El Oceano Beach Villas

The property and location are beautiful, and the staff were cooperative. But our two rooms, 204 and 205, had serious problems. Room 204 in particular was swarming with mosquitoes, while 205 had a horrible musty, beery smell. We arrived after 7 pm on January 4 because of the Kerala strike and had booked two rooms. The staff helped by opening another room for us to sleep in. The restaurant food was not even passable. We ordered Chinese food, and it was worse than roadside noodles.

The hotel is spread across two sites, with the main hotel and beachfront bungalows that have their own catering facility. We had a great dinner in the main hotel garden, and the spa was great too. Staff were friendly. If you stay in one of the four beachfront properties, the hotel offers a free tuk-tuk ride between the villas and main hotel.

The Beach Villas are phenomenal, right on Kattor beach, around 3 km south of Marari Beach, and have huge bathrooms. They’re 500 meters from the main El Oceano campus and aren’t connected to it, but tuk-tuks are arranged. During the off season, the kitchen operates only at the main property, so you need to go there for meals. Bikes are another way to get to the beach. The main campus location is average, but cleanliness and hygiene were almost five-star throughout the pool area, restaurant, reception, lawn, landscaping, and rooms. The pool is excellent, the staff are great, and the Ayurvedic massages are brilliant value, especially the shorter ones. They’re short on service staff, so be patient, but they do take care of you. The games room has table tennis and carom. Food was above average, though there’s room to improve.

The beachside restaurant took more than an hour and a half to bring our food. It tasted good, but that wait may not have been worth it. The villas themselves are beautiful and feel luxurious.