Kerala: Backwaters and Hills
Seven days from the coast up to the tea, and back down to the water.
Wellness Retreat · 7 days · November to March
Kochi for the colonial port and the fishing nets, then up to Munnar where the tea estates start at 1,600 m and the temperature drops fifteen degrees, then back down to Alleppey for two nights on the backwaters. Three climates in a week, none of them more than four hours from the last.
Day by day
- Day 1
Fort Kochi
Land, cross to the peninsula, and walk it before dark.
17:00Chinese fishing nets
Cantilevered nets introduced from the Chinese court in the fourteenth century, still operated by hand.
They are worked at the turn of the tide, which is when there is anything to watch.
- Day 2
The port town
The layers, in chronological order, on foot.
09:30St Francis Church
1503, the oldest European church in India, and Vasco da Gama was buried here before being moved to Lisbon.
11:00Mattancherry Palace
Portuguese-built, Dutch-renovated, and the mural cycle inside is the finest in Kerala.
17:00Kathakali performance
The regional dance-drama, in the place it is from rather than a hotel ballroom.
Arrive an hour early for the make-up, which takes longer than the performance and is more interesting.
- Day 3
Up to Munnar
Four hours climbing through rubber, then cardamom, then tea.
11:30Cheeyappara Waterfalls
Seven steps down a rock face, directly beside the road, and the natural place to break the climb.
16:00Tea estate walk
The estates are walkable and the light at four is the reason photographers come here.
- Day 4
Munnar
The high point, the tea museum, and an early night.
08:00Eravikulam National Park
The last stronghold of the Nilgiri tahr, and Anamudi behind it is the highest peak in India south of the Himalaya.
Closed roughly February to March for the Nilgiri tahr calving season.
14:00Tata Tea Museum
A working rolling and drying floor, which explains what you have been looking at for two days.
- Day 5
Down to the water
Back to sea level and onto the boat by mid-afternoon.
14:00Alleppey backwaters
Nine hundred kilometres of connected canals, and the villages along them have no road.
Houseboats must moor by sunset; the ones that keep moving are on the wide channels and miss the point.
- Day 6
Backwaters
The narrow canals by canoe, which the houseboats cannot enter.
07:30Canoe through the village canals
Kuttanad farms below sea level, and the small canals are where anyone actually lives.
Arranged through the boat operator the night before.
16:00Marari Beach
A working fishing beach twenty minutes north, and empty compared to anything in Goa.
- Day 7
Out through Kochi
North to the airport, with one stop.
10:00Jew Town and the Paradesi Synagogue
1568, hand-painted Cantonese floor tiles, and the spice warehouses on the lane still smell of it.
Closed Fridays and Saturdays.
Questions
- How long is the Kerala: Backwaters and Hills itinerary?
- The Kerala: Backwaters and Hills itinerary runs 7 days and covers 12 stops across Kochi, Munnar, Alappuzha.
- When is the best time to do the Kerala: Backwaters and Hills itinerary?
- November to March is the best window for the Kerala: Backwaters and Hills itinerary.
- What happens on day one of the Kerala: Backwaters and Hills itinerary?
- Day one is fort kochi: Land, cross to the peninsula, and walk it before dark.
Sources
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