Hotel Lake Palace - Kumarakom. Review on Kumarakom Lake Resort, Kottayam

First I would like to apologise on posting my review on Hotel Lake Palace – Kumarakom here. This is because this Hotel is not in the Hotel list in Kottayam, leave alone Kumarakom which is not listed under city at all. So please do not mistake this review for Kumarakom Lake Resort. Can any one help me knowing how to add cities/towns/Hotels if not found under a specific topic in Mouthshut, apart from Mouthpad? Hey, this is only if there is a way to do so.

Anyways, to the topic…

I planned to visit Kumarakom, a place which is 15 Kms away from Kottayam town and a tourist paradise, in the end of 2004 to spend the New Year eve. I browsed the internet to find the best deals and ended up booking my stay at Hotel Lake Palace.

On arrival, I checked in and liked the place. It is peaceful with not many people. The ambience is not something which one can write about as it is just a building in-between many trees. Their rooms are reasonably good, with A/C, clean beds and toilets. Because their ad mentioned that the lake is 100 metres away from hotel, I started looking for the lake out of the room window but could not spot it.

I took a walk a few hours later, a few steps on a narrow lane away from the main road and I was zapped. There was the lake (so called), but believe me, it was as huge as the sea. It is the backwaters of the Arabian sea flowing through Kumarakom. Believe me; you need to see it to believe it.

There are a series of other resorts which are touching the coast of the so called lake, but these places are very expensive - Starting Price was around Rs.2500 a day. Lake Palace charged me, if I remember well, Rs.800 a day. This is a place which is affordable for many who would like to visit Kumarakom. But be aware that you should be willing to let go of the few desirable activities like candle light dining on the so called lake side with breeze hitting you and your partner while you stare at the stars and the light of the house boats in the horizon.

I was waiting for a grand New Year Eve celebration at any of the other Resorts in Kumarakom, as Lake Palace is not a place where you can expect much. This is because of their location, setup as well as space constraints. However, due to the unexpected Tsunami mishap which happened around the last few days of that year, almost all planned New Year Eve events were cancelled to mourn the damage caused due to the natural disaster. Lake Palace had a bit or fire works and they stopped at that. The other high-priced resorts still had their lake facing gardens open serving food/liquor to their own guests, but outside guests were not allowed inside their premises.

I felt all this was reasonable indeed and planned to stay indoors and had a couple of beers and dinner.  The overall experience of staying at Lake Palace resort was good even though you cannot rate it as excellent. No complaints against their hospitality and customer service.

If you are planning a visit to Kumarakom with a small budget, then Lake Palace is a good place to stay. Other activities like a night in the house boat, a cruise in the massive lake and the backwaters can be booked at the hotel itself.