Indeed amid palms and colourful gardens high above Lighthouse Beach (but only a five-minute walk away), British-run Treetops is a warm, calming and easy-going escape from the action below. The four bright, impeccable rooms come with colour and character, plus incense sticks and their own balconies, and there's a rooftop terrace with sweeping views. Call ahead for bookings and directions.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
25.42 MILES
With a forest’s worth of intricately carved rosewood ceilings and polished-teak beams, this labyrinthine palace, 35km northwest of Kanyakumari, near the…
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8.5 MILES
Occupying a handsome 120-year-old heritage building within the Kerala Tourism complex, this intelligently presented museum traces Kerala's history and…
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8.54 MILES
Housed in an 1880 wooden building designed by Robert Chisholm (a British architect whose Fair Isle–style version of the Keralite vernacular shows his…
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15.35 MILES
Rising to 1868m at Agasthya Peak and surrounding an idyllic lake created by the 1964 Neyyar Dam, 30km east of Trivandrum, this 128-sq-km sanctuary has a…
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24.02 MILES
Fringed by colourful fishers' houses, 12km southeast of Varkala, this laterite-and-concrete fort was built by the British East India Company in 1695…
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6.97 MILES
Overlooking the Shri Padmanabhaswamy Temple tank, the opulent 18th-century palace of the Travancore maharajas is a classically Keralan world of…
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Ponnumthuruthu (Golden) Island
26.75 MILES
Around 10km south of Varkala, this acacia-filled island in the middle of a backwater lake conceals a Shiva-Parvati Hindu temple also known as the Golden…
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0.79 MILES
Amid neatly tended, banyan-shaded grounds 500m north of Vizhinjam harbour, this small shrine is one of Kerala's most ancient rock-cut temples. A sculpture…
Nearby Kovalam attractions
0.23 MILES
A powdery stretch of gold-and-black sand, Kovalam's main beach is notable for the candy-striped lighthouse at its southern end.
0.33 MILES
Kovalam's most distinguishing feature is the working candy-striped lighthouse at the southern end of Lighthouse Beach. Climb the spiral staircase – or zip…
3. Vizhinjam Marine Research Aquarium
0.35 MILES
About 500m northwest of Kovalam's lighthouse, this small series of tanks displays fish from Kerala's waters, including lionfish and eels.
0.4 MILES
Popular with domestic day trippers, Hawa Beach is a busy sandy strand just north of Lighthouse Beach.
0.76 MILES
Around the headland north of Hawa Beach, Samudra's sandy blonde expanse is overlooked by a gold-and-green mosque and the five-star Leela resort.
0.79 MILES
Amid neatly tended, banyan-shaded grounds 500m north of Vizhinjam harbour, this small shrine is one of Kerala's most ancient rock-cut temples. A sculpture…
0.82 MILES
Painted in gold, cream and lime green, this modern mosque sits on Samudra Beach.
0.86 MILES
About 1km south of Kovalam's Lighthouse Beach, Vizhinjam village has a busy harbour from where fishing boats head out each day, along with one of Kerala's…