Hotels in India

Offering modern five-star luxury in traditional Keralan style, the Travancore Heritage resides in a former palace on a clifftop overlooking magnificent Chowara Beach, whose belt of white-sand and coconut groves melts into the haze on the horizon.

This is a gem of a heritage homestay. Built by a British official in the 1860s, the colonial-era mansion crowns a wooded hilltop on the outskirts of Tellicherry town in northern Kerala, close to where the East India Company established its first cinnamon plantation.

Akkarakalam’s façade of traditional Keralan railings and pillared verandahs was clearly intended to be approached from the water, which is still how most guests arrive here.

One of India’s most exclusive boltholes, this waterfront boutique place on the western shores of Vembanad Lake is a peculiarly Keralan kind of paradise.

A large resort in the palm groves behind a shimmering expanse of white sand, Marari benefits from one of Kerala’s top beachside locations, close to Alappuzha and the backwaters.