the existing resort which is on the opposite side of the road. The extension is very tastefully done with ample parking, nice landscapes , a cosy reception and beautifully designed rooms. We stayed in the highest priced Aqua rooms that had balconies and a view of the big swimming pool. The interiors are aestheticially done with soothing wall paint colors and distressed wood coloured green furnitures. My only complain is that the pillows could have been bigger.. The restaurant is in the old building and food had to be mostly ordered to the room. We ate all three meals here and quality of food was great! They had great preparations of fish.The snacks bar opened in the evening catering to guests wanting to eat by the beach side - it also had a great menu. Incidentally the beach can be accessed from the old building side (that you have to cross over to from the Forestta side). The sea is much calmer here - (something that people complain about Mandarmani ) but that is exactly what we liked as a family . It was serene in the afternoon so spent lot of time here. We did take a stroll in the moonlight after dinner as well. It was a great experience as it was not crowded at all at any time.The crowd at the beach side in the evening was not family friendly so we avoided the beach in the evening....mostly hookah crowd. Lastly the staff- The staffs at Candlewood are very friendly - seemed quite overworked. Specially the room service is quite taxing at peak time. The check out counter is in the old building so had to come here . You can do that at Forestta if you are paying in cash or UPI 😀 We took our one last stroll by the beach before we returned again to Forestta where our car was parked. It was a great day spent!