Varkala, India Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

Long renowned by Hindus as a place of pilgrimage, VARKALA , 54km northwest of Thiruvananthapuram, with its beautiful sands and cliffs, is a considerably more appealing beach destination these days than Kovalam. Centred on a clifftop row of budget guesthouses and palm-thatch cafés, the tourist scene is still relatively low-key, although the arrival in recent years of the first charter groups and luxury hotels may well be the harbinger of full-scale development. The best time to visit is from October to early March; during the monsoons the beach is virtually unusable. more »