India
Kerala and the South of India
13 days
The south of India has nothing to do with the north. It is green, humid, far calmer, and the food changes completely. Kerala has traded in spices for two thousand years, and Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch and British all came through and all left something behind.
Day by day
Day 01 · Spain / Kochi
Flight with a Gulf stop.
Day 02 · Kochi
Arrival. Fort Kochi on foot, with the Chinese fishing nets, the Mattancherry synagogue and the Portuguese quarter.
Day 03 · Kochi
A free morning, and in the afternoon a kathakali performance, with the actors’ make-up applied live beforehand — which takes longer than the play.
Day 04 · Munnar
Up into the Western Ghats. Sixteen hundred metres, tea as far as you can see, and fifteen degrees cooler.
Day 05 · Munnar
A walk through the plantations and a working tea factory. With luck, Nilgiri tahr on the high slopes.
Day 06 · Thekkady
The Periyar reserve. A boat on the lake at dawn, which is when the elephants and gaur come down to drink.
Day 07 · Alleppey
Down to the backwaters and aboard a private houseboat with crew.
Day 08 · Backwaters
A full day along the canals between paddy fields and villages, stopping wherever you feel like it. You moor for the night.
Day 09 · Marari
A fishing beach, with nothing scheduled.
Day 10 · Marari
A second free day. An ayurvedic treatment at a serious centre, and in Kerala the serious ones exist.
Day 11 · Madurai
East by train or car. The Meenakshi temple has fourteen towers covered in painted figures and fifteen thousand people come in to pray every day.
Day 12 · Madurai / Spain
The temple’s night closing ceremony the evening before, and the flight home.
Day 13 · Spain
Arrival.
Usually includes
- International flights and internal flights
- A car with driver and English-speaking local guides
- A private houseboat with crew on the backwaters
- Selected hotels, with two nights on the beach at Marari
- Breakfasts and selected meals
- A travel document with every detail and a direct phone number
This trip, your way
Length
13 days
Route
Kochi · Munnar · Thekkady · Alleppey · Marari · Madurai
Format
Private and tailor-made, on your dates
Let us make this trip yours.
Change the dates, add days where you want them, or simply tell us how you like to travel. We reply within 24 hours.
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