|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Home
|
Sitemap
|
Alappuzha
|
Aranmula
|
Guruvayur
|
Kannur
|
Kochi
|
Kodungallur
|
Kollam
|
Kottayam |
Kovalam |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Heading north along Samudra for around 4km you'll pass through a string of fishing hamlets before eventually arriving at a point where the sea merges with the backwaters to form a salt-water lagoon. Although only thirty minutes' walk from the Ashok, the sliver of white sand dividing the two, known as Pozhikkara beach, is a world away from the headlong holiday culture of Kovalam. Here, the sands are used primarily for landing fish and fixing nets, while the thick palm canopy shelters a mixed community of Hindu fishermen and Christian coir makers. The tranquil village of PACHALLOOR, behind the lagoon, is a good alternative base to Thiruvananthapuram or Kovalam. There are two guesthouses here, including the original and idyllic Lagoona Davina (phone 0471/380049, fax 462935; Rs2500 and upwards; full board available), whose six individually decorated en-suite rooms open onto the water. Two cheaper cottages ($65 in high season) lie behind; lazing in a hammock under the palms, you can watch villagers paddling past in their long dug-outs, and sand-wallahs diving to fill buckets with silt. The guesthouse also organizes its own backwater trips (Rs350 per head for 2hr).
|
The food served at Lagoona is exceptional - a fusion of authentic Keralan village dishes and European nouvelle cuisine. You can also have an Ayurvedic massage or take yoga lessons with the resident doctor, and there's a boutique with exquisite outfits made by Davina herself. If you book in advance, you'll be met at the airport, or take an auto-rickshaw 6km along the highway towards Kovalam, bearing right along the "by-pass" where the road forks (just after the Thiruvallam Bridge). After another 1km or so, a sign on the right of the road points through the trees to the guesthouse. The other guesthouse at Pachalloor, the Beach and Lake Resort (phone 0471/381055; Rs900-2500), lies across the water from Lagoona on the beach side, and has five rooms, but no restaurant and little atmosphere. |
Explore Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary
Cardamom Hills
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
