Vacation in a Vacation : Discovering Kerala - A Photologue

[v&v]

We were on our annual vacation at our parents house. But the sad part is that we have not yet seen places in Kerala.

Vacation with family is always hectic. This vacation onwards we decided to see some parts of Kerala. Hence we picked Poovar near Trivandrum, Ashtamudi lake - south chavara, Kollam, and Kanyakumari as kids were interested for water world holiday.

Home location : Pandalam
Mode of travel - By road,my dads good old Maruti 800.

Travel Plan - As per the hotel reservation we got.

Pandalam - Poovar - 135 kms - Poovar Island Resort
Highlight - Floating Huts,Backwaters

Poovar - Ashtamudi(South chavara - after Kollam - 110 kms - Clubmahindra Backwater retreat
One of the largest lake which is around 61 sqkm and is second largest after Vembanad.

Ashtamudi - Kanyakumari - 180 kms - Hotel Sea View.

Way to Resort at poovar, can be reached only by boat.




At Club Mahnidra - Ashtamudi lake




At Kanyakumari



More to photos to follow.

[laluks]

Very nice photos you have there.
So the vacation theme in your @Vacation@ seems to be back waters, and topping it up with beaches.
Both the properties - Poovar and Ashtamudi are good ones.

Waiting for the rest of the photos.
At Kanyakumari, did you visit the "Vatta kottai" near by.

How was the weather - could have been a little tough on you

[MX6]

The colour of the river water joining the sea suggests that it's raining in Kerala and fresh water has pushed all the silt in to sea. Good signs. Hope the monsoons proceed up north quickly.
Good start there.

[ampere]

The water colour says its all and as usual I am a big fan of water bodies!

PLUS : Making a trip to meet relatives is no vacation except for the drive part (if there is one!)

[v&v]

Originally Posted by laluks

Very nice photos you have there.
So the vacation theme in your @Vacation@ seems to be back waters, and topping it up with beaches.
Both the properties - Poovar and Ashtamudi are good ones.

Waiting for the rest of the photos.
At Kanyakumari, did you visit the "Vatta kottai" near by.

How was the weather - could have been a little tough on you

Yap, in a way it was backwaters. Vatta Kottai was not mentioned by any body there, hence didnt see it. As for weather , it didnt rain the whole trip, at times it was overcast. Hence the trip was simply fantastic. Had it rained it would have been difficult.

Originally Posted by MX6

The colour of the river water joining the sea suggests that it's raining in Kerala and fresh water has pushed all the silt in to sea. Good signs. Hope the monsoons proceed up north quickly.
Good start there.

Thanks MX6. It had been intermittently raining. Not the traditional southwest monsoon has not yet set in even the Met guys says.

Originally Posted by ampere

The water colour says its all and as usual I am a big fan of water bodies!
PLUS : Making a trip to meet relatives is no vacation except for the drive part (if there is one!)

ampere, for us visiting kerala from delhi is a vacation itself, which we take the longest break, otherwise rest all are breaks are max 5 to 7 days. This one is one of the longest near about 3 weeks.

[laluks]

I was reasoning out why the plan was Poovar - Ashtamudi -Kanayakumari and not
Ashtamudi - Poovar - Kanyakumari. The booking availability at the properties was the issue??

How is the floating cottages at Poovar and Ashtamudi? I guess they are the studio types or is it 1BR types.

[v&v]

Originally Posted by laluks

I was reasoning out why the plan was Poovar - Ashtamudi -Kanayakumari and not
Ashtamudi - Poovar - Kanyakumari. The booking availability at the properties was the issue??

How is the floating cottages at Poovar and Ashtamudi? I guess they are the studio types or is it 1BR types.

Yes Booking was an issue since it was not pre planned. Floating cottages are studio only. i think Ashtamudi has 1 br too.

[v&v]

Started for poovar by 8.30 am. MC Road till TVM is great. TVM to Poovar is around 34 kms is single lane and narrow. Reached poovar by 1200hrs.

[laluks]

Thanks for the info. I'd be visiting the properties by end of the year.

[deky]

Are the first couple of pics are the famous "back waters"? The pics are nice. Waiting for the rest of the trip to unfold

regards
Dhiraj

[v&v]

Originally Posted by laluks

Thanks for the info. I'd be visiting the properties by end of the year.

laluks, the food at poovar is average , but at Ashtamudi, the floating restaurant is great. Both places there isnt any activity apart from boating.

Originally Posted by deky

Are the first couple of pics are the famous "back waters"? The pics are nice. Waiting for the rest of the trip to unfold

regards
Dhiraj

This too are backwaters, but the famous backwaters is from Kollam - Alleppey - Kochi. Lots of house boat stay options avaliable there too. Our next target is Aleppey.

Poovar has small town around 30 kms for TVM, here there is a small island where this poovar island resort where we stayed. One has to travel by boat for 20 min. its very scenic.

[laluks]

Poovar is a CM associate resort, and Ashtamudi their own. CM seems to be handling their own resorts quite well. I was impressed with their Varca and coorg properties but mixed impressions about Kodai and ooty associate resorts.

Deky - the Alleppey back waters are the famous ones

[deky]

Originally Posted by v&v

This too are backwaters, but the famous backwaters is from Kollam - Alleppey - Kochi. Lots of house boat stay options avaliable there too. Our next target is Aleppey.

Poovar has small town around 30 kms for TVM, here there is a small island where this poovar island resort where we stayed. One has to travel by boat for 20 min. its very scenic.

Originally Posted by laluks

Deky - the Alleppey back waters are the famous ones

Thank you for the reply, but tell me the Aleppey back waters are more famous because they are prettier or maybe they have better facilities for tourists or they are just famous because lots of tourists end up there?

If I would want to visit the back waters of Kerala, and would want peace and serenity ( away from the tourist rush) yet also want scenic beauty, which would be the ideal destination for me?

Also ( I am lazy to google) tell me are back waters extension of sea inland or are they fresh water rivers?

Regards

[v&v]

Originally Posted by laluks

Poovar is a CM associate resort, and Ashtamudi their own. CM seems to be handling their own resorts quite well. I was impressed with their Varca and coorg properties but mixed impressions about Kodai and ooty associate resorts.

Deky - the Alleppey back waters are the famous ones

This was my first experience with CM associate resort. I didnt had any other problem on any other account. Only the food was pricey and was not upto our standards. I had also availed RCI holiday one at RGBC, monterio, goa and Paradise Isle at Udupi both were fantastic in terms of Property and Food.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by deky

Thank you for the reply, but tell me the Aleppey back waters are more famous because they are prettier or maybe they have better facilities for tourists or they are just famous because lots of tourists end up there?

If I would want to visit the back waters of Kerala, and would want peace and serenity ( away from the tourist rush) yet also want scenic beauty, which would be the ideal destination for me?

Also ( I am lazy to google) tell me are back waters extension of sea inland or are they fresh water rivers?

Regards

They are not fresh waters. There is a fresh water lake at Shasthankotta in Quilon.

Starting from Cochin all the away till Quilon you have beautiful back waters.

Kumarakom is an area which is beautiful and famous and also very touristy. The place has some highend resorts.

The Punnamada lake in Alleppey is famous since its beautiful, it has tourist facilities and also this is where the famous nehru trophy snake boat race happens.

There are other places near vembanadu and Ashtamudi. These are beautiful as well. But less resorts.

Poovar is much down.