Kovalam Beach: 16 kms from
Thiruvananthapuram.This internationally renowned
beach resort has
been a favourite haunt of tourists since the 1930s. Kovalam consists
of three since the 1930s. Kovalam consists of three adjacent
crescent beaches.There are four main stretches of beach each about
400 mts.long with a rocky promontory.The southern beaches are much
more populated ; Lighthouse Beach is a long line of shops.Kovalam
offers accommodation options to suit all budgets.Although it is the
busiest and quiet by some European holiday beach standars.
Thirty years ago Kovalam was a hippie cliché:a tropical beach with a
village offering seafood fruit and toddy ( coconut beer).Today this
tiny beach is the focus of a multi-million dollar business drawing
thousands of tourists for a sanitized Indian ‘experience’.The
results are predictable.
Once just a series of sandy bays separated by rocky promontories
deserted except for the scattered fishing villages under the coconut
palms kovalam is becoming one of the government’s major tourist
centres.For 20 years it catered largely for the western backpacker
but now its superb beaches are the focus of package tours from
Europe and visitors from all over India.
