Anyone familiar with Kerala?

[puzaru]

Specifically hotels and general environment in the region.

We are planning to stay on a house boat for a few days as part of our trip, but that is as far as we’ve got. I plan to sit down and do it in the new year.

Hi, thanks for replying. I'm very much in the planning stage at the moment. I've also got a houseboat pencilled in for over a weekend.
I was thinking about Fort Kochi for a base and branching out from there either for day trips or a few days exploration.

I went in October - it’s lovely and a very long state so it’s difficult to base yourself anywhere as driving times can be significant. We did a 3 centre trip in Kerala in a week - which wasn’t really long enough! Cochin, Munnar and Kumarakom. We didn’t do a houseboat as the kids would have got restless but we took a 4 hour boat ride through the backwaters until after sunset and it was magical. we stayed at a Taj resort there and it was amazing, the Kumarakom Lake resort is the other one highly recommended to me. Munnar itself is just a functional town but the tea plantations and waterfalls and the mountains are stunning - we stayed at a fabulous little hotel called Blanket. Loads of hotel choice in Kochi, I wouldn’t recommend ours only as its due some refurbishment but there is plenty choice - the fort area has some lovely shops and restaurants and a market and of course the Chinese fishing nets. We hired a driver and a car as well - it’s a wonderful holiday and do research Keralan food so you know what to order.

We did a tour with Riviera - Chennai to Cochin. It included a riverboat trip. We preferred it to the Golden Triangle which we did a couple of years before. Would love to go back.

We did a holiday there, and got Trailfinders to help with the planning. It was brilliant.

Check out Tranquil Resort in Wayanad. I loved it there.

Second trailfinders!

We went to Kerala many, many years ago and so these recommendations may be well out of date.

Houseboat - amazing! We did two nights.

Brunton Boatyard Kochi three nights

I, personally, wouldn't stay too long in Kochi if the aim is a bit of relaxation- there is plenty to do from there but it is a busy town.

We stayed at the Merari beach resort in Alleppey for a week too, lovely place.

Thank you for the replies. Can't get into the Brunton every date I've put in says unavailable.

We didn’t stay at the Brunton but we did have a fabulous lunch there. There is a good Uber service in Cochin so if you dont end up in the fort area you can get there pretty easily by taxi.

Marari beach hotel is lovely. As is Brunton boatyard. Malabar house hotel also lovely for fort kochi. Don’t miss munnar for a boat trip and walking through tea plantations and thekaddy. Enjoy!

I was in Kerala in the early 80's.

Kovalam Beach was fabulous. Probably all inclusive hotels now....

Varkala - stayed at the Jacaranda guesthouse Villa Jacaranda Varkala | Bijoux Guesthouse Kerala, India - loved it but this was about 20 years ago, mind! Cochin definitely worth a visit - we had lunch at the Brunton Boatyard, very good but very expensive compared to all our other meals on that trip...

We had an amazing holiday in India with fantastic logistics organised by ercotravels dot com, a local incoming travel agency. By going directly with the, we reckon we saved at least 30% of markup at the UK end and VAT on top of that. It felt very slightly scary sending money by transfer to an account in India, but it was all 100% legit and we had a brilliant holiday. We saw Delhi/Agra/Jaipur, Kerala, Goa, and Mumbai. Only a taster of each, but we loved it.

Our highlights in Kerala were Spice Village in Thekkady with a walk in the nearby forest/jungle; a night on a houseboat out of Alleppey (note that if you don't specify the food in advance, you get pretty spicy local food!); and a fabulous biryani in a Muslim-run restaurant which we ate with our hands, surrounded by customers breaking their Ramadan fast at 9pm. We ate a lot of meals in local places on all of the legs of our trip and didn't get sick once.