Sagara Beach Resort Hotel

Sagara Beach resort is a very friendly place.All of the staff made us feel very welcome and could not have done more for us . It is a fairly simple place just away from the beach area but has its own pool and sunbeds . The food is excellent and good value. Sisu the owner is very hands on and runs the resort in a very efficient way. I really enjoyed my stay there. Alix

On our arrival at Sagara Beach we were welcomed by the managing director (and one of the brothers) Mr. George who was very welcoming and ensured we were delivered to our room by himself – on inspection we decided we would much prefer a higher room – one which offered a little more solitude and offered a better view – this was no problem at all. The room was perfect in that it was spotless, AC and with a TV for those ‘wet weather’ days. The bathroom was spacious and again spotlessly clean. The beds were comfortable with a decent mattress for those like me that prefer a ‘bit of depth’ to protect aching backs.. The hotel itself as far as we could see was situated in three blocks with differing tariff’s and surrounded by very well kept gardens and a small estate of shrubs, patio areas and a lovely area with ‘rope hammocks. It has internet facilities that are jointly used by the hotel management and are situated in the reception area. I found the best time to use the internet was late afternoon however, should you require the facility while they were using it, they would happily give it up for you. The rates were reasonable and broadband ensured good speed. Amongst the facilities offered were safety deposit, swimming pool and information packs and maps for planning that excursion. All offered with a friendly and polite service. The rooftop dining area was the place to eat breakfast, lunch & dinner and a reasonable menu was available. The food was quite excellent with the tomato soup and those wonderful croutons the highlight. We enjoyed a varied selection available from the menu and as always the food was fresh again, the Seer fish as with the soup, very tasty. Beer and spirits were available however we did pay a little extra as you would expect from a hotel. The staff including Chef and the many waiters were very helpful with a real eye for detail. Nagaragan is a superb host and a wealth of good advice with a welcoming style. I would like to add that he and Ajit anticipated our needs beautifully and delighted us by reserving our table for dinner on our last evening – completely without prompting. A wonderful gesture. The whole team from the Managing Director to the Housekeepers, Chef or Gardener were a real pleasure and had our holiday at the forefront of their everyday duties. A perfect resort and one we hope to visit again very soon.

We have stayed here many times before and it has always been a very good experience and this time was no different. We were looked after very well by all of the staff. The chef is an absolute star, ask him to cook you prawns with garlic and ginger, fabulous. The brothers who own the hotel are absolute mines of information and are more than happy to offer guidance and suggestions. Due to the collaspe of the European holiday market the Hotel now caters mainly for the Indian Holiday market, do not let this put you off, we found all the guests very friendly and many a good night was had by all. A very clean and welcoming hotel, We are very happy to recommend.

Stayed in the best room this property has. It was a sea view room in Sagara palace. This resort has a newly built building called "Sagara Palace" . This room has almost similar rent of 5 star property Taj Cove in Kovalam. 1. In case of power cut A/C doesn't work. And power cut is quite common 2. If its raining cable tv won't work. In our stay it didn't work for 3 days continuously. 3. 2 soaps they gave first day and they were not given again. No toletries. 4. They didn't give complementary water except 1 bottle on second day. 5. 2 glasses given were of different sizes. 6. Complementary breakfast conditions were ugly. Plates and forks were dirty. Breakfast was worst . They gave omalette without any salt. 7. Fridge was empty. 8. No lift. 9. No bar, although they provide some beer and whisky at much higher price in black. 10. Room service was very poor. You have to wait and call many times to even remove the plates. 11. Beach is very far (more than 1 km) and on return you have to climb more than 100 stairs. 12. Swimming pool is very small and not maintained. 13. Toillet is small and no exhaust. 14. Nooooooooooo ayurveda centre in the campus, noooooo laundry ( they send clothes outside ) 15. A/C is placed right on your head. 16. after 10:30 pm ...nooooooo sevice. 17. They had broken dust-bin in toilet. Everytime you are supposed to touch the dirty lid. Except the few smiling faces , it was just a waste of money and time in Sagara Palace. Budget passengers are advised to stay in Sagara beach resort not in Sagara Palace.

We loved this hotel! Don't know what it would be like in the height of the season but in August it was fabulous. We read a reasonable review in The Rough Guide so called in while we were in Kovalam to see what was available. We negotiated a good price with Mr George for the 'Maharajah Room on the third floor of the upper hotel because the room was huge and the view from the enormous balcony to die for. Eagles flew directly in front of us and we could see right across coconut groves to the sweep of the beach. Sunsets, with a glass in hand, were often sublime. There were very few guests staying for more than a night or two so as we were there for ten days we were treated like royalty. Room was kept very clean, as was the pool - most days we were the only people there. We ate in the roof top restaurant quite a lot, even tho there are lots of great places to eat in town, for several reasons. One is that the chef would ask at breakfast what we would like to eat that evening and then would buy it fresh for us and cook it however we wanted. They would even get wine in especially for us. Also the food was very good and served beautifully. And the location was lovely, we didn't have to walk far if we were feeling lazy and it was always cool and comfortable up there. However do eat down in town sometimes as food everywhere is really good. Thisis not a 5* hotel but we actually prefered it to the Leela where we stayed for the first 6 days of our holiday because it was so friendly. They were renovating around us during our stay, painting and landscaping but it was no hassle and we never felt uncomfortable. Staff were so kind, especially Nagarajah in the restaurant, all the girls on reception and Mr George. Oh and the chef of course! While you are there make sure you travel a bit. Houseboat trip was amazing, as was the animal reserve at Periyar ( we stayed at the Lake Palace - fabulous!) also Cochin is very interesting. We saw amazing Hindu temples, palaces, wildlife, bazaars etc etc. Weather in Kovalam was hot and sunny, further north cool and cloudy. We will go back and next time we'll book into the Sagara right away and not bother with the Leela.

We went for this place as a cheap option to use as a base as we planned a few nights on a boat, several in Periyar as well as a couple of other excursions. In need of renovation probably sums it up. As with most of India health and safety would be apopleptic. Bare wires, cracked tiles, bathroom mold, no rails on stairs etc. I scored the dodgy tummy bug, as did half the hotel judging by the sounds echoing along the corridors all night long. The room was ok for the price What was annoying was that everything was extra. Fridge? That'll be extra, A/C? Extra sir, and so on. It wouldn't have been so bad if the electricity stayed on all day. The short walk to the beach was OK, some nice places to eat on the sea front as well. If you're on a budget, or like us just need a base then this place is OK. If I'd booked the holiday of a lifetime and ended up here I'd be well pissed off. BTW the pool is tiny. For a real laugh check out the dodgy model in their brochure and be amazed at the photoshopped views. Trading standards would be on them in an instant. Free tip, if you land at Trivandrum haggle a taxi for about £10 -£12 to take you there. We sat on a non A/C bus for an hour before finally taking off on a stopping all stations tour of local hotels. We could have arrived early with a load less hassle. We taxied back and avoided huge queues on our return leg. Avoid changing too much money at the airport. Even the hotel gave a better rate.

We stayed in rm 604, courtyard view with balcony. Hotel has a small pool and rooftop restaurant with nice view & ok breakfasts. Didn't use the pool although after seeing the (polluted) state of the beach, that is where I would have gone swimming. One must make one's way through a maze of alleys past a garbage tip to get to the beach & boardwalk. I would not call this a resort, our room was pretty spartan. We complained four times that our TV did not work, some head waggling but no fix. see http://www.tedbeck.net/Indiawebpages/trivandrum.html

There's a lot to be said for this hotel. The rooms are comfortable large, nicely appointed, and very clean. BUT ... in one of the loveliest regions of India, most of the rooms look out onto a dusty parking lot or the backsides of some ugly commercial buildings. The "180 degree seaview rooms" they show in their brochure are limited to 2 or 3 rooms, which are not available even when guaranteed. "Sorry," we were told dismissively, "people stay longer." And that was that -- no reduction in price, nothing. The hotel claims there's hot running water, but it turns out to be available only in early morning hours. The location is far from the ocean sangam, where there's a wide choice of restaurants and activities. The desk staff, while friendly, is entirely inefficient -- they left us waiting over half an hour for our car, which had arrived long before.

When we left for Kerala two weeks ago, there appeared to be very little useful information online concerning the Sagara and the local resort, and this is precisely what I aim to address. The Sagara Beach Resort is used by First Choice as their cheaper alternative to the Leela (a fine hotel accessed via their Tropical brochure). My partner and I decided to opt for the economical package in order that we could travel a little and use the Sagara as a base whenever we were back in Kovalam. Ah, those best laid plans... The First Choice first impressions of the Sagara are likely to be at seven in the morning after a long flight, and there is also likely to be a longer than usual wait for rooms to be ready. For us, this was a two hour battle to stay awake in the restaurant roof terrace. We had asked for a balcony with a sea view and we got it. And whilst the view was perhaps the best that the Sagara had to offer, the room itself was - like the rest of the hotel - a little tired with a few notable highlights: the expensive broken fridge, the cooker knob toilet flush, the continual powercuts during rewiring, the random room cleaning... The second night of our two-week stay brought the first bout of sickness, something we had prepared for by bringing antibiotics. The diarrhoea I experienced would last the next five days - five days without eating and without being able to leave the room or the vicinity of the toilet. My partner started vomiting on the third day, and this continued through until the doctor arrived with a formidable array of prescriptions and a diagnosis of a gastro parasite on day six. We were sick for a week; we didn't eat or sleep much for a week; the staff at the Sagara, though, were hugely sympathetic and fed us our ginger, lime and salts for the duration...at a price... Our hearts went out to the sunbathers who had little option but to listen to our entire repertoire of bodily functions due to our windowless bathroom backing right onto the pool area. Whilst this may just sound like a simple bad luck story, it was not the case. Our sorry week transpired to be very similar to a lot of other guests - some of whom had been given saline drips at the local hospital. Indeed, one mother who had had the same illness had contracted it a second time at the end of her holiday and was essaying to travel home with it. Like us, both her and her daughter had had to cancel any idea of travelling further on their vacation because of their condition. We were possibly the youngest of couples on the holiday and imagined that anything close to our experience would not be so kind to the elderly. My feeling is that this is not likely to be simply the Sagara's problem, but one that may affect many other local hotels due to their transitory guests. What is important, though, is that travellers are aware that there is evidently a health issue in Kovalam at the moment and it may well not help hugely to be staying at a hotel that struggles to stay clean and safe. Ironically, the hotel is throwing money at its new mid-price development and with what appears to be an imminent upgrade of its (excellent) restaurant. For those who like happy endings, I can inform you that my partner and I bolted from the Sagara to enjoy the last three days at the Taj Green Cove to claim our holiday back once more. Those three days were truly magical.

Stayed 3 weeks at the rapidly expanding Sagara - which is not on the beach! The rooms were clean and tidied everday. The staff were generally very friendly although the owners (3 brothers) tried to sell 'investment opportunities' to older English visitors on a number of occasions! Breakfast is ok (toast, cornflakes, Indian options available buffet style) although service/availablity was often disorganised. The pool area is quite small but pleasantly shady - improvements were taking place during our stay. We hired a fridge and a safety deposit box during our stay and the prices were high (by Indian standards), I think it is worth haggling with the manager/s to reduce the cost. Overall the Sagara was good and we enjoyed our stay.