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(Mr.& Mrs. Ernst Markgraf - Germany)
Dear Anson,
In the following I will try to give you a feedback of our Kerala-Tour from 14.01.- 04.02.2014. First I want to express that I found all the preparation and proposals until we had the final version as a quite uncomplicated and easy going procedure.
Next was the warm and friendly welcome you and Anil gave us on our arrival in Cochin Airport on 14.01.14 and later on at the meeting with Nirmal in Kochi. Our driver Anil was the most important assets of our trip; with his open, attentive and friendly attitude and with his quiet and watchful driving style he ensured a relaxing travelling time and we always looked forward to see him the next day. The guided tour in Fort Kochi was highly interesting and colourful.
For the hotels I will try to give you our detailed impression for each hotel:
1. Killians: very good location, room very nice style, large, cool and very clean , huge bathroom with working hot and cold water. Any time to recommend. Breakfast good.
2. Cherai Beach Resort: a very charming, unique place in an incredibly beautiful setting between backwater and beach, cosy cottage with nice little veranda , large bathroom; perfect beach for ocean swimmers like me with beach chairs, umbrellas and towels. Only small disadvantage is that for lunch and dinner only a buffet is served, but quality of buffet is good. Good that the resort had a license for beer and wine.
3. Devonshire (Valley View) / Munnar: Hotel new, room large, but without balcony, bathroom small and badly designed. Signs of lack of maintenance. Restaurant with perfect view, but as well part of it badly designed, because part of restaurant difficult to use for breakfast because of direct sun radiation and no proper shading. Food OK.
4. Hotel Abad Green forest Jungle Lodge, Thekkady: With this name of the hotel you expect something different, say some real lodge in the jungle. But anyway we liked the hotel with the nice large room, perfect bathroom, balcony, very good breakfast. Personnel was one of the most friendly of all hotels ( but nowhere to complain).
5. Houseboat: PERFECT, good, friendly crew, JUST TO REPEAT.
6. Resort Kumarakom Deshadan Backwater Resort Pavilion: Great place, new, well maintained; very nice large room on 1. Floor with view to backwater, perfect bathroom. Very nice open restaurant with very good food. Top waiter. Nice pool. Best was that we landed with our houseboat directly in the garden of the resort ( after I guided the houseboat crew with my GPS to the place).
7. Isola Di Coco: little difficult start with wrong rooms (strong smoker), then room in the new part and finally with suite 35. This suite which was given after our complaint was perfect at the end and we liked it very much as we liked the cottage in Cherai. Suite 35 was very comfortable with a big extremely cosy room, a separate little sitting room with view to outside + a small veranda. Best was the huge open bathroom area. Restaurant area at ground floor very nice, as well the reserved area in the first floor for the Ayurveda diet guests. The back part at first floor which we had to use on the first night is not to recommend , looks like a make shift place. Pool area very good. Despite the fact that the hotel boat take you to the small strip of beach it cannot be considered as a real beach as the surf is very hard due to the steep incline of the beach. This was at the first moment a huge disappointment as we had booked one week and I was looking forward for a beach like I had in Cherai. Altogether we arranged ourselves and had a very relaxed time in the resort which is huge and very quiet. The restaurant has a license and the food was more or less OK. Breakfast was good. Our impression is that this resort makes the money with long term Ayurveda diet guests and big groups and the high esteem the management has of their own resort is not justified in all aspects. I.e. there is a so called seafood restaurant at the boat jetty area. It looks like a non-used shack from last year.
The trips: all trips with Anil were very nice; especially picturesque were the trips to Munnar and to Thekkady with a visit in a spice garden, there the wonderful boat trip in the tiger reserve and from Thekkady to the houseboat with a short stop at a toddy shop. At the trip from Deshadan Backwater Resort to Isola di Cocco we even had the chance to meet an old friend in Kollam. Very recommendable the trip to Kanyakumari.
Not to forget Ansons daily phone calls at the evening to get the daily feedback. We liked it and were awaiting your calls daily. So, altogether an unforgettable holiday and we are very confident to come back to God´s own country soon.
Thanks and best regards
Lallianzuali and Ernst Markgraf
Erlangen, Germany.
Dated: 19th Feb.’14.
Best regards,
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