Arcadian Riverside Hotel, Khanian
I was actually excited to visit this resort due to the pictures they had shown on their webpage.
Review
Location: Khanian is an hour long drive from Shogran and is located on left side crossing the river 15 minutes before Kaghan village. Its a small settlement with only 1 or 2 hotels and a dhaaba. For Riverside Resort one has to cross a wooden bridge over Kunhar and then you enter hotel premises. just beside the hotel there is another road leading to a small village. The location is perfect and by the side of Kunhar, one can not ask for a better place to stay. there is a big rock wall on west facing which is a delight to watch and equally scary.
I think its attraction plays as its weakness sometimes. Its away from general public but there is no market around here and you must go to Kaghan if need to buy anything. Hotel itself is good but its a bit far from Naran. so if intention is to enjoy actual Naran beauty you should travel more than an hour along kaghan highway.
Rooms and Garden:
Comparing to Sprucewoods rooms were not impressive at all. There was no cupboard in standard and deluxe rooms. also stink was another problem in few of the rooms. Garden is a small grassy land and if there are many families you end of sitting very close to each other. Garden and grass of Sprucewoods was far better maintained. Still it was a pleasure having breakfast in garden in Kunhar river's soothing sound. There is no proper way to get close to the river and if you want to try take special care.
Food:
Food court is very small and they can not accommodate more than one big family at a time so you need to fix your time for dinner or lunch. Food is a delight as it was in Sprucewood, they have maintained standard in both places. We requested them to prepare Karachi style Daal Chawal which they made up to our expectations. Breakfast is served in garden mostly and service quality is good. Breakfast tastes better than sprucewood mainly because of Kunhar view and freshness Kaghan's green mountains have to offer in the morning.
Hospitality:
Staff showed great hospitality and good manners, that made our stay even more enjoyable. The service was quick and they tried their best to serve special food on request.
Water Fall:
Khanian has 3 water falls coming from a same stream and you have to hike a bit to see the beauty. I went their on last day of our visit and almost all kids from the village joined us. We managed to reach the lowest (first) water fall. Its beautiful and if i had time i definitely had tried the other 2. Must do attraction for anybody staying in riverside resort.
Overall i would give them 3/5 stars, a bit lower than Sprucewood. But neverthless its recommended for any one who wants to stay away from the usual crowd.
Kaghan is heavenly beautiful, you never get tired of being there. Mine was 5th visit and hopefully there will be more insha Allah.