Kovalam stories

Kovalam the famed beach destination of India is actually just a few kilometres from our home. Yes this is a beautiful beach just over 19 kms from Trivandrum city centre. During my adolescence, Kovalam was one of the spots where I would hang out with my friends. I still remember the days when I used to goof around with my close friends at Kovalam. However it is not recommended to swim if the sea is rough. Do get in touch with the life guards before you jump in to know how safe the sea is.  

Kovalam beach is basically divided into three, starting from Samudra Beach, Hawah beach and ends at the light house beach. All these beaches usually have high amount of tourists coming in during all seasons. However Samudra is the one which is less crowded when compared to others. I wanted to spend sometime at the sea side and relax. This is when my wife booked a room for us at KTDC Samudra, for a day during the last week of July. On enquiry with some friends we were told that the rooms were decent and the view from the rooms were extraordinary.

We had to wait a month and a half for the vacation. My wife was literally counting days and finally when the day came, and we were all super excited. We started from Ernakulam via Alapuzha towards Trivandrum at around 5:30 am IST. The journey was less adventurous with our kid asleep almost throughout the journey and also since we were on a familiar route via National Highway 66. But as we approached the Trivandrum bypass road, excitement started to built within us. My wife’s infectious holiday mood had passed on to me, and I couldn’t wait to reach KTDC Samudra. 

Zavi, waiting for the room keys

We reached Samudra by around 11:00 am, parked our vehicle and was given a warm welcome by the staff. The reception and waiting area were pretty modest but decent though. Our Little Zavi was waiting at the reception area perplexed. My little one had just realised that we were not going to his grand parents place for the weekend and we had reached some other place. He started exploring the new place and we could just sense that he was enjoying every moment more than us.

After a while we were taken to our sea facing room on the first floor by a staff. Our room , though a little old, was well kept and had a sea facing balcony. The view from this balcony was breathtakingly beautiful. It was not just the awesome view of the sea, the beach, and the property as whole, we could also hear the rhythmic waves. This totally enhanced the whole experience. We even ordered lunch to be bought to our room so that we enjoy lunch while being at the balcony.

Lethargy set in soon after lunch and all three of us took a nice afternoon nap. At around 4 pm, we received a call from the reception that we had two visitors. This was a surprise, we wondered who would come here to meet us. It was none other than my mom and aunt. They just decided to drop in to take some pictures with my little one, Zavi, and to spend some quality time with us. Zavian was also super excited to see his grandma and grand aunt.

With them we decided to venture out and check out the resort and surroundings. Right next to our room was the pool and the play area. Zavi was so excited to jump into the pool, as there were some kids playing in it. Laughing and jumping, Zavi, told us pointing towards the pool that he wanted to play with the kids. But we decided to take a stroll towards the pool and then headed down to the garden. The best part of this property are the couple of hammocks that they have tied across the coconut trees and Zavi wanted to be on it. He was so excited that he jumped right in. We relaxed on the hammocks and chit chatted for a while.

After an hour or so, we headed straight down towards the beach. But we were warned at the exit gate that the sea was very rough and we shouldn't go any where near the water. On reaching near the beach, there were coast guards who told us that the sea is furious and it is very dangerous. However that didn't stop us from spending some time viewing the sea and listening to the sea roaring back to us. Meanwhile our baby was so excited to be at the beach and was jumping around the rocks and bushes. He was so curious to see the waves and was listening to the music of the sea.

After spending some time by the beach side, we decided to walk back. Zavi was so curious to explore the bushes to identify the flowers and small plants. So I decided to take some pictures so that he could see these flowers when we get home also.

some wild flowers

After reaching the resort property, we had some father-son time. I was following him around the property and took images of him enjoying the very moments. We talked about the beach, colour changing skys, stars, moon, and a lot of things around us. After a while we decided to head straight to the restaurant for some tea and refreshments. After our surprise visitors left, we retreated back to our room and spend the rest of the evening lazing around and playing with Zavian and his friends (elephants, giraffes, hippo, etc ) :-) .

Tired Zavi, trying to sleep after a long fun day

All three of us were up early next morning, and we decided to first go for a walk. We spent some peaceful time by the beach and headed back to our room by the time the sun was out. We then changed into our swimming costumes and headed to the pool. The pool needs a special mention here. Zavian loves playing in the pool so we got into the kids pool. There was also a swimming instructor cum life guard at the pool, and he gave us a couple of tips on swimming, but me being a little aqua phobic decided to stay in the shallow side of the pool itself. Even after spending a good amount of time at the pool, Zavian was very reluctant to get out of the water. We promised him that we would come back soon and then headed back to our room.

So now it was almost time for us to leave. Packed our bags, went in for the buffet breakfast and then checked out of KTDC Samudra after a perfect weekend gateway.

How to reach Kovalam:

1. By Road: Kovalam is about 16 km ( 20 minutes in a taxi ) from Trivandrum City. Taxis can charge around ₹400-₹500 to get to Kovalam. You can get Ola & Uber cabs as well. When asked where you want to go, say Hawa Beach, Leela Beach/Main Beach or Lighthouse Beach in Kovalam. Or else you could get a Bus from the East Fort or Central bus stand.
2. By Train: Trains till Trivandrum Central Station will be available from most of the cities and around India. Do check with the train availability before you plan your trip. Once you reach Trivandrum central Railway Station you could travel by Road to reach your destination.
3. By Air: Trivandrum International Airport is the nearest airport. You could get flights across the country as well as international flights. From there you could travel by Road.

Few thoughts and travel tips:

1. Surfing, is one of things you could enjoy at Kovalam, however it depends on how the tides are and how comfortable you are with surfing. Body board is also available, which can be enjoyed by everyone.
2. Wooden Boats, is another one you could try. These are available at Kovalam main beaches, and these are ancient type of boats rowed with bamboo sticks by experienced local fishermen.
3. Shopping, there are wide range of shopping avenues available at Kovalam beaches. Which includes, lots of souvenirs. However do keep in mind, there will be hawkers as well as some guys pursuing you everywhere until you buy it. Just ignore such guys completely.
4. Eatery, there are many restaurants and beer parlours along the front side of the beach. Few of them serve very good food. And some do serve special tea ( beer under the table ). Expect great chicken and fish (sea food) restaurants with average ambience with a very good view of sea. Its more or less, eat/drink, pay and leave model.
5. Beer, if you want to enjoy beer with your friends & family then you could also get to the Beer and Wine store around 500 mtr away from the Kovalam beach towards the city.
6. Swimming, Lighthouse beach & Samudra beach are the safest of the lot. Lifeguards will be there to guide you. Do listen to lifeguards, they are not kidding, so watch out their alerts.
7. Scammer, do watch out for scammer. Don't fall for them, try to keep yourself in safe place. Do not go to deserted places around the beach area. Just go with your gut.

8. Near by attractions, 

      a. Vizhinjam beach and harbour  

      b. Poovar beach

      c. Shankumugham Beach 

      d. Veli Tourist Village

      e. Ponmudi Hill Station

      f. Meenmutty Water falls

      g. Kanyakumari 

      h. Varkala Cliff & beach 

9. Stay safe and Enjoy your stay at Kovalam. You can get a lot of budget stays as well as premium resorts like Leela Kovalam, Taj Green Cove, Uday Samudra, etc. We do recommend KTDC Samudra. You can get the tariff details from here.

*All the pictures were taken using Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 24-105 f4 lens, along with Godox AD200 flash & Godox X1T-C. Mag-Mod starter kit was used as modifier for Godox AD200 flash.

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Rahul Devakumar

Creative Media Studio

We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.