Kumarakom Lagoon - Vembanad Island

This is not a hotel if you are looking for great comfort. It is a good stop over for a few nights. A beautiful courtyard. Calm and central, with a caring staff. Skip breakfast, it'd better around the corner.

My husband and I stayed here for 5 nights and overall had a really nice stay, probably one of the best hotels in all of our India travels, but there are issues to be aware of. First, while this hotel is located down a very quiet little street and in a great location, there is construction going on around the hotel. There’s a new hotel being built RIGHT next door, so do NOT take room 204 or other ones at that end of the hall (there are 2 floors of rooms). Behind the hotel on the backside, they are remodeling an existing building and we heard a band saw and a lot of pounding throughout the day. We had a serious problem with the front desk woman who checked us in. She just wasn’t very forthcoming and at times seemed deliberately unhelpful. On a positive note, this hotel is new, very clean, and SUPER comfortable, although the first sets of sheets and towels I had were gross: one towel even had pretty fresh/not cleaned blood on it, as did a pillow case with dried bloody stains. These were quickly replaced, and the rest of the stay we had better linens. The bathroom is GREAT with hot water anytime, and the beds are very comfortable. The rooms come with sitting chairs, a table, and a desk, and they’re very spacious. A/C works great and they have a reliable generator for the daily power outages in Kerala. Lindo and Vinath were also super nice and took great care of us at breakfast, which is nice on the rooftop, although repetitive. Food quality was good.

Great value and location for exploring Cochin before catching flight out - management very helpful - clean, A/C dining room

For the most part we agree with the positive reviews of others. Our two negative experiences dealt with service: 1) staff booked the smallest and most uncomfortable boat for the backwaters tour; 2) for car transport to Cochin, they initially gave us a small car when we had booked (and paid for) a larger one. Neither of these were dealbreakers, since Raheem appears to be the best inn in the area and the rate is reasonable. If you go, just monitor what outside services the inn books for you.

A short walk to the center of town, bus station, beach, short ride to the railway station. Good place to stay to see the area.