Kerala · 14 days for first-time visitors
moderateA slow loop through south India's greenest state — tea hills, backwaters, spice coast and beaches — paced for people who've never travelled in India before.
The route on a map
Numbered pins follow the day order. Click a pin to see the base town.
Is this route right for you?
The honest version. Read the red block as seriously as the green one.
Good fit if
You want to ease into India rather than dive into the Delhi deep end. You're happy trading pace for texture — long train rides, slow boats, lingering breakfasts — and you'd rather eat at a banana-leaf lunch counter than a hotel buffet. Nature and food matter more to you than monuments.
Skip if
You want the classic India postcard — Taj Mahal, Rajasthan forts, Varanasi ghats. Kerala is green, wet and Dravidian, not the golden-desert-and-palace India people imagine. Skip too if you need firm scheduling and spotless logistics; things run on rubber time here. June to September is actively monsoon — many homestays close and the backwaters flood.
When to go
Highlights
Festivals, closures, and seasonal events worth planning around.
Onam
Kerala's biggest festival — a harvest celebration that everyone takes part in regardless of religion. Flower carpets (pookalam) outside every doorstep, snake-boat races on the backwaters, and the sadhya feast: 20+ vegetarian dishes served on a banana leaf.
Last checked 2026-04-22 · Official source ↗
Monsoon
Kerala catches the full force of the southwest monsoon — the greenest months of the year, but also the wettest in India. Many homestays and houseboat operators close or reduce service. Roads in the hills can wash out.
Last checked 2026-04-22 · Official source ↗
Thrissur Pooram
One of India's most spectacular temple festivals — caparisoned elephants, massive percussion ensembles and an extraordinary fireworks display at dawn. Thrissur is about 90 minutes north of Kochi.
Last checked 2026-04-22 · Official source ↗
Peak season crush
Christmas through New Year is when Indian domestic tourism and European winter-escape tourism collide. Houseboat rates can triple, popular homestays book out months ahead, and Varkala and Kovalam beaches get genuinely crowded.
Last checked 2026-04-22 · Official source ↗
Kathakali performances
Kerala's classical dance-drama — elaborate green face paint, stylised hand gestures, stories from the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Tourist-facing shows include a makeup demonstration and a short performance, which is how to see it without committing to a 6-hour temple version.
Last checked 2026-04-22 · Official source ↗
Entry & visas
Drive is on the left (same as UK). India is strict about prescription medication — carry original packaging and a doctor's note for anything controlled (especially sleeping pills, strong painkillers, ADHD meds). No drone imports without permit.
Visa information last checked 2026-04-22. Official source ↗
Connectivity
Practicalities
Plugs, water, and anything customs might flag.
Type A plugs (US-style flat pins) work directly. US travellers need no adapter at all. Japan's 100V is lower than the US 120V or European 230V — most modern chargers handle it, but older hair dryers or curling irons may run slow or fail. Eastern Japan is 50Hz, western Japan is 60Hz; most devices work with both.
Tap water is excellent throughout Japan. Locals drink it; it's served free at every restaurant. Bottled water is available but unnecessary.
Common ADHD stimulants (Adderall, Vyvanse, methylphenidate) are banned, including for personal use. Some common cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine also banned. Bring supporting documentation (doctor's note, prescription) and check Yakkan Shoumei requirements if bringing more than a month's supply of anything.
Strict limits on personal drug imports — even vitamins and supplements can trigger inspection if quantities look excessive.
Timezone
Arrival strategy
Most London flights arrive late evening or overnight into Kochi. Don't fight it — taxi straight to Fort Kochi, sleep in, and treat day one as a write-off for a rooftop breakfast and a gentle wander. Day 2 is when the trip really starts. From the US east coast this is a proper jet-lag; give it two nights before doing the long drive to Munnar.
Return strategy
Most UK-bound returns leave Kochi or Trivandrum late at night, which is actually useful — you can do a full final day and head to the airport after dinner.
Day by day
The plan you can lift into any itinerary app.
Land, sleep, rooftop breakfast
Prepaid taxi from the airport to Fort Kochi, about 40-60 minutes depending on traffic. Check in, shower, sleep properly — the jet-lag from London is mild but real. Breakfast the next morning on a rooftop overlooking the harbour and the Chinese fishing nets. Don't schedule anything for this day beyond arrival and a short wander in the late afternoon.
Colonial quarter on foot and a Kathakali evening
Fort Kochi is compact and flat — ideal for easing in on foot. Morning: the Chinese fishing nets at work, Santa Cruz Basilica, St Francis Church (where Vasco da Gama was briefly buried), a wander through Jew Town and the Paradesi Synagogue. Lunch at one of the old warehouse-conversion cafés. Afternoon nap. Evening: a Kathakali show — arrive early for the makeup application. Dinner somewhere in the spice market lanes.
Into the tea hills
Long drive east from Kochi up into the Western Ghats — 4-5 hours depending on traffic. The road winds hard in the last 90 minutes; take motion-sickness tablets if you're prone. Arrive mid-afternoon, settle into your plantation homestay, spend the first evening just absorbing how green and quiet it is. Sweater weather after dark, which is a shock after the coast.
Tea estates and the view from the top
Morning walk through the tea estates — the Kolukkumalai or Kannan Devan estates are the classic choices, both reachable with a local guide or jeep driver. The Tata Tea Museum gives the colonial-to-modern story in about 90 minutes. Eravikulam National Park is the afternoon option if you want Nilgiri tahr (mountain goats) and high-altitude views — note that it closes for calving season each year, dates shift, so check ahead.
Down through the cardamom hills to tiger country
3-4 hour drive south through spice country — cardamom, pepper, clove. Arrive in Thekkady by lunch. Afternoon: a short spice plantation tour (genuinely interesting rather than naff — you'll never look at cardamom the same way). Evening: Kalari martial arts or Kathakali demonstration in the village, both run daily for tourists but legitimately good.
Boats, bamboo rafts, or a long walk
Periyar Tiger Reserve is the day's focus. Options range from the (honestly quite tame) park boat ride on the lake, to a guided nature walk, to a full-day bamboo rafting trip with a ranger. The rafting is the standout if you're up for it — you won't see a tiger but you'll see elephants, wild boar, gaur and a lot of birds, away from the crowds. Book the ranger-led activities a day ahead.
Off the hills, onto the water
Long drive down out of the ghats to the coast — 4-5 hours. You arrive into a completely different Kerala: flat, wet, palm-fringed, silent apart from water. Check into a homestay on the backwaters rather than in Alleppey town itself (the town is scruffy; the waterfront is the point). Afternoon: a shikara (small punted canoe) ride through the narrow canals that houseboats can't reach — this is where you see actual village life.
Overnight on a kettuvallam
Board the houseboat around midday — they come with a crew of two to three including a cook. Lunch on board as you pull away. The rhythm is lunch, long slow hours of watching the water, sunset, fish dinner, stars, sleep. Pick an operator with a confirmed mooring plan for the night (open water not a crowded jetty). This is the single most memorable night of the trip, and it doesn't need to be fancy to work.
Disembark, slow morning, birdwatching
The houseboat delivers you back to land mid-morning. Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary is a lovely quiet detour — herons, darters, egrets, kingfishers, cormorants. Afternoon at a homestay on the lake, hammocks, reading, maybe an Ayurvedic massage (a proper one, not a spa version) to decompress before the next travel day.
South to the cliffs
Train or car south to Varkala, 3-4 hours. Varkala is the beach town that works — red-laterite cliffs, a path of cafés and shacks along the top, sand below. More local and less packaged than Kovalam. Afternoon: swim (watch the lifeguard flags, there are rip currents), sunset from a cliffside café, seafood dinner picked from ice.
Do genuinely nothing
A day for the hammock, a book, long breakfasts, a second swim, an afternoon yoga class (Varkala is one of those places — the classes are good and cheap), maybe a visit to the Janardanaswamy temple at the south end. Everyone builds Kerala plans with one 'empty' day and everyone is grateful for it by day 11.
Ayurveda, or a detour to Padmanabhapuram
Two good options: a half or full-day Ayurveda treatment at a reputable centre (look for certified practitioners, not resort-spa versions — ask your homestay for a recommendation), or a day trip south to Padmanabhapuram Palace, the largest wooden palace in Asia, about 2 hours by car. Both are the kind of thing you'd regret skipping but neither is essential.
Back north, closing the loop
Morning train back up the coast to Ernakulam — around 4 hours, comfortable in AC chair class and genuinely scenic through the coconut groves and paddy. Taxi across to Fort Kochi for the last night. Afternoon: return to a favourite café, pick up whatever you didn't buy the first time round (spices, tea, a block-printed tablecloth), final rooftop dinner.
Slow morning, long flight home
Breakfast, a final walk along the waterfront, checkout. If your flight is late evening (most London-bound ones are), you have a full day to kill — a Kerala cooking class in Fort Kochi is the ideal use of it, you eat what you cook as lunch. Taxi to the airport about 3 hours before departure to allow for traffic on the bridges.
Accessibility
Honest ratings for ten common travel needs, plus any extras relevant to this destination.
Malta is compact and doable without a car, which opens it up to more travellers than many Mediterranean destinations. English-first, EU standards, and short distances make this one of the easiest destinations on the codex.
Food
Kerala cuisine is built on coconut, curry leaves, black pepper, tamarind and the sea. Unlike north Indian food, rice rather than wheat is the staple, and many dishes use coconut milk rather than cream. Christian, Hindu and Muslim food cultures overlap here — you get beef curry, pork vindaloo-style dishes, vegetarian sadhya feasts and Malabar biryani all in one state.
A vegetarian feast served on a banana leaf — rice surrounded by 15-25 small preparations (sambar, avial, thoran, pickles, payasam for dessert). Eaten with your right hand. Onam is the big sadhya day but good places serve it year-round, especially for Sunday lunch.
Traditional 'meals' restaurants, often marked with a banana-leaf icon. Ask your homestay host — everyone has a favourite.
Appam is a lacy, bowl-shaped rice pancake with a spongy centre and crisp lace edge. Paired with a mild coconut-milk stew of chicken, mutton or vegetables. Classic breakfast, and everyone's introduction to Keralan food.
Every homestay breakfast, and tea shops from dawn till mid-morning.
Pearl spot fish marinated in a spicy masala, wrapped in banana leaf and grilled. The fish comes from the backwaters, so it tastes most like itself in Alleppey and Kumarakom.
Backwater restaurants and any houseboat with a cook on board.
Different from the north Indian version — smaller, more fragrant short-grain rice, traditionally cooked separately from the meat and layered at the end. Thalassery in the north is the spiritual home.
Muslim-run restaurants across the state; anywhere advertising 'Thalassery biryani' is a safe bet.
South India takes its coffee seriously. Strong decoction, frothy hot milk, served in a stainless-steel tumbler and dabara. A completely different experience from the chai you'll be offered everywhere else.
Old-school Indian coffee houses and traditional south Indian restaurants.
Steamed cylinders of ground rice layered with coconut, served with a black chickpea curry. Breakfast food that actually fills you up before a long day. Unusual texture that some people love and some find too dry.
Homestay breakfasts and small tea shops.
Fermented coconut-palm sap, mildly alcoholic and slightly sour. Served at roadside toddy shops (kallu shaap) that are part bar, part rough-and-ready restaurant with excellent fish fry and beef fry on the side. A local experience, not a luxury one.
Authorised toddy shops, often on rural roads — your homestay host can point you to a clean one.
Bland, portion-controlled buffets marketed as 'authentic Ayurvedic cuisine' to wellness tourists. Real traditional Kerala food is already largely plant-based and balanced — you're paying a premium for steamed vegetables with no salt.
Stick to bottled or filtered water. Ice at lower-end restaurants is often made from tap water. Fresh juices from street stalls are a common source of traveller's stomach upset — the juice itself is fine but the water in the blender may not be.
Bottled water is available everywhere. Hotels often provide filtered water in glass bottles in rooms.
Budget
Real daily costs at three spending levels. All prices in GBP.
Homestay or guesthouse rooms, meals at local joints and thali lunches, second-class AC trains and local buses, a shared houseboat day-trip (not overnight), minimal paid entries.
Nice homestays and heritage hotels with breakfast, mix of local and nicer restaurants, private car transfers for the longer hops, one overnight houseboat, an Ayurveda treatment or cooking class.
Boutique plantation bungalows and heritage properties, fine dining and tasting menus, private car and driver for the full 14 days, premium houseboat with upper deck, a full Ayurveda package.