Travel in Kerala

Kerala is the tropical strip of coast and hill country along India's south-west. On our itineraries it means four places, and only four: the Periyar hills around Thekkady, the backwaters at Alleppey, the port city of Kochi, and the beach at Marari. Four trips in the catalogue include it — three touring routes and a five-day beach stay.

The Periyar leg is built the same way on all three touring routes. Thekkady sits inside the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary; on the 14-day trip the road there runs through the Cardamom Mountains. There is a boat trip on Periyar Lake, and the day notes say "depending on the water level" — a real caveat, not small print. There is a walk along the sanctuary boundary, outside the park rather than in it. And there is an afternoon drive through the spice hills with a stop at a plantation, to see how tea, pepper and cardamom are grown. All three include an evening demonstration of Kalaripayattu, the Keralan martial art.

Then down to Alleppey and onto a houseboat. These are converted rice boats: a bedroom, a bathroom with a shower, an open lounge on deck, and a small galley where the crew cooks. You board in the afternoon, move through palm-lined lagoons, rivers and canals, and wake on the water as the fishermen push out and the villages along the bank start their day. It is one night on all three touring routes — an overnight, not a cruise.

Kochi carries the history. Fort Cochin, Mattancherry Palace, the Jewish synagogue, St Francis Church with Vasco da Gama's tomb, the Chinese fishing nets in the harbour, and the spice and antique markets. The evening is a Kathakali performance — the movements, the costumes, and old stories out of Hindu mythology. Its place in the route moves: day nine on the 14-day trip, before Periyar; after the backwaters on the other two.

Marari is the fourth piece, and nothing is scheduled in it. Mararikulam is a fishing village with a palm-lined beach, reached from Kochi. On India – from North to South it is the final full day, and the day notes state plainly that no vehicle and no guide are provided there. On the 25-day trip it is shorter still — lunch and an afternoon on the sand on the way from the backwaters to Kochi. It also sells on its own as a five-day beach stay from EUR 400.

How Kerala fits a wider trip depends on your time. On South India – Exotic World (11 days, from EUR 1,570) it is the last five days, after Chennai, Mahabalipuram, the Tanjore temples and Madurai. On India – from North to South (14 days, from EUR 1,840) it is the whole second half: you fly Jaipur to Kochi after the Golden Triangle and Ranthambore, and the trip turns from forts and tiger safaris to water and beach. On The diversity of South India (25 days, from EUR 2,860) it sits in the middle, days eight to twelve, before the route carries on to Coimbatore, Ooty, Mysore, Hampi and Goa.

One thing worth stating plainly, because Kerala pages elsewhere promise it: none of these itineraries go to Munnar. The tea on our routes is in the Periyar spice hills above Thekkady. If Munnar tea estates are what you pictured, say so before you book rather than finding out on day nine.