Captivating Beaches of India

INDIA BEACH HOLIDAYS 

BEACHES  – Considering the length and beauty of its coastline, India has few good beach resorts. Goa is best , then Kovalam  followed by coast south of Chennai (Mahabalipuram). But the choice extends to smart beaches of Sri Lanka , the escapist island of Maldives and remote Andaman and Nicobar island. All are very beautiful and perfect places for switching off.

Without question Goa supplies the best of everything, making it tops for pure beach enjoyment. There are good hotels, good food , good beaches and food water sports. But for someone who gets itchy feet after a few hours lolling in the sun, the portuguese sights of Goa do not compare with the Hindu glories on the east coast of Tamil Nadu. here the coramandel coast just south of Chennai has not enough hotels , the beaches are not that long comparatively. But yes have fascinating sights nearby which Goa do not offer.

Across on the west coast , in Kerala the very beautiful Malabar coast is just beginning to be exploited for tourist. The award winning architecture of Kovalam beach resort is stunning and fcilities are good. It should be the perfect place to switch off after driving through the south.

Else where in India there are one or two quick scape routes to seaside from other big cities. From Kolkata it is easy to nip down to Puri or opalpuron sea. From Mumbai to go to Marve and Manori if there is no time to get to Goa. From Mysuru & Bengaluru in southern Karnataka , the quiet sands of Mangalore are an alternative option to Goa. During summer when it is too sweltering to go to the coast , romantic Srinagar is the best bet with its sunny lakes covered with pink blossoming lotuses.

Apart from this mainland spots sun seekers must hop across to the islands. Most obvious and best equipped is Sri Lanka off the southern tip in the India Ocean. Quite the opposite side is found on the newly accessible Andaman & Nicobar Island in the Andaman sea across the Bay of Bengal.

 

For pure paradise and total escape the tiny island of the Maldives are worth visting for a week. There is sun, sand and wonderful marine life very simple living and nothing much else. You may even have an island entirely to yourself.

The Hard Facts – Hotels should be booked in advance specially for peak season November to February.

Beware of sun it is very powerful. Pack the full quota of full strength suntan lotions, after sun lotions and sun burn lotions. Even Goa fails to overcome import problems to have good brands on sale. Beaches are clean.

Goa – The hard facts – It is possible to go all the year round as Goa is very beautiful during the monsoon 9June – Septemeber), but certainly best in November  – February. The carnival at Panji (Feb – March) is a pale shadow of former colourful and exotic spectacle .Getting to & from Goa is easy & straightforward. Daily flights from all major cities serve to Goa 2 airports. Dambolim & Mopa.

The 100 Kms of some of the most beautiful palm frindged beaches in the world. Certainly the best n India.

Coramandel Coast – These sparkling beaches where the fisherman launch their catamarans at dawn are on the east coast of Tamil Nadu state south of Chennai, at Covelong and Mahabalipuram. All three recommended have huge empty beaches one side and good coastline road behind them providing the perfect combination of relaxing on beach with sightseeing to some of the real wonders of India. No other India resort has this combination.

Malabar Coast – there are just two isolated beach resorts in the 1000 kms of western coastline between Goa & Kanyakumari. Kovalam is on the Malabar coast near the tip of India , just outside Trivandrum and on Kerala Tamil Nadu border.

Mangalore the other is upcoming beach resort getting popular slowly. The konkal coast of Karnataka is still almost entirely free of tourists. Beast season is Sept – May. Certainly the newest way to arrive is along the beautiful coast road from Mangalore north to Goa (about 370km) or South to Cochin (about 450km).

 

Andaman & Nicobar Islands – A string of more than 300 almost virgin islands lie quietly in the Andaman sea, east of Bay of Bengal , hardly touched by modern civilization. These are for travellers who want to play explorer between swims & snorkels, the underwater fanatic who thought the Maldives are good but wants to be more impressed and the travel snob who enjoyed the beauties of Goa and the other resorts before rest of the world knew where they were on the map.

The northern island are the Andamans with Port Blair as capital and a mixed population of aborigines , Burmese and Indians. The southern island are the less accessible Nicobars, almost entirely inhabited by tribes . Thickly forested hills of teak, mahogany and rosewood stretch right down to the soft white sand that twinkles with finely shredded shells. Under the indigo blue & crystal clear sea, the coral and marine life are stunning.

As in the Maldives the island inhabited by the protected tribes are out of bounds to tourists. In the Andamans & Nicobars, this leaves only dozens or so that are regularly open to visitors plus others by arrangements.