Best Family Beaches in Asia

For those who know us well, we’re a family of beach bums!  We absolutely love being at the beach:  the kids love to play in the sand and frolic in the water and mom and dad love to laze in the sun, go for a swim and maybe even read a book. As such, we consider ourselves somewhat of ‘connoisseurs’ when it comes to picking to perfect beach. 

So what do we consider a perfect family beach?

That's A Wrap: India

Wow—so that’s it, we’ve just survived 3 months backpacking around South India with our 2 pre-schoolers, and relatively unscathed.  Before coming here, some people voiced their concerns about travelling to India with young children--one person even went so far as to say that India, as a destination, is only interesting for adults and that choosing to come here with children is selfish. 

Family Friendly Mysore

What makes a destination ‘tourist friendly’ usually comes down to the historic, cultural, religious and/or natural sights it has to offer.  The city of Mysore, 3hrs south of Bangalore in southern Karnataka state satisfies all of the above.  Yet in the 5 days that we spent there, we only saw a handful of its must-see attractions.  Instead, we were too busy having fun with the many ‘family-friendly’ activities that we discovered!

Mysore Palace, the 'must-see' attraction!

Hampi Among Ruins

Our third last destination in India was Hampi, in the state of Karnataka.  Initially it wasn’t on our ‘to see’ list, but after hearing so many people rave about its beauty, we decided to pay Hampi a visit.  As usual, there were many facets to the place, starting with its surreal landscape, then its current state, then ending with our impressions.   

The River Tungabhadra, looking towards Hampi Bazaar area

Theology 101 For Preschoolers

Immaculate Conception Church, Panjim (Goa)

Two common and connected themes regularly run through our travels thus far—religion and theology.  In SEA, South Asia, and India they do not just exist 1 day a week in ‘special buildings’ but are overtones in the day to day life.  Buddhism was the main one in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Bali, where daily offering rituals with incense are made by its followers and their orange and red-robed monks seek food and alms in the streets.  Hinduism is India’s main religion and represents approximately 82% of its population (LP. South India, 2009).  Aside from the many colourful temple ‘gopurams’, some which soar high into the sky, religious processions can often be seen (and heard) dancing through the neighbourhood.  Muslims are represented in all of the countries that we’ve visited.  Their mosques stand distinctive as do their clothing, particularly when the women are in full hajab.  Catholicism is the main practice in the Philippines, in Vietnam and parts of South India, especially in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala & Goa.  We’ve visited so many churches, cathedrals and basilicas, especially while in India, each unique and beautiful.  It was just a matter of time before our ever-observant and ever-inquisitive children began to question what all this was about.  

Arambol, Off On The Wrong Foot

Arambol Beach

Once again, we reluctantly left a place we loved, in this case Palolem, in the name of adventure--to see what else is out there.  We had heard that Arambol located in the infamous northern beaches of Goa, was the more laid-back choice.  But after a very arduous and sweaty journey to get there, we wondered, ‘What had we done?!’

Postcard Perfect Palolem

Palolem Beach

As travellers/tourists, we generally avoid places that have a reputation as a ‘party place’—we’re simply way past that point in our lives.  That, together with a general ‘over-hyped’ feeling that we had about the state of Goa as well as the incredible time that we just had in Gokarna, we were a bit wary about what we would find once we got here.  But at the same time, we couldn’t help but be a little bit curious as to what all the fuss was about.  

 

Communing With Nature in Gokarna

Kudle Beach, Gokarna

After nearly 2 months in India, we are finally covering some ground.  We have now visited 2 states and have just entered our 3^rd—Karnataka.  The village of Gokarna is located halfway up its western coast on the Arabian Sea; Jim had fond memories of visiting here over 15yrs ago.  We headed here with the hope of finding a quiet beach and a nice place to stay and once again, we got an experience completely beyond our expectations.

Cochin--Part 2: The Fort

Ferry to Vypeen Island

The city of Kochi (aka Cochin) is actually sprawled across the mainland suburb of Ernakulum, the peninsular suburbs of Fort Cochin and Mattancherry as well as across the 5 other islands of Vypeen, Vallarpadam, Willingdon, Bolgatty, and Gundu. Frequent ferry services run across the lake between the mainland, the peninsula and the first 2 islands, and bridges also connect all of them although it can be a much slower option at times.  It’s a huge sprawl and traffic is a nightmare.  Everyone who comes to Kerala usually love Kochi but it’s difficult when you first arrive to see what all the fuss is about.

Kochi (Cochin)--Part I: The Backwaters

When you speak about South India, Kerala usually emerges as the favourite on everyone’s list—in fact, it’s the second most visited state in India.  While it is one of India’s most beautiful and successful states and where women are more empowered than elsewhere in the country, for tourists it’s synonymous with the ‘backwaters’.  And in turn, the backwaters are synonymous with the city of Cochin and to a lesser degree, Alleppey.

Locals on the backwater

Precariously Perched Varkala

When we first read about Varkala, on the southwest coast of India on the Arabian Sea—it sounded intriguing.  Yet it made us wary at the same time.  It was described as a ‘backpacker scene’, which usually can mean crowds, difficulty finding accommodation and in general, touristy.  But as it was only 30min by train from Trivandrum and on our way northward, we set aside 2 nights to check it out.  It turned out to be one of the most unique seaside places that we’ve ever experienced.

An Oldie But A Goodie--Trivandum Zoo

When we read that Thiruvananthapuram (aka Trivandum) had one of the most impressive zoos in India, we made sure to include a stop in this capital city of the state of Kerala.  And the best part was that it was even on our way!  We haven’t been to a zoo since DusitZoo in Bangkok (Thailand) and the girls were so excited.   Surprisingly it turned out to be one of the best experiences of its kind that we’ve had.

The End of India

The end of the sub-continent of India

We’ve finally arrived at the end of India—literally.  If you were to look at a map, you’d be able to pinpoint precisely where we are—Cape Comorin to be exact, the most southern point in India, where 3 bodies of water meet: the Bay of Bengal (east), the Indian Ocean (south) and the Arabian Sea (west).  And like many of the places what we’ve visited so far in South India, we found it to be a strangely interesting place.

Suckers For A View: Madurai

Sri Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, viewed from our balcony

As we have alluded to many times before, often times the quality of our accommodation can make all the difference to the length of our stay.  By quality we don’t mean that it has to be 5-star luxury (come on, we’re backpacking on a budget!), although if someone were to offer that to us at 1-2 star prices, that would be great!  A clean, insect-free room is a good starting point.  Add a good sized room, preferably with a bed that all of us can fit on, an en-suite big enough to have a shower in without needing to sit on the toilet at the same time, and now we’re talking.  Extras like a small table and chair, a window or two or even better yet, a balcony with a view, and we might just stay a while.  Oh, and air conditioning is a must too.  We’ve been lucky quite a few times on our trip so far, with memorable accommodation in Sanur and Amed (Bali), Chiang Mai (Thailand), Siem Reap and Sihanoukville (Cambodia), Mui Ne and Cat Ba Island (Vietnam), Pagapud (Philippines), and in Trinco and Arugam Bay (Sri Lanka) as well as in Mamallapuram and Kodaikanal (India).  And we got lucky again in Madurai, and ended up staying longer than originally intended.

Family Fun in Kodaikanal

Usually due to limitations set by visas, we have spent no more than 1 month in a country during our 7 months of travel.  Having 3 months to explore only South India is certainly a welcome change that allows us to travel at a very leisurely pace.  In fact, we haven’t really covered much ground at all after being here for 1 month already, but that’s ok as we’ve been able to spend time in some unexpected places, doing unexpected things.

Things We Know After 4 Weeks In India & 7 Months Travelling

After 4 Weeks In India, We Know:

v  It’s been easier than we’d expected it to be travelling in South India with 2 pre schoolers.  In fact, there hasn’t been any particular issues at all.

StoneTemples of Trichy

Tamil Nadu is reputed to be the cultural heartland of India and its visitors tend to be ‘templephiles’—lovers of temples.  While we wouldn’t consider ourselves to be included in this group, we do appreciate a nice temple when we see one.  And in Tiruchirappalli, or ‘Trichy’, we got to appreciate two incredible temples in one day.

Rock Fort Temple, Trichy

Not A Foreigner In Sight: Karaikal

Our choices regarding our itinerary in terms of destinations and activities sometimes tend to be on the ‘haphazardly researched’ end of the organisational continuum.  It’ll come down to how interesting it sounds (the destination/activity), how much effort is involved to make it happen (i.e., getting there, timing), and cost (re: cost to get there, cost of the activity).  We ended up at our latest destination based on this:  it was on our way south and the literature from the Puducherry Union of States tourism office said that it was possibly the best natural beach in Tamil Nadu.  So off we set from the new bus stand in Pondy, destination:  Karaikal.

Pondy, The Place To Be This Independence Day!

From the quiet town of Mamallapuram we travelled 2hrs further south to the small seaside city of Puducherry (aka Pondicherry).  And luck was on our side as it turned out that we arrived just ahead of the Indian Independence Day long weekend.  This little city of 226,000+ people was already a buzz of activity preparing not only for the national holiday celebrations, but also for the annual Fete du Poudoucherry and for the (late) local guru, Sri Aurobindo’s birthday—all of which fell on the same day, August 15.  We managed to find a small ‘Inn’ right in the centre of town that was a nice clean, quiet and ‘cool’ (thanks to AC) refuge for us in the very humid conditions.  From there, we could easily take in all that ‘Pondy’ had to offer—and a lot to offer it did!

French Quarter, Puducherry

A Good Place To Have A Birthday--Mamallapurum

Our littlest lady has been really looking forward to her birthday for a while now.  Despite knowing that we are thousands of kilometres from our home in Australia she still had her heart set on being the centre of attention at her birthday party, complete with cake, presents and friends.  While we tried to gently remind her that this year would have to be different, her not-yet-4yr old logic still equated a birthday with a party (guess she’s the party animal in the family!).  As her birthday coincided with us being in India, we were really scratching our heads for ideas on how to make her day special.   To our surprise, our prayers were answered at ‘MGM Dizzee World’.