When arriving through the big red door of the Xandari Harbour hotel you are welcomed with the beautiful view of the garden, pool and harbour - a little bit of paradise after the crazy hustle from the ferry and streets of Kochi.
Edwin greeted us with cold towels and ginger welcome drinks in test tubes... this is a boutique hotel and has a modern cool vibe going on within the walls of this former warehouse. Check in was efficient and we were shown to our harbour view room which was large and spotlessly clean, and included a verandah over the harbour (100% worth paying the small amount extra to get these rooms).
The design is very cool - minimalist furniture, polished concrete floors, large waterfall showers/wet rooms, beautiful tile work, soft linens and cosy towels.
The hotel arranged a local guide, Usha, who was excellent. Fort Kochi is small and the walking tour took only 3 hours but covered the main sights and provided some history and local sights you wouldn’t know about without a guide.
We ate a few times at the restaurant - food was freshly made and the Kerala specials were a lush change from our northern Indian food the week before. All the restaurant staff were so friendly and went the extra mile to provide great service.
The only small area of improvement for me is the pool/lounge area which needs a bit of a clean up as it’s looking a bit worn out. However it didn’t stop us enjoying the pool and loungers.
Looking forward to returning again!