Kerala: Somatheeram – Meatball in Oil

8. – 15. December 2025

 

 

On the 8th, I set off for the airport and a little over three hours later arrived far in the south, at Trivandrum Airport. The night before hadn’t been very good, and toward the end of the flight a really bad phase began. I quickly found the driver picking me up, collapsed into the car—and then I was just shivering. Fever. And quite high.

 

I arrived quite ill at the Ayurveda hospital Somatheeram, a little south of Trivandrum by the sea. I was mainly occupied with how sick I felt, but even then I could already see that I had arrived in an exceptionally beautiful setting. And the people, too, were extraordinarily kind, quick, and helpful. I was shown to my cottage, sank into a clean, soft bed, and then a doctor came bustling in. Later, rice soup arrived—which I didn’t want at all, but which I had to take as a base for the medicine. Then came the medicine, and soon after that I fell asleep.

 

The next morning the fever was actually already gone, and I was able to look around and see where I was. Somatheeram is perched on a kind of cliff, with a wonderful view over the beach and out to the sea. I had a cottage right in the front row.

 

 

 

 

It is a really beautiful property with various cottages, bungalows, and rooms for around 100 guests. And even when many of the beds are occupied, you don’t really notice how large the place is. I find that great already.

 

 

 

 

I found the architecture very successful — a blend of comfort, closeness to nature, traditional design, and many beautiful details.

 

Then I had a consultation appointment with a doctor and a female doctor. Besides two or three chronic health issues and the major fever episode, I had basically been constantly battling colds or feeling unwell for the entire past five weeks. I was measured, questioned, examined—and diagnosed. I was given a treatment plan and quite a lot of medication. Every day before the treatment there was another consultation with the doctors, including a report on bowel movements and a blood pressure check (interestingly, my blood pressure was much lower the whole time than it is at home). So there was a great deal of attention paid to my overall physical condition..

 

 

 

You have two hours of treatments every day. To be honest, I had imagined them as simply pleasant and relaxing, but that wasn’t the case. I find it hard to lie there for two hours, and all that oil was too much for me to experience it as pure bliss. The therapists often worked on me in pairs. At times I felt like a lump of meat being pounded with an oil marinade. But they were very kind, attentive, and professional.

 

 

 

 

My therapist was almost a head shorter than me and always had to stretch quite a bit. The treatment table itself is quite ingeniously designed – it allows for many more treatment options than just “slippery oil massage”.

 

After the treatment, I was given a face mask, wrapped in a green robe, and had to wait until I could wash everything off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is my sleeping place for the night:

 

 

At first I thought the program was a bit sparse with just the two hours, but it actually turned out to be enough for me. I wasn’t fit, so the yoga program was really too much for me. Instead, I went swimming in the pool:

 

 

 

And one more word about the food. There was always a huge buffet with wonderfully presented dishes, all very tasty. But—damn, damn, damn—after the diagnosis you are given dietary restrictions, and unfortunately a lot of things were off-limits for me. Still, there was at least something I was allowed to eat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

One morning I went down to the beach; there’s an elevator for that. It was nice to have my feet in the sea, but somehow the excursion completely wiped me out. I guess I really was just ill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Somatheeram is a hospital resort, but it’s not the only one. Since the concept has proven financially successful, the founder was able to establish two additional resorts: Manaltheeram and Ayursoma. They are located close to each other and are very similar in terms of atmosphere. You can’t really say which one is more beautiful. I visited all three.

 

And then there were two evenings of entertainment: one dance performance and one martial arts demonstration. Both were lovely to watch. For this, the buffet and tables were set up around a kind of stage, which added some variety (some guests stay for two to three weeks — and one woman had even been there for six!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Und sonst? Nach 7 Tagen wurde ich entlassen, ohne Fieber und Erkältung und allem. Nur schlapp fühlte ich mich weiterhin. Und der Rest war wie vorher. Aber 7 Tage sind da wohl auch zu wenig.  Weihnachten stand auch an der Rezeption vor der Tür.

 

 

 

Conclusion: Ayurvedic medicine still strikes me as very effective. An Ayurvedic cure/therapy, however, is not something I personally find very appealing. I think I may have confused it with wellness — the idea of getting healthier as a pleasant side effect. Perhaps one needs to be more seriously ill? But for everyone who wants to try it or who has already had positive experiences, I think Somatheeram is a really excellent place that I can happily recommend. The professionalism combined with great kindness and care, as well as the well-designed architecture with its attention to detail, impressed me greatly. The availability of multilingual interpretation and the large number of repeat guests and people who come on recommendation are additional convincing points.

 

And me? I’m happy to have had a new experience once again!