As I only had three short days to sample Kerala, I didn’t want to travel too far from the airport and after two days in Kochi, I fancied a bit of peace and quite by the sea. Cherai was a good compromise as it’s the nearest beach to Kochi and the hotel was only forty minutes’ drive from the airport. The beach itself is very long and quite non-descript but if you just want to top up the tan briefly, or recover from jet lag before moving on to a more beautiful place, it’s fine for a short stay. Video here.
My map here.
Cherai Beach Residency, (Elementary B+), Cherai Beach South, www.cheraibeachresidency.com
This is a good place with clean adequate rooms, run by a nice couple who were very friendly and helpful. They have their own sun loungers on the beach which is just over the road.
There is no formal restaurant but they do make food just for the guests. There’s a different Keralan breakfast every day.
In the two evenings I stayed I had the Beef Fry, Dal Fry, Mixed Veg Curry and Paneer Masala, all scoring C so nothing amazing but perfectly edible.
It was quite nice to take a walk in the early morning and get a flavour of local life.
So this was the end of my fourth trip to India, and my first to Kerala. I really enjoyed myself in this beautiful state so I’ll definitely be back for some more as soon as I can.