Periyar River Lodge

Exceptional service, top-notch staff, and outstanding food. Luxurious, comfortable rooms with perfect beds and cooling features. Beautiful outdoor/indoor lounge, private pool, and stunning riverfront location.

My wife and I spent 3 nights at Periyar River Lodge and had a wonderful stay. As described by previous reviewers, the property is beautiful with lush landscaping. The house is set directly on and slightly above the peaceful river. There are no other properties within eyesight, and the forest on the other side of the river is protected habitat. Guests have the whole 2-bedroom villa to themselves. There are two identical king bedrooms on each side of the house. Both have views of the river and attached bathrooms with open-air showers. The villa was purchased by the current owners in 2020 and renovated. The bedrooms have AC and ceiling fans, which kept the bedroom wonderfully cool, even though it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius). The living room and dining area have ceiling fans, and the veranda had upright stand fans as well. The pool overlooking the river was a godsend in the heat. It was a perfect temperature for lounging in the pool and cooling off. There are 4 chaise lounges, a couple tables with chairs, and an outdoor shower by the pool area. The pool is surrounded by vegetation and trees, which made for good birdwatching as well. We saw flocks of egrets and cormorants flying ***** the river each evening. We also saw terns, sunbirds, bulbuls, wood swallows, hornbills, bee eaters, and others. The staff at Periyar River Lodge are fantastic. They greeted us with smiles as we pulled into the property. Vivek, who is the general manager for all 3 One Earth properties, was there during our stay. He and his team took great care of us. Vivek made sure we happy and satisfied at all times. The rest of the team, including the new manager of the property, were all so kind, polite, respectful, and accommodating. They truly could not have been nicer. The tariff includes breakfast, but we also had lunch and dinner there every day. The meals are reasonably priced and the food is abundant and very good. We had different Indian dishes at breakfast, ***** with fresh fruit and juice, toast with butter/jam, and an option to have eggs cooked to order as well. We communicated with Vivek before our arrival about food preferences. We had chicken biryani (by our request) each day for lunch, which we enjoyed. For dinner we had prawns one night, then chicken stew and Periyar chicken the following nights. All were served with rice, a vegetable dish, and Kerala Porotta, which we love. For dessert we had ice cream, rice pudding, or caramel custard. We had more than we could eat! Since it was very hot while we were there, we did an early morning activity each day. Then we spent the rest of our days swimming and lounging by the pool or relaxing on the veranda. We enjoy birdwatching, so Vivek arranged for us to go birdwatching with an amazing local guide (Gireesh) two mornings. We were joined by a couple from Mumbai one morning and that same couple and a lovely woman from Hyderabad the next morning. Gireesh took us birdwatching in a local area one day and then i

We stopped here on the way back from Munnar and were completely amazed at how beautiful this location and lodge is. The service, from booking, arrival to lunch and afternoon tea have been wonderful so far. Bijju whom we booked with has been very helpful and welcoming. There is a beautiful outdoor/indoor lounge and kitchen dinning area, a private pool, a swing, sunbeds, lots of seating ***** the veranda, 2 modern double bedrooms with a lovely outdoor shower and bathroom area each. I highly recommend this lodge it's very modern, clean and idyllic.