Kasaragod · Kerala
Bekal, Neeleshwar and Valiyaparamba
The last district before Karnataka, and the emptiest coast in the state.
When to come
November to March.
How long
Three or four, because it is a long way to come for less.
Getting there
Kannur airport to Bekal, 75km, two hours. Mangalore airport is an hour and a half away.
Kasaragod is the far north, closer to Mangalore than to anywhere in Kerala, and it speaks four languages before breakfast — Malayalam, Tulu, Kannada and Beary. It is the least developed coast in the state and the most beautiful stretch of it.
Bekal fort sits on a headland above the sea, three hundred and fifty years old and built as an observation post, and it is the one thing here everybody photographs. Valiyaparamba is the backwater: a long island between the river and the sea, with ferries instead of roads and almost nobody on it.
Neeleshwar has the beach. This suits a second visit to Kerala better than a first, and it rewards people who like the feeling of having gone further than they needed to.
Kasaragod, in photographs
Where we would put you
Worth your time, or not?
Tell us how many days you have and who is coming, and we will tell you whether Kasaragod belongs in them — and what to leave out to make room for it.