VARKALA TRIP GUIDE
🌴 VARKALA TRIP GUIDE — OUR EXPERIENCE & RECOMMENDATIONS 🌊
Planning a trip to Varkala? Save this! 📌
Sharing the places we visited, experiences we tried, what we loved, and what we would avoid.
---
🌅 SUNSET SPOTS
1️⃣ Black Sand Beach
✨ Clean beach with a really good vibe.
A great place to relax and enjoy the sunset.
2️⃣ Kappil Beach
🌊 One side is the Arabian Sea and the other side is the Kappil backwater/lake, separated by a road.
The view is beautiful, especially around sunset.
3️⃣ North Cliff — ⭐ MUST TRY
☕ Find a good café with 1st-floor seating, grab a seat and watch the sunset from there.
⚠️ Don't leave immediately after sunset!
Stay there for at least another 30 minutes.
Trust me — the colours and views after the sun goes down make the experience even better. 🌅❤️
---
🏄 WATER SPORTS & EXPERIENCES
🏄♂️ Surfing — DON'T SKIP THIS!
📍 Black Sand Beach
🌅 Try it around sunrise.
We went with Moana Surf Club and had an amazing experience.
👉 Ask for Jordan as your trainer.
He was really good at explaining everything during both the land session and water session.
They offer:
• 1–3 day courses
• 7–11 day courses
• Single-day sessions
We chose just the one-day session, and honestly, it was an awesome experience.
🔥 Personal recommendation: Don't skip surfing in Varkala!
---
🛶 Kayaking — Mangroves Westland
This was one of our favourite experiences.
🌿 This is a backwater + mangrove kayaking experience, not sea kayaking.
We covered almost 6 km, going through the beautiful mangrove waterways and backwaters.
The staff were very friendly and helpful.
💡 Don't get intimidated by the 6 km distance.
It wasn't as difficult as we expected.
⏰ Best time:
🌅 Sunrise
🌇 Sunset
❌ Avoid noon if possible — the heat and direct sun can make kayaking much harder.
🔥 Personal suggestion: Don't skip this!
---
🌅 SUNSET RIDE — MUNROE ISLAND
We booked a 2.5-hour sunset country boat ride with:
📍 Scenic Mundro Island Tours
Munroe Island is part of Kerala's famous backwater system, located around the confluence of Ashtamudi Lake and the Kallada River.
The boat ride takes you through backwaters, narrow canals, mangroves and the surrounding waterways, with the sunset experience along the way. 🌴🛶🌅
A completely different experience from Varkala's beaches and definitely worth considering if you have enough time.
---
🏨 STAY
📍 Kulture KonnectT — Kurakkanni
Our experience:
✅ Clean
✅ Good vibe
✅ Budget-friendly
We stayed in a dorm, and overall it worked well for us.
---
🛵 SCOOTY RENTAL — ⚠️ BE CAREFUL
❌ DO NOT TAKE A SCOOTY FROM LESAAZ BIKE RENTAL VARKALA
We had a very bad experience.
🔗 https://maps.app.goo.gl/pYZJwHU58pBdtXrM6?g\_st=ac
We took 3 scooters, and unfortunately all three were in similar condition:
❌ Brakes were not working properly
❌ Signal lights were not working
❌ Very little fuel
❌ One scooter actually stopped while we were going to our stay
When we asked for replacement scooters, we were told that there were no other scooters available.
We also had a very unpleasant experience with the management regarding the security deposit, with what felt like repeated attempts to find reasons to deduct from it.
⚠️ Our advice: thoroughly check the scooter, brakes, indicators, fuel level and everything else BEFORE accepting it.
---
🍛 FOOD
🥗 Darjeeling Cafe
👍 Good option for vegetarian food.
❌ We didn't like the non-veg — there was an unpleasant smell.
🍴 Juicy Cafe
👍 Good food.
Worth trying.
🍚 VLH — Varkala's Lunch Home
⏰ Lunch only — closes around 3 PM
🔥 MUST TRY
They serve Kerala-style veg meals with add-ons like:
🐟 Fish
🦑 Squid
Definitely worth trying if you enjoy Kerala food.
🍽️ Chimney Restaurant
💰 Expensive
❌ We didn't feel it was worth the price.
⚠️ Check the menu carefully — some items don't have prices listed.
🧑🍳 Tickety Boo
❤️ A place proudly run by a fully Deaf team.
👍 Good food
👍 Great concept
Definitely worth visiting and supporting.
---
🍛 THE FOOD WE KEPT GOING BACK TO
One combination we had multiple times during the trip:
🥞 Parotta + Channa Curry / Egg Curry / Chicken Curry
And honestly…
🔥 Kerala parotta was DAMN GOOD! 🔥
---
🌴 ONE LAST THING — PLEASE RESPECT KERALA
One of the things that really stood out to us was how clean and disciplined Kerala felt throughout our trip.
If you're visiting Varkala:
♻️ Keep the surroundings clean
🚯 Don't litter
🙏 Respect the local culture
📜 Follow the local rules
🌊 Don't damage or pollute the places you visit
We are visitors. Let's enjoy these beautiful places without becoming the reason they get spoiled.
❤️ Travel. Explore. Respect. Leave it better than you found it.
Happy travelling! 🌴🌊