My partner and I stayed at the Neelakanta for three weeks in January 2011. We had not pre-booked this hotel, just walked in on the off-chance. We were shown a room on the second floor and jumped at it. It was massive. A huge bed, a lounge area and a dressing area, along with a large en-suite, complete with bath and shower area and a regular supply of Ayurvedic soap. Furnishings and the bathroom were your average Indian standard for a hotel of this class. The room also had a/c and a fridge, but no safe. What really made it was the wall of glass, with sliding doors out onto a large balcony with uninterrupted views over the beach, of the famous lighthouse and out to sea. It was great to sit out there any time of the day or night. A good vantage point to watch the fishermen hauling in the catch each morning and to view the stunning sunsets. Going to bed listening to the sea and waking to the same sound was a joy (although coming from a quiet village back home, and being a light sleeper, the sea kept me awake for the first couple of nights!). The room boys were very friendly. The girls obviously spoke no, or limited, English so just smiled and said "Good morning". The room was serviced every day, with linen and towel change (some soft - some hard, pot luck really), along with the ritual of moving the waste bin. (We did not want the bin next to the bed, so moved it into the lounge area next to the television table. The next day it would be back to the other side of the room by the bed. This happened every day for three weeks, staff and guests equally determined!!). The hotel had recently completed a small "infinity" pool and sun deck on the roof of the restaurant, with just a handful of good sunloungers. The pool and sunbeds were underused, understandable with the beach just outside the door, except from Friday to Sunday, when the hotel had an influx of Indian "weekenders". I generally had the pool to myself when I went to swim my lengths of a morning or late in the afternoon. Overall we thought our room at Neelakanta was good value, but then we did haggle on arrival and struck a good deal. The strangest of things on settlling the bill at the end of our stay. We had asked on arrival if they accepted cards, to which we were told "Yes, not a problem". However, they actually cannot handle cards at the hotel. Instead, we were escorted with card and passport to one of the moneychangers (not too concerned, as he was one of the guys we had dealings with during our stay). There I had to withdraw the amount of cash against my card and hand it over to my escort, who I then escorted back to the hotel to ensure the cash arrived safely and to get a hotel receipt. We would stay at Neelakanta again and recommend it to others. Obviously not up to "Leela" standards, but nontheless a good hotel, reasonably priced an in a great location on Lighthouse beach. A word of warning regarding room location. You need to have one on either the second or third floor. The rooms on the ground floor are totally obscured by the back of the restaurant building and those on the first floor are at just below the level of the swimming pool, so not only have an obscured view but also lack privacy.
- Neelakanta Hotel Kovalam
