10 best beaches in Kerala, India
21.07.2023 - 07:28
/ roughguides.com
Kerala, one of the most visited areas in India, has a profound effect on visitors. From the emerald-green backwaters of Alleppey to the palm-fringed beaches of Kovalam. Kerala is an exotic wonderland that excites and touches your senses in equal measure. Nothing compares to feeling sand beneath your toes as you stroll across one of Kerala's stunning coastline gems — and there are so many beautiful spots beach lovers will not want to miss. These top 10 beaches in Kerala offer an unforgettable coastal getaway.
This is probably one of the most visited Kerala beaches. Kovalam consists of four coves, each with markedly different characters. It takes around 45 minutes to an hour to walk from one end of them to the other, but there’s no shortage of potential pit stops along the way to restore your energies.
Kovalam Beach is the third of the coves and is dominated from on high by the angular chalets of the five-star Leela resort.
Coachloads of excited Keralan day-trippers descend here on weekends, but at other times it offers a peaceful alternative to the Kerala beaches further south.
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Main beach in Kovalam, Kerala, India © Shutterstock
The largest and most developed cove at Kovalam, known for obvious reasons as Lighthouse Beach, is where most foreign tourists congregate.
Lined by a paved esplanade, its seafront of shops and hotels extends along the full length of the bay, overlooked by the eponymous lighthouse at the southern end.
You can scale the 142 spiral steps and twelve ladder rungs to the observation platform for a fine view of one of Kerala's best beaches.
Lighthouse beach, Kovalam © Shutterstock
A small rocky headland divides Lighthouse Beach from Hawah Beach (or Eve’s Beach) – almost a mirror image of its busier neighbour, although backed for most of its length by empty palm groves.
In the morning, before the sun-worshippers arrive, it functions as a base for local fishermen, who hand-haul their massive nets through the shallows, singing and chanting as they coil the endless piles of rope.
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The Hawah Beach at Kovalam in Kerala, India © Shutterstock
The most northerly of Kovalam’s quartet, Samudra Beach, was until recently a European package-tourist stronghold but it remains one of the best beaches in Kerala.
Nowadays the large hotels clustered just beyond it, on the far side of a low, rocky headland, host mainly metropolitan Indian and Russian holiday-makers.
Sunset From Samudra beach © Shutterstock
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This beach in Kerala, 4km from Varkala town itself, is dramatically set against a backdrop of superb,