My husband & I are planning a trip to India in Feb. We are undecided whether to go to the Maldives (travel time there and back as well as flight schedules are a deterent) or to stay in India and go South for 5 days. We are looking for relaxation for these final 5 days of the trip....any suggestions for a Southern India. My husband really enjoys the beach Goa? as well as I was thinking of Kerala. We are celebrating an anniversary so looking for more upscale accomodations. Thanks for any help anyone can give.

Kerala has a wide range of beach accomodation. Near Trivandrum there is Kovalam (beaches not so good but lots of low key bar and restaurants to enjoy in the evenings) and Varkala - a bit quieter. Near Cochin is Marari Beach which is lovely, very relaxing - you can ask for a room with private pool for a small supplement, but you are confined to the hotel area as there is nothing else around it.
There are also the Lakshadweep Islands which are a short flight from Cochin, it's meant to be very similar to the Maldives but cheaper.

Goa; I don't really know how it is now - it was nice 18 years ago, although North Goa was far more commercialised than the South. The beaches in the North are nothing to write home about - meant to be much nicer South.

It all depends really on whether you want to be hotel based or see a bit of local life as well. Also I personally would be guided by how convenient the flight timings are.

We are going to Lakhshadweep Bangaram island in November as well as spending some time in Kerala so I can let you know when I get back early Dec. I have been to the Maldives several times and they are the perfect place if you just want to relax, swim and look at fish. There is very little else to do. The sea is so spectacular that everywhere else I have been pales by comparison and that includes the carribean, great barrier reef in Australia and lots of other places that are said to have beautiful beaches and sea- life but they just don't compare to Maldives. I am hoping Bangaram will be similar possibly better because the drawback with the maldives is that they are very international and depending on where you end up there may be very little local flavour.

I came back from Goa last week and stayed at the Taj Holiday Village. I just loved the hotel! It's the best you can find in North Goa, so if you are thinking of going there I highly recommend it!

Carrom -- I would love to hear of your travel when you return. We have also traveled many times to the Carribean as well as we have been to Aus. to the Great Barrier Reef. (it is hard to believe the Maldives top that) but again schedule wise it will be long travel time for us to get to the Maldives. As well as return flight to India for our best bet would go through Sri Lanka (6hr. layover approx.) which I am a little hesitant of. Where are you staying in Kerala and Lakshadweep Islands?
Thanks.....

Carrom -- one other quick questions were did you stay in the Maldives?

Halaveli was one place we stayed in Maldives and another Ranveli both in the atoll of Ari....This was quite a while ago. I also visited some other islands - the italian run ones seemed to be the more beautiful and smallest where you are sure your bungalow is right on the water's edge. Also the most expensive! Things may have changed a bit now as I think more islands have been leased out to european tour operators. The difference btw Maldives and other places we mentioned is that there we were literally snorkeling in an acquarium right outside our room. No taking boats or anything. The water was incredibly transparent and the fish the most amazing colours. They would come and eat out of our hands. In Lakhshadweeps we will be staying at Bangaram Island which is part of the CGH Earth Group, a family run ecologically minded set of "boutique! type properties around Kerala which look really great on their web site www.cghearth.com . We are staying at their Brunton hotel in Cochin and Coconut Lagoon and doing the house boat trip with them before going to Bangaram. People on this post have spoken very highly of these hotels so I hope they will live up to it! They have other beach properties which are easier to get to. We have to take a flight to Agatti from Cochin (1 hour) and then a boat to reach Bangaram where we'll stay 4 nights. Here is my e mail in case I don't get round to posting a trip report immediately & you are in a hurry : [email protected]
We get back 4th December.

Thanks Carrom -- Have a great trip...will look for your post or drop you a line on your e-mail. Do you live in Italy? Both my husband and I have family members who still live in Italy. It is one of my favorite places to go!

I much prefer the beaches in South Goa, especially if you're looking for relaxation. They're cleaner, quieter, and a lot of 5 star hotels to choose from. I love the Leela, but there's also the Holiday Inn, Raddisson White Sands, Hati Mahal, Dona Sylvia, etc in that area. If you're looking for more deserted, further south, there's a new place, Intercontinental The Grand Resort. Its close to the famous Palolem beach. Haven't stayed here but heard good things.

Between North and South, is the Majorda Beach Resort, decent 5 star hotel, close to the town of Margao. Also, the Park Hyatt Resort and Spa (http://goa.park.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp), fabulous property, spent a night there once.

I live in Rome. I'm Italian but grew up in UK. It's not so nice today - pouring with rain!

Carrom -- Thanks again for your post...I was looking at the cghearth.com website and was thinking about pursuing their new resort SwaSwara -- it looked like a great place just to relax. (I actually saw an small article about in T&L last month as well) Again - hope you have a great trip...raining here in Chicago today as well!

We were in Goa ten years ago (in January) and stayed at the Taj Holiday Village. The hotel has a shuttle from the airport and we arranged tours at the hotel. We loved this hotel. The grounds are beautiful and private.