Great hotel operated by 5 star friendly staff”

We live in Delhi and spent 3 nights at Turtle On The Beach for holidays. This hotel offers best scenery in Kovalam Beach area (except Leela which is located slightly away from Kovalam Beach). Please have a try climbing up at Sky Suite for the best view. The hotel is not located ‘on the beach’ but in a walking distance from the beach. The only thing you need to consider is a steep slope which you need to climb up when coming back to the hotel. The staffs are super friendly and are ready to offer any support. At the time of our visit, we were offered to take better rooms instead of the lower grade room which we booked. This may not be expected every time however, the readiness to offer the best service feels so nice, especially if you are a visitor from other major cities in India. The hospitality of this hotel is definitely better than those ‘Luxurious’ and ‘Gorgeous’ 5 star hotels. Besides, surfing at Lighthouse Beach is FUN!

Comfortable, relaxing, western standards”

For the most part, my stay was satisfactory. The Turtle is a step up from the standard Kovalam hotel. The bedding was very comfortable and the room was large enough. The bathroom was also comfortable. The room had flat screen tv with hdmi port which I used to connect my laptop and watch movies. The pool was clean and refreshing. Breakfast buffet offered western and Indian choices. The hotel has a small pub with tv and billard table. It was a nice get away spot to relax and meet other guests. The spa facility was adequate offering a full spectrum of services. There were several annoying aspects of the hotel worth mentioning. One is that the name Turtle on the Beach is misleading. The hotel over looks the beach high up on a cliff. It sits on a main road that goes through the town. You can hear the ocean from your room. To get to the beach the hotel does offer transportation down the very steep road that leads to the beach. Tourist shops line the road on both side. Traffic is heavy due to the fact that the beach is popular and the next road to the beach is a considerable distance away. The hotel does not offer transportation back from the beach. You have to trudge up the very steep road for about a half mile or pay for a commercial vehicle (rickshaw or cab) to get back up to the hotel. The rickshaw driver's will ask 100 rupees to make the trip but usually will take 50 rupees. You may have to be persistent to get the lower price. The second annoyance was the hotel only offered one kkey card per room even though two people were staying in the room. This might not be a problem if the two people left and returned together. In my case I was traveling with an adult child. We rarely left and returned together. I eventually was able to secure a second card key but not without some difficulty. Finally, the wifi service is very slow. Streaming a movie was not possible and only one device could be connected to the wifi at a time.

Amazing stay ”

I spend 8 nights with my family in the turtle on the beach in kovalam and we really had a wonderful stay. Thanks to all the staff. Especially thanks to RK and Neha at the reception for they were always very helpful. Thanks to Rejin and to al the breakfast team for the wonderful breakfast and there kindness and a special thanks to Aldrin who kept our room always very clean.

Lovely oasis”

The hotel was generally excellent, rooms great, clean and well looked after. Restaurant and cafe both lovely with good selection of meals for all occasions. Note that alcohol is not served. All staff were welcoming, friendly and very helpful, and made the stay relaxing. The pool area is great, and enjoyable. Nothing to do with the hotel but we didn’t enjoy the surrounding Kovalam area, finding the beach and frontage scrappy and a bit rundown.

Fabulous Turtle on the Beach”

This hotel while not on the beach is overlooking the Arabian sea. It is clean and the staff are lovely, welcoming and helpful. You could not wish for better in Kovalam. Just be prepared for cardiac hill a great way of burning off the calories after eating at any one of the amazing restaurants

Gem on the beach”

Turtle on the beach is a hidden paradise on the shores of beautiful Kovalam coast. This hotel is perfect for a romantic vacation.

Loved Kovalam”

Stayed December 2018. There was some renovations taking place during our stay but the management tried to make our stay enjoyable. We dined in the restaurant and the food was excellent the best tandoori chicken we had ever eaten! The staff were all helpful and did everything possible to make the stay enjoyable. Vignesh the accommodation manager ensured our stay was very comfortabl. The waiting staff were excellent and special thanks to Delish who made our last night so memorable. He also introduced us to the local cuisine at breakfast every morning. The pool was about 16m and ok for a swim. The hotel was about a 5 minute walk from the beach going downhill back uphill. You could get a tuk tuk up the hill for a few rupees, but we enjoyed the walk. The room we stayed in was sea facing with a large balcony and was very clean and spacious. There is a bar on site with happy hour every day which was buy one get one free good service and very nice cocktails. We would definitely return

The best Stay ”

I booked my vacation in this hotel at the last minute. Didn't had enough time to go through the reviews.. So we were more anxious on how this hotel looks like.. Whether it suits the money we paid. When we arrived, we had very good welcome. Next we were accompanied to room by an executive. As soon as we are in the room, our doubts were vanished.. We felt that it was the best room we ever stayed.. Awesome sea view from Balcony.. We enjoyed our stay to maximum extent.. Food is Good. Every time we are in Restaurant we found Chief Chef asking for our experience. He even made few dishes according to our taste.. I will strongly recommend this Hotel to everyone.. I would want to say Very Big ThanQ for the management of this Hotel to make our holidays the best one.. Last but not the least, I made a good decision. :)

Ala Balinese Hotel”

Situated close to the beach but has no direct access. We were told when asked that hotel provides auto to the beach. There is a road outside the entrance of the hotel leading to the beach, we walked. The less than 1 km road is sloppy, hence returning got to hike up. Stayed in a suite, second floor, wonderful seafront view. Breakfast was sumptuous, though not a big spread. The vermicelli upma was especially very well done, yum and worth the mention. Could have more varieties of Keralite cuisine and fruits. Had chai and kulcha in the evening, equally delish. There is an infinite pool. Spa and Ayurveda services available with an in-house doctor. The staff are warm and hospitable, great hosts. Front desk Ms. Neha is one such pleasant and charming person. The place is kept clean and very green, making it eyesome. However, the rooms need lots of upkeeping and maintenance. For FabIndia fans, there is an outlet nearby.

Wonderful Staff”

The hotel itself is very tired and I wouldn’t really consider it to be a 5 star. However, without exception, the staff are amazing and this goes a long way to compensate for the fact that the hotel is obviously old and in need of refurbishment. We ate in the restaurant a couple of nights and the food was good although the breakfast selection was a little lacking for European tastes. Location wise, it’s not actually on the beach but a 10 minute walk down a pretty steep road to the beach restaurants. The rickshaws at the bottom will fetch you back for 50/100 rps.

Lovely hotel with excellent facilities.”

Beautifully kept hotel on the hill up from Kovalum beach. Great to be in a peaceful spot where you could still hear and see the sea. Shuttle taxis and tut tut up and down the hill to the lively beach and shops. Perfect location. The kids favourite hotel in India.

I did enjoy that week in Turtle of the Beach”

Everything was more than OK for us. All our expectations were more than fulfilled. However you need to be aware when booking this hotel that this hotel is not directly at the beach even if the name of the hotel kind of indicates this. It's about 500m to the beach (shuttle bus available). Remember this when booking so you are not disappointed later... We would recommend this hotel for leisure.

stay at 🐢”

well to start with I had been here a year back so I thought to bring family here this year.Rooms we're big,awesome and partially hidden view of the sea(had chosen sea view).The tall trees hide the view but not totally.Rooms on higher floors have a better view.Food spread was nice but ala carte prices were bit on the higher side.Its near to a crowded sea beach and lighthouse.Unlike the Leela which is down that road,it doesn't have a private beach opening.The travel to this place was back breaking from kochi due to diversions and road construction work in patches.People should fly down to trivandrum if they can flight a decent flight and a decent time.Not much option to eat outside and shop.Didnt find a decent place to eat out plus it was far from hotel.People tend to go to kanyakumari which less than 100kms but again the journey is back breaking due to 2 lane road.Overall worth for only a one time getaway.

Great property, good value for money”

The property is small but very modern and well maintained. The view from the signature suite is great. However, the food is not very tasty for the price they charge. They either have to get a better chef or decrease the price. However, there are a lot of beach side restaurants that have a better fare. Also, the furniture in the signature suite room 415 is very contemporary/low slung. While it looks stylish, it's far from comfortable. All that being said, this is a great property and we had a wonderful time

Great location but needs improvement in the rooms.”

the stay at totb was nice. i was upgraded to a honeymoon suite as per my special request of us being honeymooners which was pretty much a glad surprise. the in-room dining was just awesome. helped us out with the private dinner we wanted in our room. the restaurant was amazing, the best dishes being their seafood ones. the only disappointment that i faced was that after confirming a late check out, i was called in between and asked if i could check out right away (an hour or more earlier than agreed) as they had another guest waiting for the room which is pretty much lack of respect to any guest. overall, i'd grade this as a decent 4* hotel rather than a 5*. but would recommend this hotel to any traveler.

Wonderful stay thank you to all at TOTB ”

From our very early morning pick-up through until we checked out and even beyond that, the service we received was truly excellent. Our check in was quick and efficient. We missed breakfast that first morning as we arrived very early, after a sleep we decided to eat in the restaurant and to our surprise, our brunch was complimentary. Our room was well appointed with a wonderful large comfortable bed and we slept like logs. We had an Arabian Sea View room which had a large balcony overlooking the swaying palm trees and the ocean beyond. Every time we stepped outside onto the balcony we saw the eagles gliding on the thermals, awesome! We were given a gift of a scrumptious cake to celebrate out 30th wedding anniversary, which we were able to share with our friends who visited on our balcony, who were locals and thought the view was stunning. After receiving our celebration cake, we couldn't believe it when we were invited to have a complimentary dinner, which we thought would be in the buffet restaurant, but to our surprise, we were treated to a gourmet meal on a very private balcony overlooking the ocean. It was truly wonderful. And guess what? another cake!! When it came to our date to check out I didn't want to leave, but we had arranged a trip up to Alleppey and Thekkady so we had to go. The reception staff were wonderful and agreed to look after some luggage for us. The staff from maid to management were so friendly, warm, courteous and helpful. We would like to thank you all so much, (so sorry that we cannot name you all), for making our 30th wedding anniversary so very special. Thank you TOTB we will be back. John and Debbie H

Great Location. Beautiful View. Poor Service”

we stayed at this hotel for 2 nights. unluckily, the first night was easters night and hence no drinks available. the ambiance of the hotel is wonderful and to hear crashing waves was amazing at night. the japanese themed rooms that we lived in was very much above our expectations. the only poor time we had was during check-in where the wait was extremely long and the leisure villa provision was disappointing. the hotel is at walking distance from the main light house beach. it has a good access to the beach but creepy at night. the swimming pool was awesome and the breakfast is great to have!

very disappointed”

I had booked ocean view room because l was traveling with my old mom who has knee problem. I always prefer hotel in the proximity of beach so that mom doesn't have any trouble to access the beach & gets a view directly from the room. turtle on the beach has ocean view room in 2 different buildings.the room that they had initially planned to put us in was a bit far from the main resort & with someone who has difficulty in walking can't access that at all. I had to profusely request them to put us in a different room for which they initially asked 3-4k extra & upon resisting they had accommodated us in a deluxe room with no ocean view. the argument given was it's a five star property and Agoda bookings are for a different building which is outside the resort under the name of same turtle on the beach name. it's impossible for a Traveller to know that while booking. after waiting for several hours when I experienced this & compromised on the room category can't recommend anyone to book it again. if u r keen call up hotel clearly understand the difference between annexe & which rooms are within the property & then book. they mentioned hotel website has the details updated too..who cares? the whole point of booking through Agoda is to get the discount which hotel website don't give

Nice property Near to Beach”

This is not a five star hotel, may be 3 star. I had got the room adjacent to the main building. The pool was awesome. Breakfast spread was really good. You can order for omelette or dosa and it will be served from their live counter. The beach is just 5 minutes walk. Overall recommended to stay.

Excellent Hotel in Kovalam”

Stayed at the hotel for 10 nights and had a most excellent stay. We had a suite (room 902) with a ocean view, the room was very clean and maintained well on a daily basis. The hotel is a five minute walk from the hotel and for those who do not like walking a free shuttle is available from the hotel. Breakfast had a varied choice and great service from the staff. I would recommend eating in the Catamaran Restaurant as the food is very delicious and one again the service from staff was excellent. My wife and I had a wonderful stay and would certainly consider a return in the future.