Recreation : The Cashew Shaped pool, slightly elevated to give a commanding view is popular including the honeymoon couples who swim there in the early evening to the sounds of Indian classical music drifting across from the Garden Café. For those who prefer not to venture beyond the bounds of the resort itself, there are plenty of things to do. Simple bamboo fishing poles are available, too, and though the restaurant offers many fine seafood dishes on its ever-varied lunch and dinner menus, the chef nonetheless promises to cook any fish an angler catches from the lagoon. Be warned, however, that no prizes are given for catching a monster from the fish farm within the confines of the hotel, though no punishment is meted out for doing so, either.

Bird Sanctuary: On the southern bank of the Kavanar River, immediately opposite Coconut Lagoon, is a small bird sanctuary, where numerous species of birds, several varieties of Herons roost. Including Darters, Bitterns, Brahminy kites, Marsh Harriers, Teals, and several varieties of Herons roost. Though many of the same birds also frequent the resort’s premises serious bird watchers should carry their binoculars at all times, even to restaurant- it may be worthwhile to visit the preserve as well. A five-minute boat ride (which the Reception Desk can arrange), followed by a short stroll on the other side, will get you there. Walk along the stream until you come to a small log bridge, across it and, presto, you’re in the sanctuary. A 6:00 am start is best.

Sunset Cruise: You can watch the sun set from a hammock near your bungalow or, better yet, from the middle of Lake Vembanad, on board Coconut Lagoon's beautifully restored Kettuvallam, expressly for this purpose. There can be few better ways to adjust to the pace of backwater life than to spend the warning hours of the afternoon just watching the sun go down. You can do this from a hummock near your bungalow, better yet, from the middle of Lake Vembanad, on board Coconut Lagoon’s beautifully restored Kettuvallam, which has been converted from a transport vessel into a cruise boat expressly for this purpose. Punted by two boatman equipped with long bamboo poles, the boat floats silently out across the waters as flocks of Garganey teals and other migratory and resident birds return to their lakeside roosts in such thick formations they cloud the evening sky. Drinks are served on board, and an extraordinary stillness descends as the sun, a vivid orange orb in its final few moments, slips rapidly below the horizon.

A relaxing boat trip through the maze of canals adjacent to Coconut Lagoon is a fascinating experience, and a delightful way to get a closer look at life in the backwater. One-or-two-hour trips can be arranged in any one of the resort’s several motor launches., or for the more adventurous, the hotel has two local-style canoes, or vallam, which guests can take out on their own. Ask the chef for a packed lunch and lose yourself on the backwaters for a whole day, if you wish. Or you can make a foray into Lake Vembanad, where the local village men who make a livelihood from the lake bob about in its chest-deep waters, as if performing some strange dance. In fact, they’re trapping freshwater prawns, creating ridges in the mud with their feet to do so, and collecting mussel shells from the bottom to be processed as lime.