Kerala accommodation, homestay
| country: | India |
| location: | Kottayam, Kerala |
| price: | From US $40 per couple including breakfast and one other meal. From US $30 per person including breakfast and one other meal |
read 4 travellers reviews
description
A home away from home for a pleasant and peaceful stay for those who wish to visit Kottayam/Kumarakom and Alleppy. The concept of the home stay is offered at a very attractive rate to domestic and international tourists in a clean, eco-friendly, silent environment. We offer mosquito free rooms as well a multi-cuisine restaurant with variety of dishes, farm fresh vegetables and fruits.
Our homestay is situated at the bank of river Meenachil just 3km from the huge Vembanad lake, bird sanctuary and Midnight sand, the island in the lake. This is the ideal place to explore Kerala's traditions and village life and stay in a calm and quiet, pollution free zone. The silence is something you won't have experienced before!
This village is an unbelievably beautiful paradise of mangrove forests, emerald green paddy (rice) fields and coconut groves interspersed with enchanting waterways and canals adorned with spices and medicinal plants. The village is decorated with ancient Christian churches, Hindu temples, country and snake boats. These snake boats can carry more than 100 rowers at a time, and a boat journey through the back waters will be an unforgettable event.
Our hospitality begins right from the moment you arrive in Kerala, be it by bus, train or plane. We personally meet our guests, and bring you to our homestay.
From the moment you arrive at our hideaway retreat, nestled in the beautiful backwaters, we will ensure you feel right at home!
Our homestay is situated at the bank of river Meenachil just 3km from the huge Vembanad lake, bird sanctuary and Midnight sand, the island in the lake. This is the ideal place to explore Kerala's traditions and village life and stay in a calm and quiet, pollution free zone. The silence is something you won't have experienced before!
This village is an unbelievably beautiful paradise of mangrove forests, emerald green paddy (rice) fields and coconut groves interspersed with enchanting waterways and canals adorned with spices and medicinal plants. The village is decorated with ancient Christian churches, Hindu temples, country and snake boats. These snake boats can carry more than 100 rowers at a time, and a boat journey through the back waters will be an unforgettable event. Our hospitality begins right from the moment you arrive in Kerala, be it by bus, train or plane. We personally meet our guests, and bring you to our homestay.
From the moment you arrive at our hideaway retreat, nestled in the beautiful backwaters, we will ensure you feel right at home!
travellers' tales
I was most impressed by the gracious attitude of both the host family and the locals. Overall a environmentally friendly household with money directly helping local families. (more)
rooms, food and facilities
- Traditional kerala hospitality
- Home made food
- Mosquito free rooms, laundry, room service, common telephone & TV
- Hot and cold water, very hygienic modern bath and toilets (European standard)
- Ayurvedic treatment and body massage
- Transportation
special things to do and see here
- Backwater cruise in and around Kumarakom and Alleppy by House boat, country boat, motor boat or by very cheap Government ferry.
- Rowing, fishing, bird watching, elephant riding, trekking etc.
- Local sightseeing - a chance to see snake boats (racing boats) & ancient churches.
- Day trips - Thekkady, Periyar wildlife sanctuary (150km), Munnar hills (150km), beaches of Varkala and Kovalam at Trivandrum (150km).
how to find us
We are 10km from Kottayam railway station & 85km from Cochin Airport. However you arrive, we will come and meet you and bring you back to our homestay.
how this holiday makes a difference
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We create lots of employment opportunities for the locals as cook, waiters, helpers, cleaners, dhoby, boat man and guides etc. We also give lots of business to the local fishermen, shop keepers, taxi and auto rikshaw people, private and government buses and boats etc.
We educate the local community on how to deal with the tourists in a friendly manner, how to help them, how to keep the surroundings neat and clean etc. As the part of our charity work we work with the other institutions to give good accommodation, food and education and medical care to the poor. We have built a bridge and two roads as infrastructure to access our homestay, but as they are for public use, it is equally beneficial for the villagers too.  We are in a 100% pollution free zone. As there is not much transportation and no industries, we are safe from all type of pollution. We cultivate all the vegetables, fruit, coconuts, rice etc. on our land organically. In front of the accommodation there are 100 acres of paddy fields surrounded with coconut trees. We harvest rain water for drinking, and instead of plastic we use paper bags to carry. We cultivate lots of natural herbs and medicines for ayurvedic treatments and make our own shampoo from the plant "Hibiscus". Instead of artificial materials, we have made our accommodation with natural products which are locally available such as coconut stems, coir, bamboo ply etc. As we have mosquito free rooms we don’t use any chemical mosquito repellent at home. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |