Samiira on Ashtamudi Lake

Beautiful property with a lakefront setting and traditional kerala architecture. Very pleasant even at mid afternoon with a nice breeze throughout the day. Staff were friendly. Overall good value for money in a low key area.

A small hotel, converted from what was supposedly a boat house, Samiira on Ashtamudi Lake was a decent find while looking for a place to stay for a couple of nights on the Ashtamudi Lake. The property is less than 3 kilometres from Kollam Railway Station and one can easily hire an auto-rickshaw for the transfer. It is right on the Ashtamudi lake, with the more pompous Raviz and Allseason spotted across. We stayed in Room 106 on the first floor of the two-storeyed building. The floor has four rooms, with the common verandah being the place to sit and enjoy the views of the lake. The delectable food, catering to all tastes and palates is the one facet that can more than offset a couple of negatives that I experienced during our stay. While the rooms had ACs, there was no blanket provided, and all that was there were a couple of extra bedsheets to wrap around while sleeping. Even on being explicitly asked for, the blankets did not arrive, and all that we got were a couple more of those bed sheets. A first time experience I would have rather not had. While the staff is usually around and delivering, they seem to get overwhelmed if the small hotel becomes a bit full, let's say with around ten odd people. This is something that we experienced during lunchtime on the day we checked out. With the arrival of a family of around 7-8 people at that time at the property, we were left waiting at the lunch table for quite some time despite being called from our rooms saying lunch is ready. And apart from we two, the newly arrived family were the only guests on the property at that time. I hope that the staff members upskill themselves soon enough to be able to handle what is supposed to be normal workload. And yes, I also expect the rooms to have blankets for a comfortable sleep.

A wonderful place for a small family vacation . There is ample space for kids to play too . We stayed for 2 nights in Aug 22, the place has been opened in Jan 22 , the staff , clean rooms with all modern amenities. The place is very close to Kollam city . They have 8 rooms spread over 2 floors , all the rooms face the lake . Since the floor of the upper level is made of wood, guests on the lower floor are disturbed by the noise of people walking which is the one drawback of the place . The breakfast is complimentary and good with some local Kerala recipes adding the extra zing . The lunch and dinner menu could do a lot of improvement since there is an absence of variety . The cook Akhil cooks good food so fail to understand why they cannot have more variety. One more drawback is in case they have a group of guests for a party , then the residents are forced to partake the buffet prepared for the function , which is peculiar. The staff ,Robin and others try to give a homely ambience to the place . Other than the food the place is one to definitely visit. You can enjoy the cool breeze while lazing on the verandah . The breeze continues late into the night too