Kovalam is an internationally renowned beach with three adjacent crescent beaches. A massive rocky promontory on the beach has created a beautiful bay of calm waters ideal for sea bathing.  Kovalam has three beaches separated by rocky outcroppings in its 17 km coastline, the three together form the crescent of the Kovalam beach. Kovalam means “coconut grove,” after the coconut trees which are common there.

Wiki Trivia: Kovalam first received attention when the Regent Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore constructed her beach resort, Halcyon Castle, here towards the end of the 1920s. Thereafter the place was brought to the public eye by her nephew the Maharaja of Travancore. The European guests of the then Travancore kingdom discovered the potentiality of Kovalam beach as a tourist destination in the 1930s. In the early 1970s, many hippies came on their way to Ceylon on the Hippie Trail, beginning the transformation of a casual fishing village in Kerala into a significant tourist destination

Lighthouse Beach:  The southernmost beach, Lighthouse Beach, is the one most frequented by tourists. It got its name due to the old Vizhinjam Lighthouse located on top of the Kurumkal hillock, 35 meters high. The lighthouse is built using stones, is colored in red and white bands, and stands at a height of 118 feet

However, we weren’t impressed with the part of the beach that we ventured into.  It looked like a black sand beach.