Sometimes, you just want a getaway with a little…or a lot…of heart. Some place where enjoying sunsets and sunrises is not a luxury, but the norm. Where the beach is simply a lovely beach. Where there are beautiful seashells still waiting to be found. Where the sound of the sea is the sound of music. Where you can sit or lounge blissfully unperturbed. Where you feel afloat yet rooted. Some place like…Serena.
Surprisingly, despite its vast coastline, India does not have many luxurious beach resorts. With few exceptions, the ones that exist are clustered around Goa and Kerala or rather busy, inaccessible or unapproachable beaches. While destinations such as Pondicherry, Mahabalipuram and Vishakhapatnam are gaining popularity, options for weekend getaways with kids continue to be rather limited.
Enter: Serena Beach Resort, a fabulous find in an unexpected place. Located about an hour from the town of Bhuj in Gujarat, the property is situated on a lovely stretch of Mandvi beach. A convenient halt for those visiting the Rann Utsav, the property is best experienced as a destination in itself with or without kids.
Ingredient #1: A fun journey
When we set off for this unseen haven with a group of friends and a menagerie of kids, we were quite unsure of what to expect. Though there are direct flights from Mumbai to Bhuj, we opted to take an overnight train there and the flight back. The kids were practically falling over themselves in excitement and the merriment, songs, dance and laughter lasted throughout the very comfortable journey.
A journey that was punctuated by massive quantities of food. Think: homemade sandwiches, cold coffee, Gujarati staples thepla and aloo subzi, Maharashtrian vada pav, piping hot Punjabi samosas, delicious packed North Indian/fast food thalis from Surat station, a mountain of fresh sweets and a couple of sinful birthday cakes.
For any breaks in between meals, there were enough dry snacks to supply an army.
Gluttony complete. So much food should have wiped us out for the entire weekend, but it just whetted our appetite for more.
Whether it was the excitement or food-induced coma, the kids were blissfully knocked out for most of the journey. Score!
Ingredient #2: Serene Serena
A labour of love by the family that conceived it, Serena Beach Resort blends rustic charm and funky contemporary luxury: a traditional colourful three-wheeler proudly sits outside a lobby flanked by carved and hand-painted wooden pillars. Across the property, tyres are cleverly repurposed as planters and art installations, or as we used them, selfie/groupie props and spots.
Spacious rooms outfitted with modern amenities, contemporary interiors complete with regional fabrics, local handicrafts and thatched roofs overlook pretty landscaping. With themes ranging from Grecian to Indian, the pool villas are the highlight of the property. Open, airy and inviting, each villa is very unique and very private.
The garden villas, where we stayed, were also very large and beautiful with outdoor sit-outs. These sport an important feature that is missing in most properties: a bedroom and a sofabed-equipped separate living room with a bathroom for each room. For those of us with two kids that experience the daily morning bathroom rush, it was truly a blessing!
Ingredient #3: FOOD
For any peaceful trip, good food is a central requirement. The resort’s prime restaurant, Dunes, delivers an amalgamation of flavours that satisfy the most finnicky of eaters (kids and adults). From finger-lickingly good North Indian to palate-pleasing Italian and Asian, the talented Chef served up meals that turned into binge-fests. We managed to nibble or gobble pretty much everything from moussaka and macaroni to achari mushroom sabzi. To assuage our guilt, we loaded up on the fruits and salads, fresh from the family’s organic farm at their nature cure centre nearby.
Ingredients #4, 5, 6 and 7: Open space, beach, pool & games
The core ingredient to achieving parental nirvana is achieving kid-vana.
Mornings walks and sandcastle sessions on the beach were followed by leisurely lunches served in the cool restaurant overlooking the beach. Hot afternoons were spent in the indoor play areas with toys, board and video games or movies, followed by coffee or milkshakes and snacks by the gorgeous infinity pool that overlooks the beach, some splash time and more walks, sand castles on the beach and delicious feasts. To mix it up, the kids took a dip in the lovely pool at a friend’s pool villa or monkeyed around at the outdoor playground.
While we blissfully chose to graze and laze like happy cows, the property also offers a cycling track, mini-golf and local excursions for the more activity-inclined. For us, it was a fun and uncomplicated holiday that actually felt like a holiday.
Exactly the kind of break needed with kids. Kid-vana achieved.
A Lasting Vacation
There are properties where you stay and there are properties that stay with you. Serena Beach Resort is the latter. Long after the visit ends, visions of postcard-perfect sunsets on a quiet beach continue. In the sea of chaos, which is life, it is the memory of Serena that creates an island of calm.
…A mental getaway that can be taken whenever the mind pleases is the perfect way to find serenity.
Perpetually Tripping 