Kerala Backwaters & Beaches TourGod's Own Country

Arrive Fort Kochi

Arrival · Kochi

Met at Cochin airport and settled into a heritage hotel in atmospheric Fort Kochi. As the light softens you walk the waterfront beneath the cantilevered Chinese fishing nets, past the 16th-century St Francis Church where Vasco da Gama was first buried, and into the spice-scented lanes and antique shops of Mattancherry. The evening ends with a performance of Kathakali, the painted, gesture-rich dance-drama of Kerala.

Highlight The cantilevered Chinese fishing nets silhouetted against a copper sunset on the harbour.

Kochi to Munnar

Kochi → Munnar (≈4 hrs)

A morning climb east into the Western Ghats, the air cooling and the road winding up past tumbling waterfalls and the first tea slopes. You reach Munnar's green amphitheatre of estates by afternoon, with time to settle into your hill retreat and breathe the cool, fragrant air.

Highlight Tea terraces folding into mist as the road climbs into the hills.

Munnar · the tea hills

Munnar

A full day in the tea country. Early to Eravikulam National Park, home of the endangered Nilgiri tahr, before the mist lifts; then a working tea estate and the quirky Tea Museum to see the leaf become the cup. The afternoon takes in the Mattupetty dam and the long view from Top Station, the plains of Tamil Nadu opening far below.

Highlight Dawn over the rolling tea hills, pluckers already moving through the bushes.

Munnar to Periyar

Munnar → Thekkady (≈3.5 hrs)

Down through the cardamom hills to Thekkady and the Periyar Tiger Reserve. A guided walk through a working spice plantation - cardamom, pepper, clove and vanilla - explains Kerala's spice wealth, and at dusk a boat on Periyar lake drifts past submerged trees, with elephant, gaur and deer coming to the water's edge.

Highlight Elephants at the water's edge from the Periyar lake boat as the light goes soft.

Periyar to an Alleppey houseboat

Thekkady → Alleppey (≈4 hrs)

West to the backwaters at Alleppey, where you board a private kettuvallam - a converted rice-barge with its own crew and cook. Through the long afternoon you cruise the palm-lined canals past paddy fields, toddy-tappers and village life, meals prepared fresh on board, and moor for a still night on the water under the stars.

Highlight The backwaters turning glassy at dusk, lamplight from the villages along the banks.

Backwaters to the coast

Alleppey → Marari / Kovalam (≈1–3 hrs)

A final backwater breakfast as the mist lifts off the water, then a transfer to the coast for a gentle finish - the long, quiet sands of Marari or the livelier curve of Kovalam, an Ayurvedic massage, and the warm Arabian Sea.

Highlight The Arabian Sea turning copper as the fishing boats come in at sunset.

Departure

Coast · Departure

A last slow morning by the sea before your transfer to Cochin or Trivandrum airport for your onward flight.