Kovalam
Kovalam, a once-charming fishing village that is now Kerala’s
most popular beach resort, lies just 16km south from Trivandrum,
within easy reach of an international airport. With Goa
and Tamil Nadu’s Mamallapuram, it has become an
essential stop on a tour of South India’s finest
beaches, although a spurt of development in the 1990’s
and the arrival of the high-volume package tourist market
has come at a cost. ‘Discovered’ by hippy
backpackers in the 1960’s, who were seduced by three
crescent-shaped bays (Samudra, Hawah and Lighthouse beach),
each about 400m long. The hippies encouraged the development
of hotels and paved the way for the arrival of package
tour operators who descended en masse from the 1980’s.
Lighthouse Beach to the south is the most crowded, laden
with small guesthouses and beach bars. Hawah, the middle
beach overlooked by the massive five-star Le Meridien
hotel, provides a base for local fishermen. Behind the
beaches there are some shady coconut groves well-worth
exploring if you want to get away from the hustle-and-bustle
of the beach for a few quiet moments. You need to be careful
when swimming, especially during the off-season from May
to September when the rip currents are strong and dangerous.
In fact, Kovalum is best avoided in the off-season unless
you are content lolling by the pool and the Ayurvedic
centre. The sea is rough, cloudy and eats up large swathes
of the beach.
Varkala
Varkala, a superb white-sanded beach backed by dramatic
red laterite cliffs that is located approximately 50km
north of Thiruvananthapuram, has steadily grown in popularity
in recent years, especially amongst those who find Kovalam
“too developed” for their liking. It is also
an important Hindu centre for pilgrimage and, somewhat
appropriately considering the skimpily-clad sunbathers
and hedonistic budget travellers, the main beach is called
Papanasham, meaning ‘redemption for sins’.
The Rough Guide describes it as a place “where pilgrims
rub shoulders with foreign visitors eager to sunbathe
and strike a yogic pose”. The wide and long beach
is superb during the season from October to mid-March
and relatively peaceful in comparison to Kovalam, although
there are hawkers. Most of the accommodation is targeted
at the budget-end of the market, although the Taj Group
has one of its ‘Garden Retreats’ nearby.
Poover
Poovar, 30 minutes drive south of Kovalam and 35km from
Trivandrum Airport, is an excellent option for those longing
for a quiet undeveloped beach but also hankering after
some luxury. It’s a backwater and beach resort rolled
into one being the meeting place of a lagoon, river and
sea. To reach the beach and the hotels – we recommend
the new four-star Estuary Island – you need to be
ferried for 15 minutes along some beautiful vegetation-cloaked
waterways. The beach itself is wide, long and desolated.
Swimming is not possible during the off-season (April
to September) when the waves pound into a sand bar, often
spilling over into lagoon behind. The hotels are not located
on the beach but on the lagoon-edge. Hotel speedboats
speed you over to the beach in a couple of minutes.
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