Kerala, India

Houseboats through palm-lined backwaters, Ayurvedic retreats, and the best vegetarian food in India.

backwatersayurvedafoodecobeach

Best time to visit

Month	High	Low	Rain	Season
Jan	31°	23°	25 mm	prime
Feb	32°	24°	23 mm	prime
Mar	32°	25°	68 mm	prime
Apr	31°	26°	171 mm
May	30°	25°	371 mm
Jun	28°	25°	478 mm
Jul	28°	24°	446 mm
Aug	28°	24°	366 mm
Sep	28°	24°	305 mm
Oct	29°	24°	312 mm	prime
Nov	29°	24°	215 mm	prime
Dec	29°	23°	77 mm	prime

30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.

Serves travellers at Backpacker→Premium level. Typically around $60 a day on the ground.

Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.

Trains run the length of the coast and are the sane way to cover distance. Within towns it is autorickshaws. For the hills and the backwater villages, hiring a car with a driver for a few days is normal and self-driving is not.
getting around · editorial
Kochi is the main airport, with Trivandrum and Kozhikode as alternatives depending on which end of the state you want. The backwaters at Alleppey are about an hour and a half by road from Kochi, and the last leg onto a houseboat is by water.
getting there · editorial
Kerala restricts alcohol sales more tightly than most Indian states, and many restaurants do not serve it at all. Temples expect covered shoulders and legs, and several of the famous ones admit Hindus only.
know before · editorial
Digital payment is everywhere in the towns and cards work in hotels. Carry cash for autorickshaws, ferries and village shops, and draw it in the cities rather than in the hills.
money · editorial
The southwest monsoon soaks the state from June through August. April and May before it breaks are heavy and hot. The rain is part of the Ayurvedic season, so this is a choice rather than a ban.
when not to go · editorial
Fort Kochi for colonial streets and the ferry. Alleppey and Kumarakom for the backwaters. Munnar and Wayanad for tea and cool air. Varkala for the clifftop beach and Kovalam for the older resort strip.
where to stay · editorial

Chinese nets of Fort Kochi
Ten-metre wooden scales worked by counterweight, since the 14th century.
The Alappuzha backwaters
Nine hundred kilometres of connected channels behind the coast.
Varkala Cliff
A red escarpment falling straight to the beach, with springs coming out of the wall.
The tea plantations of Munnar
Sixteen hundred metres up, and slopes covered as far as you can see.
Padmanabhaswamy Temple
A reclining Vishnu, seen through three doors. Only Hindus may enter; the facade is the point.
Periyar
An artificial lake from 1895 with dead trees still standing in the water.

Eat a sadya served on a banana leaf, with your hand
Sadya on a banana leaf
Twenty-odd dishes on a single leaf, eaten with the right hand.
Meen moilee
Fish in coconut milk with turmeric. Mild, and that is not a fault.
Toddy
Coconut sap fermented the same day. By the afternoon it is a different drink.

Watch a Kathakali starting with the make-up, two hours before
A kathakali performance with the make-up being done
Two hours of painting beforehand, and that is the part almost nobody watches.
A night in the backwaters
The engine goes off, and what is left is frogs, birds and water against the hull.

Walk inside the tea plantations
Twenty kilometres of picking paths between Munnar and the villages.