We were there in February 09 and to the best of my knowledge there are only 2 machines in Kovalem, one at Kovalem junction and one at a travel company office (maybe Thomas Cook) its about a 10 min walk from the beach to the ATM's. Kerela is very different from Goa we have had two holidays there and really enjoyed them.

We went to Kerala for the first time in february, after 8 visits to Goa. We stayed at the Uday Samudra in Kovalam. The lighthouse junction area is a bit touristy, but the Samudra beach area was lovely, with some really good restaurants. There is a really good one called third rock from the sun, lovely food, and friendly staff, especially a permanently smiling chap called sad! (real name Saj :)If you get a chance, travel into Tamil Nadu, its another world there.

We are also staying at Uday Samudra for the last 5 days. First we arte going to Periyar Wildlife Reserve then onto kumarakom, and then the rice boat . We will have been in Goa first where as youm will know, there are lots of ATMs are the easiiy accessable in Kerela or do we need travellers cheques.

Hello,Can't help with the ATM's as we took travellers cheques.
Perriyar is lovely we were lucky and saw the wild elephants,wild boar, monkeys,giant squirrel and hornbills to name a few animals. It is touristy with many boats going around the lake and they are all packed so try to get a seat on the side as people in the middle did not get such a good view. We were booked into the Spice village hotel but they had overbooked so we were moved to another hotel around the corner can't remember the name elephant something!This hotel was very good and we were given free evening meals at spice village as we moved, the meals were buffet and very good. In the morning early I loved sitting out on our balcony watching the monkeys in the trees and listening to and spotting many birds.
We did two nights on the rice barge and that was a wonderful experience just magic,your own crew making lovely food,travelling around the backwaters seeing a different life to ours. Beautiful scenery, lovely sights and sounds, wildlife, really good.
Kovalam was a lovely resort seeing the fishermen pulling in the nets, the sea is quite rough for swimming, it is a lovely walk along the beach.
Hope you have a great time.

A friend of ours has made a suggestion today that needs a little thought.............he suggested we hire a vehicle in Goa and drive down to Kerela just for a change and a little adventure...............anyone have any idea how long that would take? Alternatively I have suggested that maybe it would be better to get the train down from Goa and then hire a vehicle once in Kerela - can anyone confirm where the train leaves from and how long that journey takes. I think it is Margao but I'm not certain. We are also considering hiring a guy we know with a cronky old jeep to take us but the suspension on his vehicle is so hard I'm not sure my back could take it We are not considering flying down at this point - but we'll see.

Any thoughts, suggestions, advice would be more than welcome.

Friends of ours have been to Kerela and we thought we could possibly incorporate a jaunt down there during our next trip to Goa - Have also heard that Kerela is lovely. Fizz

Just checked out google maps Fizzy.
Margao to Kochi (Cochin) is over 500 miles ( on Indian roads )
Inland of this area you have wildlife sanctuaries, stunning scenery etc etc
It's one heck of a round trip but worth the effort if you have the time.

Personally I would fly from the UK to Trivandrum, hire a car/guide and car and end up flying back home from Kochi.( or Vice Versa)
The good news it's cheaper to fly that route than to fly to Goa from the UK.
All depends if you can do without your Goa fix !!!!

Looks like this idea is still on Dave Not sure what I have let myself in for - or maybe I do Another of our friends is really up for it, he is in Kerela very soon for work (RR engines) so whilst there he is going to do some research. We propose to have a week in Goa first then head down to Kerela then return to Goa - sounds easy but I just know it won't be I must be mad getting talked into this........... Fizz

Fizz, we will be staying in 12 different places over 28 days so we should have some ideas too !
Have you considered flying from the UK to Trivandrum or Cochin (Qatar fly there) hiring a car and driver to take you on tour in Kerala, then catching the train to Goa and getting your return flight (again with Qatar) from Dabolim ?
We are paying R2260 per day for our car/driver and agreed number of miles per day to cover our tour,decent transport too, a Toyota Innova or similar. cheers Dave.

Hi Dave, sorry for the slow reply.........No we haven't considered flying into Trivandrum or Cochin the main reason being that our friend particularly wants the adventure of driving to Kerela from Goa - just hoping he enjoys the drive as he might not want to drive back again!! I haven't seen him to speak to properly about all this and there is a lot of planning to do but we are all up for the challenge now - I am probably the most nervous about it though and have wondered if I am better off staying back in Goa just in case the others have a mishap or get arrested or something (At least then they will have someone ever so slightly sensible back at base who can help). Should have a report next week from our friend who's currently in Kerela but I'll keep you up to date and ask questions "as and when" if thats alright with you? (I need to talk to someone who's sane)!
Fizz