Kaivalya Beach Retreat

What People are saying

Excellent Stay

RajeshKGon 18/09/2016 14:13

We had an excellent stay at Ananda Beach Home. Room was very clean and with good AC...Beach is hardly 20 meters from the stay and very neat beach. It was more like private beach and enjoyed the days there. Only the drawback i felt is there is food is not worth for the price and there is no near-by restaurants...Also to mention hot water is not available in the room...

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWWHERE

Rpiedade69on 24/05/2016 23:27

I had stayed with my wife & 16yrs old son for a night at this weird place, the booking was done by my agent since we had booked for a 7nights Kerela tour. The package included breakfast & Dinner, we were to have a A/c Double bed Cottage with 1 extra cot. when we arrived at this place which was very difficult to get for the driver who was a local from Kochi, he had to call up the place 3 times for directions since we were getting lost in the by-Lanes,finally the tar road ended an we had to drive for at least 10minutes on muddy road to reach this place.
Once at the place around 4pm we had to carry our own luggage to the cottage, which had a small double bed with A/c an attached toilet but no space for extra cot or mattress, the best thing is the room did not have a TV either,when asked the manager said cottages don't have TV's.
When we refused to take that room we were moved to another room on the first floor which had glass windows on all four sides.The main door & toilet door had latches
made of only wood which was very difficult at times to close or open,even here they was a double bed an a extra mattress was provided when we demanded for the extra cot. The room has no hot water connection so if you have to have a bath you will have to go to the kitchen an ask for a bucket of hot water which was boiled on gas an given after 30mins.
At around 6pm I went down to ask the Manager about Dinner,since the rooms don't have any telephone/intercom connections. I was informed we will have to place an order from the Menu provided at least 3hours before dinner for the same. The rooms were creepy with the doors having gaps for cockroaches & lizards to roam around the room.
Later we went out on the beach to see how good it is to only find villagers relieving themselves everywhere around. In the Morning I had to go 3 times to fetch us hot water from the kitchen to have a bath, later when we went for breakfast at the so called dinning area we were surprised to hear the Menu,{IDLY SAMBHAR CHUTNEY } was the call, we asked for eggs or bread butter they said eggs not available can provide bread & butter.
The Travel Agent in his Quote had Mentioned this Place as Kaivalya Beach Retreat, With my Experience of this place I can call it a LODGE.

Only for European backpack tourists

arunpnairon 02/12/2015 11:33

This is built purely for low budget western backpack tourists. They have some wonderful small houses or you can call them cottages. There is no facility a normal Indian tourist expects from such resorts. Cleanliness is not up to mark, The furniture and the furnishings leave a lot to be desired. The bathrooms are not very clean and you can hear what happens in the adjacent room's bathroom. The breakfast was served in some kind of shed which had some old broken tables and chairs, The breakfast was ok.
It appears they have only one or two persons to look after the cooking, cleaning and serving and it is reflected in the quality of the resort.
The property is located adjacent to a fishermen's village and it is almost on the beach with a good view of Arabian sea.
But if you dont mind all these things then they have a nice place to sit on the sands under the coconut palms and laze around with some hammocks.

close to the sea

Herbert Bon 02/04/2015 12:18

This is a very small place, consisting of two houses. There is another resort on the same premises, so it is a little confusing at first. My little house was only a few meters from the beach, so the only noise was the rolling of the waves. I must say that the house is in dire need of renovation. There is AC, but the switch is outside at the back of the hut. There is hardly room for an open suitcase which makes some problems, as there is hardly any place to store your clothes. The owner also serves breakfast and dinner. For dinner you can choose between vegetable and rice or fish and rice. Although these are very simple and basic dishes, you have to pay more than at a regular hotel restaurant. This is due to the fact that there is no other place to eat in walking distance. The absolute advantage of the place is the lonely beach directly in front.

Cheap, but at a cost. Dirty, neglected and poor service.

JHS123on 02/02/2015 11:57

Ananda Beach Home is a small cluster of beachside rooms about a 45 minute walk along the beach or through local villages to Alappuzha. (Or a 15 minute auto or taxi ride).

Firstly, this place is cheap, so if that is the main priority for you then you can add an extra point to the rating above. However, it is very badly run and far from the idylic paradise it alludes to.

The plot of land is bizarrely shared with another homestay business with seperate kitchens but otherwise shared facilities (dining space, garden area). This creates clear confusion amongst guests over who they can order food. Some guests can order drinks that others can't, food is different and so forth. This is not a major issue but creates a strange atmosphere.

Food: You are presented with a very large menu to choose from however after waiting 1.5 hours for our first meal and 2.5 hours for our second we realised that they were actually ordering most of the dishes from a takeaway elsewhere and serving it to us lukewarm (we saw the delivery on an auto rickshaw). This is worrying when food hygiene is a concern and you don't know where your food is coming from. Once we knew this situation we ordered what they could cook for us there (vegetable or duck curry), this was far better quality but required ordering well in advance (3+ hours). Very strange behaviour from host (e.g. trying to split ourgroup between two seperate dining areas) helps create an odd atmosphere). One dining area has a pile of rubbish (beer bottles, food waste, etc.) brushed just to the side of it which is pretty unpleasant but a newer looking dining area was nicer with good fans, tables and chairs. We sometimes were invited to sit there and sometimes not for no apparent reason.

Beach: Should be absolutely idylic, you are next to a small fishing village and it feels very remote with no other tourists within a couple of kilometres. Rubbish and human waste ruin it. Immediately in front of the gate is a large pile of rubbish but, much more worrying, is the human excrement every few metres along the beach. We saw a number of villagers relieving themselves throughout the day. This is seriously unpleasant and does not make the beach a relaxing place to rest.

Rooms: Rooms are OK but left relatively unclean and with cheap linen and pillows that are very dubious and certainly not comfortable (look like sofa cushions with a white sheet sewn around them). Bathrooms were mixed with some in our party having working showers but at least two rooms required bucket showers as water pressure was too low. Be prepared to share bathroom with frogs and bedroom with spiders. Fans in room where very loud and/or only worked at high power.

Garden: Should be great, it's a shady plot with sea views. Unfortunately it's unclean with rubbish, weeds and overgrown plants. Half a dozen cheap plastic chairs (many broken and/or with bird poo on them) fail to redeem this.

Other services: Fairly accomodating to requests for auto-rickshaws and taxis but disapointing that one taxi driver they arranged tried to seriously over charge us, unclear whether that was the hosts fault or not but definitely negotiate price before you leave and if you are not happy ask them to get someone else.

Overall: With only a small amount of effort this place would be far nicer, but even at the price they charge I can't believe that there are not better places in the area. I can't reccomend it when there are so many other options within an hour drive in either direction.