Kerala, for somebody who has never been
Munnar, Thekkady, Fort Kochi and the backwaters — how to put them in an order that does not feel like a checklist.
The most common Kerala mistake is trying to see the tea hills, the wildlife, the backwaters and the beaches in five days, and spending the whole time in a car. Kerala is a small state with a lot of mountains in the middle of it, and every route from one place to another goes up.
Seven days is the honest number. This is how we use them.
Start in Fort Kochi, not in the hills
You land at Cochin airport and the sensible thing is to stay in Fort Kochi for two nights. The Chinese nets, the spice market, Jew Town's synagogue, the art deco buildings on Marine Drive — it is the most concentrated good day in the state.
Most people try to skip straight to Munnar. They arrive at eight in the evening having been in a car for five hours, eat in a hotel restaurant, and go to bed. They have seen the tea hills from a windscreen.
Munnar wants two nights, not one
Munnar is at 1,600 metres and it is twelve degrees cooler than Kochi. The tea estates are the point, and an estate is only interesting if you are there early. The pluckers are out at six, the mist is in the valleys at seven, and by ten the coaches have arrived.
Two nights gives you one proper morning in the estate and one day at Eravikulam for the tahr. That is enough.
Thekkady is the part people underrate
Most itineraries give Thekkady a stop for lunch on the way down from Munnar. Give it a night. The spice plantation walk is the best hour in Kerala, and the wildlife drive at dawn the next morning is genuinely worth setting an alarm for.
One night on the water is the point of the trip
The backwaters are the reason people come to Kerala, and one night on a houseboat does what five days of stops cannot. You board at Kumarakom or Alleppey in the afternoon, the boat moves, you eat, you watch the palm channels go past, you sleep.
The temptation is to add a second night. You can, and we often suggest it, but the second night is the one where you stop being excited about it. One is better.
Key Highlights:
- Two nights Fort Kochi, two Munnar, one Thekkady, one houseboat, one Kochi.
- Book the houseboat for a weekday if you can.
- Ask for a boat with an engine — the electric ones are silent in a good way and terrible in a bad way.
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