Kumarakom Lake Resort

Ci siamo fermati una settimana, non andresti più via, è tutto pressoché perfetto. Ambienti pulitissimi, sia interni che esterni, personale numerosissimo, molto cordiale ed efficiente; ricordiamo con piacere Krishnadas, Adith e Johny, tutti del servizio ristorazione, con cui ovviamente abbiamo interagito di più, ma è stato fantastico anche tutto il team della reception. Noi abbiamo preso una delle ville su due piani che danno sulla piscina circolare di 200 metri, si entra in acqua direttamente dalla veranda della villa, impagabile. Le ville hanno un affascinante bagno esterno, molto particolare, che abbiamo apprezzato tantissimo. Bellissima la infinity pool che da sul lago. Si mangia benissimo in entrambi i ristoranti, quello di pesce che si affaccia sul lago e dove si può stare all'aperto e quello dove si fa anche colazione, a buffet. Un buffet con una infinità di piatti buonissimi. Bello anche il ritulale del caffè/tè gratuiti con snack del pomeriggio in riva al lago. Da non perdere i trattamenti ayrvedici alla spa, c'è anche una piccola ma efficiente palestra. Il resort organizza alcune escursioni a pagamento, tra cui l'imperdibile giro delle backwaters del Kerala in barca. Molto carina anche la boutique con artigianato locale. Una perla di resort.

Athithi devo bhava! Team KLR has literally executed this phrase. My family and I were on a 4 night package which involved 2 nights at the Lake resort, one night on the house boat and a night at their Forte Cochin property. And we have not been able to stop ranting about the exceptional service we were presented. At every step, we were made to feel like we were the only guests there, so much attention and one- one special treatment. And I can say that we noticed all guests were meted out the same treatment. It was an unforgettable experience for us and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every member of the staff there. Starting with Sreelakshmi who assisted us with the reception/ checking in to the concierge guy from Patna who helped us to transport our luggage. Sarat, the bakery chef hand held us through every meal and was so selflessly explaining some tips on his special sour dough eggless croissants (one never sees that with a world class chef). Saji the sous chef attended to every detail. A big thanks to Sarat and Saji who organised the Onam sadhya specially for us despite it not being on menu and we were still a few days away to Onam, the harvest festival. We only enquired about getting the Onam sadhya in Cochin and lo and behold – they organised it for us then and there. Kavi, who is the travel guide within the resort was truly an expert at everything one needed to know about the place and insisted we do the sunset cruise which was so beautiful accompanied by talented musicians who performed on the cruise. The houseboat was a surreal experience, a spic and span boat with an experienced crew transported us to another world entirely. Even the drivers Mahesh, James and Johnson took care of every detail for us and going out of their way to make our travel between the airport/ hotels comfortable. Last but not the least – the managers at both resorts Vishnu, Gerin and Sajish took extra care to make our stay enormously memorable. Sajish even took us around the 300 year old Forte Kochi property to explain some of the very old parts of the Dutch bunglow like the Jewish mikueh. I have never made the effort in any of my holidays to note the staff’s name because no one has ever gone that extra mile for me to even notice it. Here, every staff was strikingly helpful. All in all, we cant stop singing praises of the fabulous experience we had at KLR. I would highly recommend this and would request the Chairman Mr John Paul (whose whiskies are wonderful too) to continue to keep the staff motivated.