In chats, forums, and even sacred groups named things like “Yoga. Sea. Panchakarma,” there’s one question that regularly splits the community like a papadam at breakfast: “Should I go to Goa or Kerala?” 🤔 A fair question. But the answer is like an Indian train schedule — it exists, but you’d better rely on karma. 🛕🕉️ We’re not going to decide for you — but we will try to compare these two states so you can make your own choice. Just a heads-up: we’ve visited Goa more than

(or why thinking it’s always sunny in Kerala might be a mistake) Lately, in Russian-speaking chats, forums, and, dare we say, interest clubs named things like “Sun, Yoga, Panchakarma,” one particular type of question keeps popping up: “So what's the weather like in Kerala?”“Where can I swim in Kerala?”“Are there waves?”“What if it rains?” After answering these questions more times than we can count — and carefully observing what kinds of answers people usually get — we realiz

An epic tale of how we tried to fly somewhere far away — and almost succeeded Yes, you might say — what could be better than enjoying the gentle sea, sunshine, and the chirping of peacocks and parrots? Well... clearly, you’ve never been to Kerala. Because the local sea is as gentle as a tax inspector on Monday morning. The ocean here lives by its own laws: calm and quiet in the morning, and by lunchtime it can rise up in waves three to five meters high — the kind that make ev

Life in Kerala is beautiful — like a February sunset over Lake Vellayani — but sooner or later, anyone who stays here longer than the 90-day tourist limit (which is, frankly, enough time to morph into a relaxed expat in a lungi — or, at the very least, elephant-print harem pants — with a giant tilaka on the forehead and a vague hope of someday understanding Malayalam) begins to feel a deep, irrepressible urge… to feel human. Not a saint, not a yogi, not a Kathakali dancer (th

For almost two years now, we — Lena, Andrey, and our fluffy lady, the Norwich Terrier Shanya (a.k.a. Shining Diamond Lekato Venus) — have been settled in the Indian state of Kerala, not far from its capital city whose very name provokes a mild sense of panic in anyone attempting to pronounce it: Thiruvananthapuram. Even the locals themselves prefer to call it Trivandrum. Or simply TRV. If you dig just a few centimeters deeper, you’ll discover that even the state’s name is sup