The Capital Of Kerala Has A Population Of 500,000, And Not Much Worth Seeing. It Is Rather A Clean And (For India) Prosperous Looking Town. It Is The Jumping Off Point For The Famous Kovalam Beach And There Are Flights From Here To Sri Lanka And To The Maldives.
Related Travel Information
There Is An Exceptional Bus Service From Ernakulam To Alleppey, Quilon And Trivandrum. Buses Depart For Trivandrum (223km-139 Miles) Day And Night For Around 35Rs For The 6 Hour Trip. There Is Also A Rail Service Via Kottayam And Quilon To Trivandrum.
Quilon Has A Population Of 150,000. Accommodation Can Be Found Right
Near The Jetty, And The Bus Terminal Is Also There.
The Mahalakshmi Lodge Is Right Near The Jetty. It Is Very Clean, Doubles
Cost Around 30rs, And It Also Has A Good Restaurant. (W.K.)
Double Rooms In The Sudarsan Hotel Cost Around 6ors And It Has A Good
Restaurant. (Petra Z.)
Connections
There Are Day And Night Buses To Trivandrum 72km (45 Miles) - Lors And A 2 Hour Trip. There Are Two Boats To Alleppey Daily At 10am And 10.30pm. There Is Also A Bus.
You Can Also Go On The Backwaters To Kapapuzha Or Guhanan-Dapuram.
Ashram: Rail
Only a few services. You have to change in Villupuram for Madras and Madurai.
Ashram:Bus
Government buses leave from the bus terminal to:
Madras, around the clock; Trivandrum, at 4.45pm, Coimbatore, 7am; Bangalore, one service morning and evening; Ernakulam, at 5.30pm; Ootacamund (Ooty), one service in the evening; Madurai, afternoon and evenings - total of 5 services; Mahabalipuram, 5 services during the day.
There are also private buses to Bangalore, amongst other places.
Connections
There Are Direct Buses To Kannyakumari Among Other Places. There Is A Good Service In All Directions From Trivandrum.
To Say That The Beaches In Goa Are Overcrowded And That The Beaches At Kovalam Are Deserted, Is Nonsense. It Is The Opposite. Although The Beach Has Been Patrolled For Several Years In Kovalam, There Are Always Drownings.
I Liked Kovalam Beach Best Of All The Beaches In India. It Has Very Good Waves For Body Surfing (Or Drowning) -Four People Drowned While I Was There. Backpackers Tend To Gather At Lighthouse Beach Which Isfuli Of Hotels And Restaurants. It Doesn't Matter Where
Connections
Some Buses Leave From The Hotel Aranya Niva Or Periyar House, And For Some You Have To Go To Kumily.
Kottayam (115km-71 Miles): Around 8 Services Between 4.45am And 6.30pm.
Quilon (185km-115 Miles): At 5.30am.
Ernakulam (176km-109 Miles): At 5.45am, 9.30am 12.45pm And 2.30pm.
Madurai(135km-84 Miles): At6.15atn, 10.30am, 12.30am And 4.30pm. Trivandrum (286km-178 Miles);-At 8am And 1.30pm.
Kovalam: At 930am. There Is Also A Direct Servipe To Kodaikanal (141km-88 Miles) At 6.30pm But It Leaves From Kumily Behind The Tamil Nadu Checkpost.
