A few days after Christmas I took a sleeper train from the south to the north of Kerala, to the city of Kannur. I did stop in the city for a night to see the old fort and the lighthouse before moving to stay at the beach. The beaches south of Kannur must qualify as a bit of a hidden gem in India, as they are pretty empty and very nice.

There is a number of beaches running south from Kannur, starting with Thottada beach, Kizhunna, then Edakad & Ezhara beaches. As you can see you will pretty much have the beach to yourself.

I found a lovely guesthouse with fantastic balcony & outside terrace area to look out across the palm trees to the sand and sea. So spent a few days doing nothing apart from relaxing.

There is not too many amenities along these beaches, apart from the few guest houses dotted about. Therefore, my guesthouse provided fantastic breakfast every morning with plenty of fruit and local dishes and an even better evening meal. The meal show that night we had prawns fish, as well as beef, and quite a few vegetable dishes, all home cooked.

An interesting find was a small shrine or temple, set in to rocks of the cliff above the beach. It is dedicated to Yogeshwara. So it is worth exploring and finding this tranquil spot with many oil lamps.

Nearby Kannur is a step well. These are popular across India, though perhaps more common in the north and west of the country. They were developed to store water between the wet and dry periods of the year, with the steps enabling people to reach the changing water level in the tank. This well is next to the Sree Peralassery Temple, about 12km from Kannur.