Our own stretch
A few steps from the house
Quiet enough that most days it is you, the fishing boats, and whoever else at Kuma got up. This is the doorstep.
Explore Varkala
Everything worth leaving the rooftop for.
Eight minutes from the cliff, twenty from the backwaters, and around the corner from a skatepark. This is where we'd send you, the real list, not the one on the review sites.
Beaches
Four beaches, twenty minutes apart.
Edava Beach
50 steps · where lessons run
Calm water, cliff views, and the sunsets people stay an extra week for. Soft sand bottom and a forgiving beach break, the reason the school is here rather than on the cliff.
Kappil Beach
15-20 min north
Where the sea meets the backwaters, with golden sand on the strip between them. Go at sunset. It is the best hour and it is not close.
North Cliff & Papanasam
8 min away
Varkala's lively main beach: cafés stacked along the cliff top, sunset crowds, and the strip everyone pictures when they picture Varkala. Brilliant for an evening, and exactly why it is good to sleep here.
Read this before you swim
Currents at Edava and Kappil can be strong, and rip currents catch swimmers here every year. Never swim alone, stay close to shore, and ask us before you go in. We watch this water every day and we will tell you straight.
Ten minutes north
Where the sea stops and the backwater starts.
Kappil is the trip everyone means to do on the last day and ends up doing twice. The fishing beach at Edava runs on its own timetable. Go early and you'll watch the nets come in.
A word about the beach
This is a working beach.
The boats pulled up past the tide line are not scenery. They go out most mornings, and the nets come in around the same time you are finishing breakfast. It is the best free thing to watch in Varkala.
Stand back while they haul, don't walk through the nets, and ask before photographing anyone up close. That is the whole etiquette. Do that and you'll usually end up being handed a rope and put to work, which is considerably more fun than watching.
Eating in Varkala
Where we actually eat.
Breakfast is on our rooftop and it's included, but the walk to Black Beach Road is worth doing at least once, and the cliff is where the evening happens.
Breakfast & cafés
Kuma breakfast
On the rooftop
Free for guests. Outside guests are welcome for ₹250, chai or juice included. Kerala-style, every morning, on the roof.
Baker & Mill
6:30-18:30Black Beach Road
French artisan bakery. Fresh bread, pastries, and coffee that holds up.
Café Mimosa
Right next door
Quick stop, newly opened, and already a favourite.
Mellow Bistro
Black Beach Road
For the slow breakfast. Good coffee, no rush.
Tickety Boo
Black Beach Road
Dosa and South Indian breakfast. Authentic, local, and the one we send people to.
InDa Café
Black Beach Road
Indian and Western, open all day. The safe bet when the group can't agree.
Trip Is Life
South Cliff
Come for the sunset views. Stay because you have nowhere to be.
Café Sarwa
South Cliff
Right on the cliff edge, boho through and through. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Still growing. Ask at breakfast for whatever opened last week.
Dinner & evenings
- 01
BLG Surf Bistro
North Cliff
Seafood on a rooftop with the sea in front of it. Hard to beat for a first night.
- 02
Mamma Champos
Off the tourist trail
The best fish restaurant in the area, and you would never find it on your own.
- 03
Holy Rabbit
On the cliff
North Indian, South Indian and international, all done properly.
- 04
Tickety Boo
Black Beach Road
South Indian bistro. A hidden gem twice over. It is good at both ends of the day.
- 05
Vedaa by Om
For the morning coffee, when last night ran long.
- 06
Flow Cult Skatepark
Right around the corner
Brand new, and busiest in the evenings. Surfers, locals and free spirits, the fastest way to stop feeling like a tourist.
Insider tips
The things you'd only find out by asking.
The toddy shop
A Kerala classic and a rite of passage. Fresh palm wine, best in the afternoon, and you will have opinions about it by evening.
Yoga, wellness & massage
Ask us. We know which places are good and which just have good signage.
Scooter rental
We'll show you where. Having one turns Kappil, the cliff and the backwaters from a plan into a whim.
Everything else is on the rooftop at breakfast. Get a bed and find out.
Not sure which fits?
Send your dates, headcount and surf level. We'll point you toward the right room, session or week.
Ask Kuma on WhatsApp+91 99953 38248