Kovalam: Kerala's Classic Lighthouse Beach Town

Kovalam was one of India's first beach resort towns, developed for tourism from the 1970s onward around a natural headland at Vizhinjam that splits the coastline into a run of coves. It sits close to Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala's capital and southern airport gateway, which made it an easy add-on for visitors long before Varkala's traveller scene developed further north.

Experience My India groups Kovalam with Varkala under a combined two-to-four-night coastal stay; plan most of that for Kovalam if it is your main coast stop, or split the nights between the two towns. October to March gives calmer seas and the most comfortable beach weather; the June-to-September monsoon brings rougher surf.

Kovalam is close to Thiruvananthapuram (TRV), Kerala's other international airport, which makes it a natural start or finish point for a south-to-north Kerala route. The town's coves are walkable along the coast path above the beaches.

Kovalam's long tourism history shows in its range of stays, from established beach resorts on the headland above Lighthouse Beach, many with in-house Ayurveda programmes, to simpler guesthouses set back from the water.