Welcome to God's Own Country
Kerala, the narrow green state squeezed between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats, markets itself as God's Own Country, and for once the slogan undersells the reality. In a single week you can drift through palm-fringed backwaters on a converted rice barge, watch centuries-old fishing nets rise over a colonial harbour, walk between emerald tea bushes at 1600 metres and finish with an ayurvedic massage by the ocean. The pace is gentler than in the north, the food lighter and the landscape endlessly, improbably green.
The backwaters: a night on a houseboat
The classic Kerala experience is a houseboat cruise from Alleppey, also called Alappuzha. The boats, known as kettuvallam, are traditional rice barges rebuilt with bedrooms, a dining deck and a crew that includes your own cook; expect roughly 6000 to 15000 INR per night depending on season and comfort. You glide past coconut groves, rice paddies below water level, village churches and children paddling to school, while the cook turns out feasts of fish curry, coconut vegetables and fresh pineapple.
Book a licensed boat, agree the route and meals in advance, and consider the quieter canals around Kumarakom on Vembanad Lake if you want fewer boats around you. For a cheaper taste of the same world, local ferries and small shikara boats explore narrow channels the big barges cannot enter.
Kochi: spice port of many empires
Fort Kochi wears its history in layers: Portuguese churches, Dutch gables and British bungalows line lanes that smell of pepper and ginger. On the seafront, the giant cantilevered Chinese fishing nets are still worked by hand at dawn and dusk, and in the old Jewish quarter of Mattancherry the Paradesi Synagogue survives among antique shops and spice warehouses.
Do not miss an evening of kathakali, Kerala's spectacular dance drama. Arrive an hour early to watch the performers apply their elaborate green and red make-up, a slow ritual that is half the show, before drums and painted faces bring the epics to life.
Munnar: tea gardens in the clouds
A winding road climbs from the coast to Munnar, a hill station at about 1600 metres where entire mountainsides are upholstered in tea. Walks between the manicured bushes are the main event; add the small tea museum to see how the leaf is withered, rolled and fired, and look out for the endangered Nilgiri tahr in Eravikulam National Park. Mornings are crisp here even in high summer, so pack a light jacket.
Beaches and ayurveda
Kerala's coast is quieter than Goa's. Varkala is the favourite: a red laterite cliff above a long beach, with cafes and yoga schools strung along the cliff path. Kovalam, close to the capital, has a gentler lighthouse-backed bay. This is also the homeland of ayurveda: from simple oil massages to multi-week treatment programmes. Choose certified centres with qualified doctors rather than beachfront walk-ins, especially for longer therapies.
Elephant encounters are widely advertised across Kerala; if you want one, support only genuine sanctuaries that allow no riding and keep contact minimal.
Food, season and practical notes
Keralan cooking is a reason to visit in itself: fish curry sharpened with kokum, appam pancakes with stew, banana-leaf sadya feasts and puttu with chickpeas for breakfast.
- Best season: October to March, dry and pleasantly warm
- The monsoon from June to September is intense, though green and atmospheric
- Houseboats: about 6000 to 15000 INR per night, licensed operators only
- Trains and buses link Kochi, Alleppey and Varkala cheaply; hire a car with driver for Munnar
A relaxed loop of Kochi, Munnar, the backwaters and a beach takes 7 to 10 days and shows you a completely different India from the northern plains.