Long weekend in Varkala

Being in God’s own country, Varkala has to be beautiful right? Not only is it beautiful, it’s the most scenic coastline in Kerala. The place is just perfect for a long weekend or for an extended vacation to relax and let your hair down.

Best Time To Visit:

Winter is the best time to visit Varkala. Starting from December to February, the weather is relatively pleasant and the sea color is at its best! It has a tropical climate and hence summers are very humid and monsoons are very heavy.

Where to stay:

Varkala Cliff would be an ideal location for stay if you want to wake up to the sea waves and be close to all the hustle bustle of the town. Located on the cliff are many beautiful (and expensive !) resorts overlooking the blue green sea. You can always opt for a non sea view room which will be relatively inexpensive. There are both budget and luxury options few kms away from the cliff if you want to be far from the crowd and want something more isolated.

Places to Eat:

Here is a list of places with good food as well as view:
Clafouti Restaurant
Darjeeling Café
Jairam Café
Trattorias
Café Italiano

3-day Itinerary:

We flew down from Bangalore to Thiruvananthapuram in the morning. It’s a journey of about an hour and a half from the airport to Varkala. Transportation options would be hiring an airport taxi, getting a cab arranged from the resort or booking an uber. Uber usually works out the best. 

It was around 12.30PM when we checked into Clafouti Beach Resort located on the Varkala cliff. We finished the formalities and were guided into our sea view rooms. The pictures I had seen while booking made no justice to what I saw in reality!! 

The cliff walk is a small pathway with blue sea and coconut trees on one side, resorts and bright café’s on the other. There are also lots of small shops with beachwear, souvenirs, decoration items and so on. And I have to say I was quite surprised to see very few Indians and more of western tourists. 

Weather in the evening was humid yet pleasant and breezy. The famous Papanasam beach (popularly known as cliff beach) is a 10 mins walk from the resort. It’s a clean nice beach and you can watch beautiful sunset. There are some really nice café’s/restaurants overlooking the sea on the cliff  which are perfect to spend your evening having a coffee or beer, enjoy the sound of the waves and indulge in some amazing food. 

Time to get out of the cliff and see what else is out there. We hired an auto through resort for Kappil Beach which is around 7 kms from Varkala. This is not your regular beach and here is why!

On one side is the Arabian Sea and on other is the backwaters of Edava Narayana lake. The place is so pristine and there is hardly any crowd. The beach is very windy with high waves. The road goes on like this for about a KM. 

Yet another beautiful sunny morning in Varkala. We started our day with a lovely English Breakfast at a place called Jairam Café. What made it perfect were the views along with it. 

And soon it was time to check out ☹ But we had sometime to spare and Café Italiano was the ideal place to spend sometime before goodbye!!