Varkala

Varkala is the one place on the Kerala coast where a laterite cliff drops straight into the sea, a formation unusual enough that geologists named the Varkala beds after it and the country has declared them a national geological monument. Freshwater springs seep out of the rock face and run down to the sand, which is why the beach below is called Papanasam, sin-destroying, and why families come here to scatter ashes and perform rites for the dead, particularly in the Malayalam month of Karkidakam. Above the cliff, a single footpath runs about a kilometre past cafes, tailors, yoga shalas and Ayurveda clinics; below it, families in cotton and travellers in swimwear share the same waves without anyone minding much.

The Janardanaswamy temple at the north end is ancient in parts, and keeps a bell said to have come off a wrecked Dutch ship. Fifteen minutes inland, Sivagiri Mutt holds the samadhi of Sree Narayana Guru, the reformer whose teaching, one caste, one religion, one god for all, reshaped modern Kerala; the pilgrimage from 30 December to 1 January fills the hill with crowds in yellow. A good day here is a dawn swim, a long breakfast on the cliff, an afternoon in the Kappil backwaters where a lake runs behind the dunes, and sunset from the north cliff.