La Plage Marari
This is a long and detailed review, but the upshot is that La Plage was the best place to stay in the area! Location location location! If you want to be right on a beautiful beach with direct sea views and pure relaxation then this is the place for you!
Hospitality
Sajan Joseph, the director, was helpful and reassuring in his communication prior to our arrival. He was quick to reply on WhatsApp. He arranged a car to collect us from Cochin airport, although it was very expensive. We were unable to find any Uber, Ola or other options for the journey (it was Xmas eve).
La Plage does not serve alcohol, but we managed to arrange to buy some beers to keep in the fridge in our room.
On arrival, we were met by Bibin, the hotel manager, who is the absolute epitome of excellent hospitality. He was polite, friendly, very helpful and regularly checked in on us throughout our stay
Accommodation
Our room (114) was lovely, sea facing with a huge picture window and beautiful view of the beach. An individual ‘cottage’ which comprised a large room with a big four-poster bed, plus an extra bed which we had requested. This was just a camp bed, but ok for a few days. Really good air conditioning. Lots of wardrobe space. A little fridge. A kettle. A chaise longue in the window from which to admire the view.
The bathroom out the back was huge and semi open, which I liked (good if someone makes smells!). Two wash basins. Lovely big open shower which you step down into. Plus a deep bathing area which we didn’t get around to using. Toiletries were provided.
If I were to make suggestions for the bathroom then nice additions would be: soap dishes, toothbrush holders and hand towel rails by the basins.
Another suggestion for the room would be more comfortable mattresses.
All rooms face the sea, although some were set further back and some were smaller. Ours was at the front and had a great direct view of the sea. All cottages had an outside terrace to sit and relax. Watching the sea and listening to the waves crashing. Soooo relaxing! Great sunset spot too. There were sun loungers in front of the restaurant facing the sea. It would have been nice to have loungers on the cottage terrace as well as chairs. Also a gate to the beach from outside the cottage would have been nicer than walking past the restaurant. The wire fencing obscured the view a bit if sitting down. Just small suggestions to make the place even more perfect, but really didn’t detract from our enjoyment!
Housekeeping was excellent, with daily cleaning if required (good to get the sand swept up) and fresh bottled water provided (we were sad to use so many plastic bottles though).
Food
Waiting staff will bring food and drink to you on the terrace or you can go to the restaurant only a few steps away.
The restaurant has inside and outside seating, all of which has a view of the sea.
The waiting staff were attentive without being intrusive.
Breakfast buffet was standard Indian fare with freshly cooked dosas and omelettes on request. Fresh fruit, cereal, toast etc.
The A la Carte menu for lunch and dinner was really good food! The best we had in Kerala, in fact the best for our whole trip to India! And we did try several other local places for dinner, including Marari Beach Resort, but La Plage was hands down the best for traditional Keralan fare. Prawn, squid, fish and veggie dishes were all delicious. Chicken options also available. Recommend the onion pakoras, squid roast, prawn masala and vegetable jalfrezi!
Location
The location of La Plage is actually on the beach of Omanapuzha. Not Marari.
The beach at La Plage you get pretty much to yourself, apart from the fisherman who were interesting to watch, and few other guests and a few locals at sunset. It’s idyllic. The sand is pale gold, soft and clean. Surrounded by palm trees and no other development. We didn’t see any excrement, as many other places around had noted. The sea was lovely and warm. Some people would find the rip and crashing waves difficult, but they were no problem for confident sea swimmers.
There is nothing else around in the form of beach bars or cafes. For that you would have to go to Marari beach or Alappuzha (Alleppey).
Marari beach itself is actually 8km north of La Plage, a 15 minute auto-rickshaw ride, which the hotel can arrange and should only cost 200 rupees. Marari beach has a few cafes and restaurants and more going on, but is more busy and littered and to be honest we weren’t that impressed, compared with our lovely beach at La Plage.
Alleppey is about 8km south of La Plage. Again an easy auto-rickshaw ride. From there you can take the famous Kerala backwater boat trips.
All in all, our stay at La Plage was wonderful and having looked around at other places in the area we definitely picked the best! Beautiful location and pure relaxation!
