My wife Suzanne and I traveled to Kerala to adopt our daughter who was living in a home run by Zac and Maria's sister and brother-in-law. Our first stay on our way to Delhi (as a new family) was with Zac and Maria. They treated our daughter as family, and us as long time friends. We shared with them a... More

Upon recommendation from friends in Chennai we stayed at Zac and Maria's home stay. From the moment I began conversing with him via email and phone my trip planning suddenly became easier. They helped us with many things: securing a nice decently priced houseboat, talking to our tuk tuk driver to tell him how to get to the place, an... More

The Tharavadu Homestay is a truly insightful experience into Mallayam life. From the fantastic home cooked meals (cook book available from Maria the chef!) to the suggestions and help on how to spend our time in Allepey, Zac and Maria (and Micky the dog) are incredibly welcoming and kind, the perfect hosts. The house itself is beautiful inside and out,... More

I travelled quite extensively around India with a few of my friends last summer (August 2012). We stayed largely at places that had received good reviews on TripAdvisor. Maybe it was because my expectations were high after reading positive reviews, but I was disappointed by a few of them. "Tharavadu Homestay" went above and beyond all of my high expectations.... More

Zac and Maria have a tastefully designed house and staying here feels like staying at a friend's. Although I didn't particularly love Allepey, its only attraction for me being the backwater boat ride, the stay at tharavadu was great fun. As hosts, they helped us organize all our day trips and even went very far (literally) to help us rent... More

I didn't particularly care for Alleppey, but staying with Zacharia and Maria made my visit worth it. Their home is located off one of the main roads (Cullen), so the location is centrally convenient, yet quiet. They have a large beautiful house on a plot of land that has been in Zacharia's family for several generations. Their three sons have... More

We stayed at Tharavadu Homestay for two nights at the tail end of our Kerala trip. It was our first homestay experience and we couldn't have been happier with our decision. Zac and Maria are extremely warm and friendly, and we felt like we were staying family. From the home cooked delicacies to the help with booking and travel arrangements... More

We, a family of four, stayed one night with Maria and Zak. The perfect hosts: friendly and interesting. They helped us getting a houseboat and to arrange quite a few other things. One of our best stays in Kerala! One thing though, make sure you get the ACroom, in one of the rooms the ventilation was bad and the night... More

Mr. & Mrs. Zackaria are an affable couple & an absolutely wonderful hosts. Mrs. Zackaria is an excellent cook & thanks to that we had some lip smacking traditional fish delicacies. Oh I still cant get over the taste of prawn stew & fish in banana leaf. She also has an exceptional taste in things overall - she has one... More