Guest Book
"An unforgettable stay - beautiful hotel, extremely helpful staff"
Secret Garden is hidden away in a peaceful neighborhood only 10 minutes walk to town and the river. Almost every rikshaw and taxi driver knows the whereabouts, so no trouble getting there! The house is beautiful and rooms spacious. Veranda, pool, good company, And the staff tales extremely good care of their guests: Faizal the Manager has a solution to everything, Diraaz plans both your breakfasts and trips around, lovely Valsa and Bindu keep your rooms clean and fresh and George at the gate is your watchman and wakeup-call for early flights.
All service in Secret Garden is warm, friendly and of high quality.The owner, Þóra, generously plans and gives advise on tours, shopping, adventure, eating and experiencing the wonders that Kerala has to offer.
gudrunbach - Stayed November 2011, travelled solo
“beautiful and relaxing”
We arrived at 5 AM from the overnight train from Madurai and the manager got us settled with no difficulty. This is a compound property with the best of tropical amenities (fans, mosquito netting, mosquito lamps). Breakfast is superb, with homemade bread, yoghurt, and capuccino. Wireless is included, even though it was a bit spotty. I can't say enough about the staff and their willingness to help in any way.
Judith F, North Bennington, Vermont - Stayed October 2011, travelled with friends
"Highly recommend"
This was our second trip to India, and we found the SG to be a fantastic place to stay. First of all the staff are amazingly helpful, genuine, and kind. Thank you Deeraj and Faizal for all uour help! Second, the attention to detail is great: comfortable mattresses, fluffy pillows, big and absorbent towels, strong air conditioning, and extremely tasteful decoration in the rooms. It was off season when we were there, so we had the place to ourselves. If you want a special room, ask for the room with the murals in it. Also, Faizal arranged for us to have a driver take us to see what we wanted to see in Kerala. If you need a car, ask for Suresh to be your driver. He was the best!!
Room Tip: Ask for the room with the murals and the day bed.
NYCitykat, NYC - Stayed July 2011, travelled as a couple
"Haven in Fort Cochin"
We were staying some way out of Cochin so decided to treat ourselves to one night in the old town. A lot of the upmarket hotels are very very expensive and the Secret Garden reviews in the Lonely Planet sounded like a good upper midrange option with the benefit of a pool ( essential with small kids and temperatures in the 30's)
The hotel took a bit of finding although once we had checked that it was in Bishop Garden lane the rickshaw driver was able to find it quickly.
We stayed in the most fabulous suite with large four poster bed, fab air-conditioning, free wifi and private balcony. The kids were able to share a huge window seat that they hotel made up into a very comfy bed.
The pool was lovely and very welcome in the heat. We also enjoyed the basic but tasty breakfasts of fresh toast and muesli and fresh fruit juices. The secret garden was within walking distance of all the main sights and we really enjoyed pottering round the back streets to search out the restaurants and coffee shops.
KathmanduKate, Kathmandu - Stayed April 2011, travelled with family
"Cosy-sweet and safe"
I heard about Secret Garden from a friend and booked two weeks to work and experience Kerala. As the arrival to India often is a bit of a culture chock, we were very pleased on our arrival at The Secret Garden.
We had a warm welcome from the staff and the owner. Everyone was so sweet and kind and assisted us with everything we needed, to get the most out of our stay. And we really enjoyed the biking experience where the owner took us for sightseeing showing us all the hidden places that we had not heard off. It felt great to walk out and experience beautiful Cochin but still come home and feel really safe and well taken care off. We tried dinner at Brunton Boatyard witch served fantastic seafood. We also visited Kalari Kovilakom an Ayuruvedic center .
Then Flori the cook at Secret Garden showed me how to make Indian bread and tea something that has become very useful at home. We tried the restaurant The Ginger House in Jew Town, And also did some boating enjoying the beautiful Chinese fishnets that was going up and down. I was really pleased with my trip, I thought the house itself reminded me of what I have seen in the British Indian movies the brown tree furniture's , all the colors, the mango tree in the garden and white sheets. I think the staff was so very kind and helpful as well as the owner whom gave us so many great tips where to go what to see and where to eat.
I dearly recommend staying in Secret Garden and will be back next year:)
Yesmine Olsson, Helsingborg - Stayed February 2011, travelled on business
"Everything we wished for and more! :)"
It felt like entering heaven when we arrived in Secret Garden! We (my fiance and me) had been traveling all over India for two months (and had one month to go) and we felt like we really needed some peace and tranquility.
Secret Garden turned out to be everything we had wished for and more! The place is beautiful, the staff was super friendly and our room was really nice (had the best bed we tried in India). Thora, the owner is (as we found out during our week long stay) an architect with a great eye for detail, whether it's the food on the table (healthy and delicious) or the linen on your bed (crispy clean) everything was superb.
Secret Garden has a friendly atmosphere and our time there was like a luxury vacation within our vacation. Cochin is a wonderful place with great cafes, restaurants, galleries, theaters ands shops. We went all over India and Secret Garden, Cochin is the #1 place we recommend to our friends and family :)
mariak77, Reykjavik, Iceland - Stayed January 2011, travelled as a couple