We have a thread here which might help

Hi I went back to Kovalam last January after a break of about 5 years and personally found it a bit too sanitised. Admittedly I didn't travel around really and would have liked to see Kochi and Thekkady again so I found it very small. If you plan to see a few places and explore a little I'm sure it will be more interesting but I got a little bored with the beach, restaurant etc. There was a great German bakery which I loved but this has now been completely rebuilt and dominates the beach front. Don't get me wrong it's good but a little too posh for my tastes. I wouldn't go back there except maybe for a few days if I was passing through.
I hope this is of some help.
Cheers Neil

I have been to both Goa and Kerala in the last two years and would recommend Kerala in preference without hesitation.
A beach resort is a beach resort and if you stick to the one location for your holiday the choice doesn't matter quite so much. The food in Kerala is more restricted in choice than that which is available in Goa, but that having been said. Keralan cuisine is quite different to the bog standard British style Indian you get in Goa. Less heat, more taste. Alcohol is a bit restricted, especially for "off sales" but we were not inconvenienced by this even if we did have some odd gin combinations on our hotel balcony as "Indian" tonic water is quite hard to come by !
If you venture away from the beach resorts the hinterland in Kerala has far more to offer. Fabulous scenery of all kinds from the backwaters to the higher mountain tea plantations with crystal clear skies and pleasant temperatures. Goa doesn't have very much to compete with that although it is worthwhile hiring a cab for the day just to see what goes on away from the tourist resorts.
As for Kovalam being sanitised, I don't mind that. There is still plenty of litter, food is cooked on roadside kitchens and the pavements and roads are often equally rutted There is also evidence of poverty and low income but everyone seems very happy. We didn't, however, go to any eating or drinking places were we recoiled in horror at the lack of hygiene standards or disgusting state of the toilets as we did in Baga.No doubt these places exist, we didn't find them though.