Kerala

Kerala strings together landscapes that shouldn't fit in one state: mist-cool tea plantations at Munnar, boat-safari wildlife on Periyar Lake, and the canal-veined backwaters of Alleppey — where you sleep aboard a converted rice barge as village life drifts past. Add 500 years of trading history at Fort Kochi and Ayurveda done properly, and it earns the hype.

Best time to visit

October to March — 18–30°C with post-monsoon greenery and reliable weather for backwater cruising; monsoon (June–September) is the traditional season for Ayurvedic treatment, when therapies are considered most effective.

Worth your days

Top attractions in Kerala

Alleppey Backwaters

A maze of canals, lagoons and paddy-field villages around Vembanad Lake, cruised overnight aboard kettuvallams — traditional rice barges converted into houseboats with bedrooms, a deck and an onboard cook.

Munnar

A tea town sitting at roughly 1,450–1,600 m in the Western Ghats, wrapped in plantation contours; neighbouring Eravikulam National Park protects the endangered Nilgiri tahr, under Anamudi — at 2,695 m the highest peak in peninsular India.

Periyar Tiger Reserve, Thekkady

One of India's few reserves where the safari happens by boat — cruises on Periyar Lake pass elephants and gaur at the waterline, with cardamom and pepper plantations at the park's edge.

Fort Kochi

A 16th-century European trading enclave where shore-operated Chinese fishing nets line the harbour and St. Francis Church (1503) — India's oldest European church — once held Vasco da Gama's remains.

Kathakali performance

Kerala's classical dance-drama, staged nightly at Kochi's cultural centres — arrive an hour early to watch performers apply the elaborate green make-up that defines the art form.

Athirappilly Falls

A broad curtain of water about 24 m high on the Chalakudy River — widely called Kerala's largest waterfall and at full roar in and just after the monsoon.

Do it properly

Activities & experiences

• Overnight houseboat cruise on the Alleppey backwaters with onboard Kerala meals
• Tea-estate walk and tea museum visit in Munnar
• Boat safari on Periyar Lake at Thekkady
• Spice garden tour in cardamom country
• Ayurvedic massage or multi-day wellness programme
• Sunset at the Chinese fishing nets in Fort Kochi
• Village shikara canoe ride through Alleppey's narrow canals
• A sadya feast served on a banana leaf