Kumarakom Lake Resort

Plenty of Kerala resorts borrow the look of the traditional mana homestead. Kumarakom Lake Resort went further: it took 16th-century manas from their original locations and reassembled them by hand — plank by plank, tile by tile — on the shore of Vembanad Lake.

Heritage, reassembled plank by plank

The result is a village of carved gables and tiled roofs where the open-roofed bathroom, set in its own small courtyard, is standard issue across the villas and suites. Heritage Villas each keep a private pool and jacuzzi behind their walls; the Presidential Suites add a lake view and their own royal seclusion. The party piece is the 250-metre meandering pool, which winds past a bank of villas so that each has a private bathing cove off its sit-out — and the duplex versions stack a bedroom storey on top.

Here the swimming pool comes to your door.

The main pool plays its own trick, an infinity edge that seems to merge with the shimmering lake. Beyond it sit an Ayurveda centre, Ettukettu the speciality restaurant, Vembanad the seafood bar and a traditional thattukada tea shop. For full immersion, the resort's kettuvallom houseboats — built to the old norms, fitted with modern comforts — take the stay out onto the water itself.