Ultimate Travel Guide in Kerala, India

Let me tell you, wedding planning has taken over my life–week days and weekends! But I know, no excuses to not post :(. Anyways, I have really been wanting to share my 3 day adventure in Kerala, India, so I wrote up a quick ultimate travel guide. Hope you enjoy!

Day 1: We arrived at Bangalore Airport for our 6AM flight (originally scheduled for 9AM). Apparently in Asia, it’s normal for airlines to randomly change their schedules last minute! Lo and behold, our flight ended up departing at the original time due to fog. Good news though! Air Asia gave us free breakfast, which is a big deal because this airline charges for EVERYTHING, including water! Luckily, the flight is only an hour, so we were in Kochin by 10:30 AM.

Our first destination was Munnar. This town is located about 5200 feet above sea level and is known for its beautiful vast tea plantations. Two things to be aware of:

1. The roads are incredibly windy while driving up the mountain! However, there are a lot of fruit/tea/snack stands on the way, so lots of opportunity to take a break.

2. Even though the distance to Munnar wasn’t too far, the amount of traffic resulted in pretty much a full day of travel, with a couple of pit stops.

Once we arrived at the Mountain Club, our home for the night, we were awed by the cute mini cottages and lush green views. While I did feel the furniture and décor was a bit outdated, the back yard view and spending time with my family was worth it!

Unfortunately, because of the long travel day, we weren’t able to see much. However, here are some recommended places to visit if you do find time:

1. Mettupatty and Kundale dams: Apparently, people can rent boats and lounge around here.

2. Echo Point: Beautiful scenic place combined with an echo phenomenon.

3. Touring the multiple tea plantations: Some of the tour packages even allow the tourists to partake in the tea leaf picking process!

Day 2: Our next destination was Alleppey, where we would be spending a night in a houseboat! I was super excited for this part because this is one of the touristy things people rave about! I’m not sure if all the boats are like the one we stayed in, but definitely do your research before you book. The service we had was amazing; however I want to point out a few things to be aware of:

Getting on/off the boat was a bit sketchy. They have this metal ladder that connects the boat to land, but it’s literally a ladder (see instagram post and me awkwardly walking across)! In all seriousness though, my grandparents had to walk on that, and it just didn’t seem safe!
The bathrooms are extremely cramped, so I skipped taking a shower :(.
The boat is full of mosquitoes, so bring repellant!
There were A LOT of ants on the deck. This may not bother most, but I struggle with bugs of any kind or size… and Akshay’s going to put some kind of sassy comment here. (Akshay’s note: she struggles with life in general)

Anyways, lets move onto the good stuff! Our captain took us on a tour around the river and it was absolutely beautiful during sunset (featured image)! While we were sitting on the deck, they brought us fresh onion pakoras and hot tea. The pakoras are basically breaded pieces of onion, deep fried in Indian spices. I pretty much ate half the plate! After, they called us in and prepared an authentic Kerala dinner for us.

Day 3: We woke up to a fresh homemade breakfast on the houseboat, before making our way to the next and final destination, Cherai Beach. We did make some pit stops on the way:

1. Coir Museum: The entry fee was about $5. Coir is made out of coconut husks and is spun into textured yarn and is huge in Kerala. I bought a cute little elephant made out of choir!

2. Fresh Banana Chips: This is a MUST! Even if you don’t buy anything, the experience itself is so cool! They have this huge wok in which they pour fresh dried banana into a pool of boiling oil. They then offer you handfuls of chips of all kinds of flavors! It was delicious!

3. Kochi: There are so many small shops here and yummy places to eat. We were supposed to visit the Jewish Synagogue and Chinese fishing nets, but got distracted with the little stores selling scarves, jewelry, skirts, spices, and all kinds of other colorful things! We also came across this restaurant inside of a random hotel–Old Harbour Hotel. My sister and I ordered their tomato pasta, and because it was so good, we insisted we go back the next day. However, there are so many other restaurants and things to do, I would recommend exploring other food options before settling for pasta (everything else on that menu was pretty mediocre).

4. Fresh Coconuts: Definitely stop at a stand where they sell fresh coconuts!

When we finally arrived at Cherai Beach Resort, my sister and I signed up for an oil massage right away. Let’s just say I’m sticking to my $20 fully clothed massages in Westminster, CA going forward. After, we hit up the buffet, which was decent. While the location and atmosphere of the resort wasn’t so bad, we did experience some insect infestation (seems like the common theme here), which resulted in a quick room change. After that, we had a pretty good time. The resort also has a hammock and swing, which can be a great opportunity for a photo shoot!

All in all, our trip was amazing. My grandpa did such a great job planning the trip and making sure we were all happy and having a good time! I definitely recommend anyone planning a trip to Kerala should extend their trip to at least 5 days.