Kollam & Kovalam

We drove to Kollam from Munnar. It was a day long comfortable drive. We reached late evening and stayed at a simple accommodation on Munroe Island.

When we woke up, we were pleasantly surprised and fascinated by finding out that we are in middle of the famous Kerala backwaters. As if nature has carefully planted narrow lanes of roads with cute small houses right in the ocean. For somebody who hasn’t seen Kerala backwaters yet, I can’t recommend it enough.

One has two options – Kollam backwaters and Alapuzha backwaters. Both unique in their own way. I had been to Alapuzha in 2016 and those memories are still vivid in my mind. This time we made sure to checkout Kollam as well.

Kollam Backwaters – Hit

We took a big houseboat in the morning. It mostly ventured into wide canals and got an average to decent shots in the day time. I couldn’t help comparing these shots to Alapuzha backwaters from back in 2016 and feel a little disappointed. However, what we were we about to see that evening would change our opinion on Kollam completely.

Our homestay owner, suggested us to take a smaller boat for the sunset ride. The beauty of the smaller boat is – it can venture into narrow water canals where the big boats (one we took in the morning) can’t go. This was our highlight of the day when we fell in love with the backwaters once again.

Stunning landscapes, coconut trees and the magic of golden hour.

Stay Kollam – Dilkush munroe homestay – Miss
Dinner Kollam – Mariyalayam Munroe Island Residency – Miss

Varkala – Hit

We thought of visiting Varkala, Kovalam and Poovar as well. The drive from Kollam to Varkala is just about a couple of hours. Same driving time can be expected from Varkala to Kovalam and Kovalam to Poovar.

Varkala is a laid back beach overlooking a cliff. The whole area has a pretty chilled out relaxed vibe. One can consider it over Kovalam and Poovar to stay for a few nights and rejuvenate. Not overly touristy and overwhelming – just the kind of place which I look for and which is difficult to find these days.

Stay Varkala – Molly’s Hostel – Hit

Kovalam – Miss

Kovalam was not what it used to be till a few years back. We visited Kovalam back in 2016 and had loved it. This time around, everything was overcrowded. The watered down flavour of tourism due to over-commercialisation – made us deeply sad.

We loved Trivandrum city though. Couple of thing which caught our attention were – sparkling clean city and people following traffic rules religiously. When it comes to Tier 1/2 cities of the country, I can easily say Trivandrum would fare in the one of the best cities to live in for the quality of life it offers. It has all the glitz and glamour of a metro without the maddening traffic and hassles of a metro.

Stay Trivandrum – Urbane Cove – Hit