We have just returned from 15 nights at the Sandy Beach Resort in Lighthouse Beach Kovalam Kerala. This hotel is in an excellent location(just behind the German Bakery/Lighthouse Restaurant) and is small, friendly, clean and has very helpful and friendly staff.
On first arrival to Lighthouse Beach we were slightly confused as the Taxi driver seemed to just be taking us to the beach and not our hotel, but after asking some locals we found that there isn't an actual road that runs straight to the hotel and you have to walk along the beach path (which could be a problem for people with lots of luggage or who have trouble walking). Once at our hotel we were pleasantly surprised. The staff were very friendly, attentive and helpful and our room was large and clean.
There are only about 12 rooms in the hotel, no pool and breakfast is served outside in the garden, which is lovely. We stayed in room 201 which is on the corner and seemed to be the only room with a private balcony. The room had everything you would need (except air conditioning) and a safe (for which you need your own padlock). The bathroom had an open shower which pointed at the toilet which meant that the toilet got wet whenever the shower was on, but this wasn't a big problem!
Getting to the beach and restaurants was a minute walk, which is very convenient for popping back during the day and returning at night. The area was well lit at night. Lighthouse Beach is not that big (unlike Goa) and all the restaurants and bars close at 11pm! This isn’t very good if you are looking for some nightlife! Alcohol is also illegal as well as smoking!
The Beach was ok (we thought the beaches in Goa were a lot nicer!) the sand was black and the sea was very rough. Unlike Goa the sun loungers are not part of the beach shacks, so you have to pay for these (we paid 150 rupees a day for 2 loungers and an umbrella and a couple of dogs!) At the time there was also some work being carried out along the beach but it wasn’t that much of a disruption. Sunbathing on the beach got a bit tiresome after a couple of hours as there are many people trying to sell you fruit every 15 minutes and we found the worse thing to do was to be polite to the sellers and this just meant they came back more! Also a lot of the locals walk up and down the beach staring at you lying sunbathing! As I was on holiday with my boyfriend this tended to deter them hovering for too long, but single women sunbathing seemed to attract a crowd and they often took pictures or stood watching while you swam in the sea.
There were many lovely restaurants along Lighthouse Beach(Wave/German Bakery and Cafe Del La Mar were definitely worth a trip back) all the staff were great and couldn't do enough to please. There was a great variety of foods too, lots of veggie food and sea food.
We took a couple of trips. Neyyaar Wildlife Sanctuary was good and on the way back we asked our taxi driver to take us to see the elephants (roughly 10 minutes from Neyyaar) which was fantastic and extremely cheap (10 rupees each to see the elephants or 200 to ride an elephant). The elephants seemed to be well treated and the keepers really caring. We took a trip to Poovar Beach, on the advice of a Taxi Driver, it was awful! lots of locals crowding round a very mucky dirty beach asking for money. We also travelled to Agatti Island (Ladshadweep) which was so beautiful and definitely worth it. We booked this whilst on holiday but you can do it form home and it would be a lot easier. We got a taxi form Kovalam to Cochin and then a ship for 24 hours to the Ladshadweep Islands and flew back to Cochin Airport (if you can we would recommend flying both ways as the ship is a 24 hour journey and very strange!)
All in all this hotel is a great place to stay for the money! It could do with having a pool, but the beach is so close it was ok. An excellent location and great staff!
- Sandy Beach Hotel
