2500km, a Scorpio N & a challenge to visit 100 beaches across KL & TN

Driving the Scorpio N allows one to really enjoy the sights because you’re not hyper focussed on avoiding potholes and the like, the car just glides over those.

BHPian sarvatron recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Like many on this forum, I grew up watching Jeremy, Richard and James take on unconventional road trips and challenges and I’ve always wondered, what would that be like? So for the year end break in 2024, I decided to throw myself a challenge - is it possible to visit ONE HUNDRED beaches along the South Indian coastline.

If you’re more interested in visual content, I’ve been posting versions of this on my Instagram and YouTube

Now, I am based in Bangalore, and the east coast and west coast are equidistant. So when I first looked at the map, I noticed something that caught my eye. Kannur, on the west coast and Pondicherry, on the east coast, appear to be at a straight line across. And so that became my plan - starting from Kannur, is it possible to visit 100 beaches before ending in Pondicherry! My friend Jonathan, a budding videographer, decided to join me on this trip and we’re building a movie as well!

I did a quick check on Google Maps, and figured there are comfortably over 100 public beaches that one can visit and so the plan was set. If you read my previous travelogue, you’ll notice that the big difference between this trip and the last was - a complete lack of research. I did no research on roads and routes and I did not plan much except for nightly stops and a broad plan of beaches to visit each day so we could manage getting as close to 100 as possible.

Much of this plan involved under 150km of driving per day so I wasn’t too bothered about road conditions, my Scorpio N was the vehicle entrusted with the duties and so there weren’t going to be too many road
related challenges. I am going to break this travelogue down into 2 parts, west coast and east coast.

Service done, bags packed, we headed off to Kannur on day 0.

Part 1:

The beach count started on day 0. Jonathan’s friend, a Kannur local, and our host for the day, drove us around and we spent the evening at Payyambalam beach (#1). This beach is Kannur’s most popular beach, and so with all the activities, cafes and other set up, it was easily the most crowded beach we saw on this trip.

The next morning, we headed off on to the real madness. Looking on Google maps, I decided our first beach for the day would be Chootad Beach (#2). The only reason to go to Chootad Beach was the name :P

For the non hindi speakers:

To this day I don't know why I wore jeans on a beach trip??!!! Anyway, here's a picture of me on Chootad Beach

Of course, the word is pronounced differently in Malayalam. A quick laugh done, we then followed the map, heading south and visited Kizhuna Beach (#3), the road leading down to the beach was super narrow, just wide enough for the Scorpio N to go through, but the beach more than made up for that minor inconvenience. And given it was noon by the time we got there, we only shared the beach with some birds, that kept moving away as we tried to photograph them!

The Birds at Kizhuna Beach

After spending about half an hour at Kizhuna beach, we decided it was time to head further south to Ezhara Beach (#4). In my opinion, one of the most beautiful beaches we visited on this trip. Clean sand, a tree cover, and this beautiful set of coconut trees that formed a beautiful frame. Aside from that, a handful of secluded homestays and a beach that’s pretty much private, with beautiful hammocks set up meant that it was idyllic, serene and the spot I will most likely choose for my next relaxing beach holiday.

A corrupted memory card meant that I'm left with not many photos and since I have visual content on other platforms, this is the only shareable piece I have from Ezhara! That said, this 7s clip accurately covers the vibe of the beach!

Immediately following Ezhara, through some narrow, winding, but quiet and quaint roads, as suggested by Google Maps, we made our way to Muzhappilangad aka Drive In beach (#5)! A beautiful 4km stretch of flat, tightly packed sand, that is perfect for driving. And given I had with me a videographer, his friend, and his friend’s aunt’s AMT Wagon R in tow, aside from a borrowed, 8 year old, DJI Osmo, it meant only one thing: Splash party!

After shooting content and messing around on the beach for an hour or three, we decided it was time to head further south, and so we made our way to Mahé. A very unique place, Mahé, a part of Puducherry but, in Kerala?! We drove around, spent some time at the fishing beach (#6), had the car washed after the activities of the Drive In beach, and finally called it a day at the other beach (#7), before heading towards Kozhikode, our halt for the night. With our goodbyes said to the videographer’s friend and our kind host for Kannur.

That night, we had dinner at Paragon, called it an early night and woke up bright and early for another day of counting beaches.

We started the day at Beypore beach (#8), where, to our pleasant surprise, was the Beypore Water festival going on. And so we were welcomed with murals, art work and decorated surroundings leading up to the beach and the Dolphin view point.You know those dolphin viewing trips in Goa, where after 45 mins and 3 seasick passengers later, you barely spot one fin of a dolphin? This was nothing like that! From the view point, one could see pods of dolphins playing in the water, unafraid of navy ships, ferries, speed boats, fishermen or enthusiastic, wannabe content creators from Bangalore!

After dolphin watching for over an hour, we continued on our way south, towards Parappangadi beach and this meant driving south on the B-roads, and what roads these were! However, as we turned off the main road, as suggested by Google maps, we were met with a road that was closed! And so we decided to carry on to the next beach on the list, Kettungal beach (#9). Having just been mesmerised by Ezhara and entertained by dolphins at Beypore, Kettungal beach didn’t do much for us, with the exception of a little lagoon that made for a great photo, we carried on southwards.

While we planned to drive along Tipu Sulthan Road and see a few more beaches along the way, our growling stomachs took us inland, and funnily, or rather, sadly, many of the restaurants we found along the way, were shut! Not sure if it was because it was a Saturday afternoon or the ongoing holidays in Kerala. Irrespective, this was affecting both, our 100 beach plan, and our moods!

Finally after driving for more than an hour, we found City Park to be open and decided to stop for Sadya. Lunch done, our mood was fixed. But what about the plan? We then thought it’s time to hit the pedal, but with the amount of rice we had just consumed, we really wanted to hit the sack!

And so we decided to start slow, and along the way, we passed through some bad stretches of road, before we spotted a random water body on the map and decided to go check it out. To be honest, I still don’t know what this water body was or is called, all I do know is, it was an absolutely beautiful road, brilliant views and a fantastic experience.

After this little diversion we made our way to Vakkad beach (#10), where again, we were the only people around. Vakkad beach in my opinion, was a nice beach, but nothing special again, in comparison to the beaches we had already seen on this trip. However, there is a narrow lane that runs parallel to the beach that is absolutely pretty, think a miniature version of the famous Parra lane in Goa. After a quick stop at Kazhipazham (spelling!) (#11) beach, we continued onwards.

With our plan to halt in Kochi that night, we started making our way south and decided to catch a sunset at Cherai beach. We're way behind our daily target of 10 beaches but we’re confident we can make it up as many beaches in the south of Kerala are close to each other. Or so we thought!

Google maps took us on a route that apparently involved a ferry and that would mean that we either caught sunset on the ferry (good for content) or on Cherai beach (also good for content). Now it’s 5:25PM, and the sun starts to set around 5:55PM. The ETA at Cherai beach is 6:15PM but to the ferry boarding point is 5:53PM. Iron Maiden on the Sony speakers, no talking, and a focused 25 min medium-high speed drive later, we reach the ferry boarding point. Only to find out that the ferry isn’t for cars!!!

Not to be dejected, we quickly moved towards plan B, Azhikode Beach (#11). But it looked like almost everyone in Kerala had the same plan! Stuck in traffic and not wanting to miss the sunset, Jonathan jumped out of the car, and made a dash through the tree to catch the sunset. Luckily, I found an almost full parking lot, with one spot, just big enough for the Scorpio N, parked and brisk walked (because running is for the weak) to the beach, found Jonathan and enjoyed the sunset!

We then headed over to our night halt in Kochi after completing some errands along the way, ordered in from the Grand (amazing, but Paragon is better!), and called it a night.

The next morning, we were up bright and early to go check out Cherai beach (#12). Now this beach had been hyped up to us a lot. Like a lot a lot. And it was….. ummm……okay. Not impressed by the hype we received, we decided it was time to move on.

Up next, through again a beautiful beach side road, we headed to Munambam Beach (#13), saw some fishermen go about their day, a group of boys play some sea side games and headed back past Cherai towards Kuzhipully Beach (#14), via Ambedkar Beach (#15). Now Kuzhipully is a beach!

Not only is it cleaner than Cherai, and less crowded, it’s also got nicer sands, and a floating bridge that we had a good time at waiting for the waves to entertain us.

Fun and frolic at Kuzhipully beach done, we started making our way towards the Vypin Jetty, via some of the backwaters, to finally board a ferry. A 45 minute wait later, we were on the quick ferry road over to Fort Kochi, where we stopped for lunch and then started making our way towards Alleppey.

While we are on a beach trip, it would be foolish to miss the beauty of the backwaters in Alleppey and so we decided to make a detour, head towards the backwaters and do a boat ride before we continue on with our beach plan. And as we drove on towards Alleppey, we passed by Puthenthodu Beach (#16), Chellanam Beach (#17), Chappakkadavu Beach (#18), Andhakaranazhi Beach (#19), Arattuvazhi Beach (#20), Thaickal Beach (#21) all along the road, or very short diversions off the main road, and what a road it was! Beaches on one side, and churches, and quaint, gorgeous, traditional Kerala houses on the other.

Driving the Scorpio N allows one to really enjoy the sights because you’re not hyper focussed on avoiding potholes and the like, the car just glides over those. As long as your speed is in check, and the traffic light, you can really take the time to enjoy the sights around!

Once we reached the backwaters, we quickly did a boat tour, filmed some content and headed back on the road towards our halt for the night, Varkala! The coastal road from Alleppey to Varkala is a thing of beauty. Not because it’s perfectly laid down tarmac with sweeping curves and challenging sections, it’s nothing close to that, it’s riddled with potholes, goes through densely populated villages and is littered with stray cattle. What makes this road truly remarkable though are the sights! 

The sights of the beaches, the beachy village life and the constant hide, and seek with the setting sun, the sea and the waves as one drives through the palm lined roads. I’ll let the pictures and videos tell you the rest of the story below but along this route is where we covered the largest number of beaches, and to be honest, it was also here that we realised that the number is just a number, the real beauty of this trip, is really just the beauty of this state, this country and the people we’ve met and the people we were about to meet!

We drove past Thottappally Beach (#22), Pallana Beach (#23), Thrikkunnappuzha Beach (#24), Perumpally Beach (#25), Booboo black sand beach (#26), Valiazheekal Beach (#27).

Along the way, we stopped at an unnamed (at least on Google maps) beach (#28), that happened to be a black sand beach, we enjoyed yet another mesmerizing sunset over the Arabian Sea before continuing onwards towards Varkala. As we drove past Valiazheekal Beach, just past the bridge, and joined the road along Azheekal Beach (#29), we were met with massive crowds and a HUGE traffic jam that slowed us down by over an hour! While I cannot point my finger on what was the cause of the jam, my best guess is a local festival or fair of some sort that brought the whole town and their paternal and maternal uncles and aunts all out at once. What was meant to be a scenic sunset drive, turned into a drive into the darkness as we finally made it out of the chaos of the traffic, while passing by Azheekal south beach (#30), Parayakkadavu Beach (#31), Pandarathuruth beach (#32), before joining the highway and continuing to drive past Kollam Beach (#32), Eravipuram Beach (#33), Mukkam Beach (#34), Thanni Beach (#35), Pozhikara Beach (#36), Kappil Beach (#37) before finally reaching the helipad at Varkala cliff where we parked the car for the night and enjoyed the evening at the cliff walk listening to some heavy metal versions of classic Tamil and Malayalam tracks courtesy Active Radio!

The next morning, we were back at it, but this time on foot as the beaches, that is, The Black Sand Beach Varkala (#38) and Varkala Beach (#39) are best explored by walking along the cliff. A hearty breakfast, some shopping later, we checked out of the hotel, and got back in the oven… i mean the car!

We then headed towards Aaliyirakkm Beach (#40) and I think with the exception of the garbage, this was one of the most beautiful beaches we visited on this trip! However, with the excitement peaking as we approached the beach, I ended up driving in a bit further than I should have and found my car, well, beached!

Nothing that a quick shift of the 4WD drive selector can’t fix, and with the crisis averted, we were back to enjoying the beach. 10 or so minutes in, the sharp sun and the lack of shade meant we were back on the road heading south towards Kanyakumari! Along the way, we visited a few more beaches, starting with Kovalam (#41) and Hawa beaches (#42), where we had an unintentionally leisurely lunch, before driving over to Vizhinjam Beach, we found the roads and the churches to be prettier than the beach and so that’s where we spent most of the time.

For our last stop for the day and for Kerala, we decided on Golden Sands beach, from what we could see from Google Maps, it was meant to be absolutely stunning! And so with the location set, we drove out of Trivandrum towards what we assumed to be Golden Sands beach, we were stopped along the way by not one, but three tour guides offering to take us on a boat tour as the Golden Sands beach was not accessible by road.

Not wanting to spend too much time as we were planning to catch sunrise at Kanyakumari the next morning, we declined and decided to see what we could find by road. We first landed up on Pulluvila Beach (#43), a fishing beach and a fishermen’s village. The locals didn’t seem to enthused to have us driving around their village and so we decided we would continue back southwards to see if we could find other interesting beaches.

And other interesting beaches is exactly what we found! Along the road marked Kallumukku Beach trail on Google Maps, we drove along some incredible sights of 3 beaches (#44, #45, and #46) before stopping at Kallumukku beach, which in my opinion is one of Kerala’s best kept secrets!

The sand almost looks like it has an Instagram filter applied on it and the water, it’s a color so unique that it made me believe for a moment that my color vision has been fixed (I’m partially colorblind!). The time that we were there, just before sunset, the clouds were starting to show up and beams of light filtered through them, almost like to bless us and this journey.

With the exception of a few fishermen relaxing in their boats on the beach, a family enjoying their time, the beach was completely empty, breezy and an absolute pleasure. Despite not wanting to leave, we had no choice but to, given our plans for the next day!

And with that, in 5 days, we’d explored, seen, experienced, and driven past 46 beaches in Kerala! To do this, we’d driven on narrow roads, broken roads, taken a ferry, driven on beaches, gotten beached, gotten tanned and gotten lost. All of it was well worth it so far.

And as we entered Kanyakumari and prepared for the next day, I had a slight sense of doom. Is Tamil Nadu going to match up to Kerala?

Continue reading on BHPian sarvatron's road trip across 100 beaches for BHPian comments, insights and more information