Stayed at Villa Anamika in January 2009. We had organised a taxi pick up from the airport which was fine. On arrival at the hotel (around 6.30pm) the taxi driver had to show us to our room as there was nobody there to meet us. There were no keys to the room and eventually the owner appeared with some keys and a book of house rules which I thought was a bit odd, not the best way to greet your guests.

The room was very basic, with pretty poor decoration and the bed was very uncomfortable. The shower was pretty rubbish with hardly any water pressure whatsoever, When we advised the owner of this she said it was normal due to a build up of rust inside the shower head and would get it sorted out, eventually we did it ourselves. The cleaning of the room was a rough tidy up and we had to ask repeatedly for new towels otherwise they were unchanged for days. The cleaning staff also left the keys to all of the rooms in the public area so anybody could have accessed any of the rooms, when this was poi8nted out to the owner she advised us that she had never had any security problems before - thats lucky then!!

Villa Anamika was in a good location for its proximity to the beach and cliff top restaurants but that is the only positive thing I would say about it. Look around as there are far better places for half the money.

We arrived at around 6.30pm, after an hour and a half taxi ride from the airport, quite bizarrely the taxi driver showed us to our room and we were left with no keys!! Eventually the lady owner came to give us the keys and tell us a few house rules!! We can only describe this place as bizarre, the rules of the house were very strange at best and our room was very overpriced at 1000 rupees per night, it's a pity she hadn't explained some rules to her staff, who left all the room keys lying around in the common area during the day!! Our shower pressure was almost non-existant, she put this down to an excess of RUST (we fixed this by removing the shower head and cleaning it with a needle!) , and she had an excuse for absolutely everything we queried! Far better rooms are available at the place next door for half the price!). We certainly would not stay here again.

My husband and I stayed here with our 8-year-old daughter in December of 2007. We stayed for 5 nights and paid the equivalent of $17 CDN a night for a large double room with bathroom and an extra mattress for our daughter.

Breakfast was not included and at 150 rupees per person, we were able to find a better deal along the cliff.

The room was large and clean. Same with the bathroom. We had warm water when needed and although there was no AC, the windows opened (screened) and let a wonderful breeze through plus there was a fan overhead.

It was a short walk to the cliff and the beach. Great location. The beach was golden, water beautiful and we had a wonderful time choosing a different restaurant to eat at each night.

I found the owner to be slightly standoffish but she was friendly enough and that wasn't a huge deal.

Arrived here in the early evening without a booking, and was told it was full. But the owner (and artist) Sobhana, then started ringing round her local hotelier friends to find us something, and when that failed, opened up a temporary spare room that she keeps. Result! The next morning she had a cancellation and we subsequently moved to another room on the top floor for another night, but then had to move on to another place for the remainder of our stay (also a contact of hers, but more about THAT place in the relevant review). Such generosity was wonderful. Not only is the Anamika a relaxing and cute space, the rooms are between 800-1200 rupees a night, outstanding value, and the entire place is decorated with her paintings. There is also a garden in the grounds where breakfast is served by her staff, either German toast and jams (her husband is German) or idly and sambar with the best fresh fruit you could ever taste, and just 75 rupees. She also recommended to us an ayurvedic centre that we were looking for which was also wholly professional and thorough. It was an absolute shame to leave this place, for it was so welcoming and relaxed, the perfect place in Varkala.