Yoga Magazine - March 2008
Built on the edge of a tiger sanctuary in a peaceful part of India, Chrissie’s Hotel has been receiving fantastic reviews from its guests. This small and friendly mid-range hotel is set amidst gardens and natural teak forests in the tranquil part of Kerala’s Thekkady mountainside village, and is situated only 900 meters away from the impressive Periyar Wildlife National Park, home to Indian elephants, tiger reserve, sloth bear, barking deer, reptiles and around 320 species of birds.
English-born Chrissie Hassan and her Egyptian husband Adel bought the land and started building at the beginning of 2004. Since its opening, word-of-mouth reviews have led to a busy season of travellers from around the world. “We treat our guests to a ‘home-from-home’ atmosphere, offering beautiful but affordable accommodation and stunning views of the neighbouring teak forests and Western Ghats mountain range,” said Chrissie, “Every room has a private balcony and our rooftop restaurant serves mouth-watering food.”
Chrissie’s Restaurant has quickly established a reputation for unbeatable European cuisine, although the village offers a full selection of north and south Indian dishes for those wanting more local and traditional dishes.
There are a host of excursions and activities just a stone’s throw away, which include spice garden visits, elephant rides through cardamom plantation, and day trips to the Madurai Temple in Tamil Nadu, the best temple in Southern India. For walkers there are expeditions along the ridge of the Ghat mountain range, which promises panoramic views over the planes of Tamil Nadu.
The Periyar Forest Commission also has a programme of activities which forms part of its conservation project that include forest treks by day or night, bamboo rafting, border hiking and boat trips across the stunning Periyar Lake.
For those wanting to stay closer to home, the hotel boasts an elevated 7x11-metre room for groups and UK teachers to use for yoga, singing, shiatsu, tai chi and alternative therapy holidays. Comfortably fitting 25 people, the room has an eco-friendly rubber wood floor, lots of windows and excellent views of the mountains and forests.
Originally working as a community and youth worker in London, Chrissie trained as a shiatsu practitioner and reiki master before moving to India in 2004, just a couple of years after meeting and falling in love with her husband whilst travelling through Egypt.
“I found this piece of land in Kerala not long after we met, whilst I was travelling through India,” explained Adel. “I fell in love with this part of Kerala, so close to the nature reserve, 900 meters high in the Western Ghat range and home to such a wealth of wildlife, flowers, spices and trees.”
Chrissie and Adel spend 10 months of the year running their hotel and rooftop restaurant, entertaining and looking after their guests. “We have a wonderful team of staff that do the day-to-day work,” said Chrissie, “which means we can concentrate on meeting the guests, setting up trips for them and introducing people to the sights, sounds and smells of this little piece of Indian heaven.”
Chrissie’s Hotel contains fifteen rooms in a mixture of doubles and twins, and all have their own private balconies which provide spectacular views of the mountains and sub-tropical rainforest. With so much to see and do guests are invited to enjoy Chrissie’s Hotel as a holiday destination rather than stopover, and some guests have booked for one night and stayed over a month. “You won’t want to leave,” warns Chrissie. “There is so much to see and do, although for some guests this is all about relaxing and doing very little in a very beautiful part of India.”