3 / 5 - 2 reviews
How to get there
A 2 hour drive from Trivandrum
When to go
All year round
Minimum stay
A few hours
Kollam (India)
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Nina Montagné
Practical information on Kollam
Reviews of Kollam
Located on the Kerala coast in Southwest India, Kollam (or Quilon) is one of the oldest ports in the country.
My suggestion:
Go visit and take a walk in the middle of cashew plantations.
My review
When arriving in Kollam, we get a little bit of a feeling that it's a city that fell asleep in the splendor of its past and now it's having a hard time waking up.
Today, this port city may look like a ghost town, as most tourists on a trip to India pass through to leave for or return from from a boat trip on the Backwaters. And I have to admit that it isn't very interesting to hang around here.
However, if you want to get off the beaten path and slow down during your visit to this region, the city is surrounded by beautiful landscapes. This mainly includes cashew fields as far as the eye can see, which are nice to explore on foot.
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Nina Montagné
Kollam is a city located at the southern end of the Kerala backwaters. Like Alleppey, it is the ideal place to come to if you want to spend a relaxing time on and by the water.
My suggestion:
When organising your trip around the backwaters, make the competition that exists between boat owners work in your favour. Be careful however: too much negotiating can sometimes provoke the owner into providing you with a substandard service.
My review
The city of Kollam serves as the southern gateway to the backwaters , with the small city of Alleppey (aka Alappuzha) marking their northern limits. When you visit this area on your trip to India, you'll find you have three different options when it comes to touring around the backwaters, which are Kerala's network of canals and waterways. You can stay on a houseboat (these are known as "kettuvallams" and were formerly used to transport spices), go canoeing around the secondary canals, or hire a boat from the tourist office and do a long distance trip.
I chose the third of these options, with my trip also including a one-week stay at the Amritapuri Ashram to give me the opportunity to find out what these kinds of places are like. Choosing this option enables you save money and means you get to go on a genuine trip rather than just a tour of the canals. The downside is that the eight hours it takes to get from Allepey to Kollam and vice versa pass slowly.
When I was in Kollam, I actually preferred the beach at Varkala to those in the city itself. It lies a little further to the south and is much nicer.
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juliesjourneys.fr
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Thangaraj Kumaravel
344 travelers' photos
