GLOBAL INDIA PASSAGES introduce Kerala, a state on the Malabar coast in southern India is almost one of the most popular Foreigner & Indian destinations. It has been popular among tourists like Backwater, Hills, Mountains, Tea Estates- SUDDEN because geographically it is the complete tour package - It has everything from serene beaches to scenic hills surrounding, from tea estates & spice plantations to dense forests & backwaters. Apart from scenic beauty, it is popular for classical dances, Ayurvedic treatments, - Kathakali & Mohiniattam, & of course, it’s delicious cuisine.
HERE IS THE SOME TIPS FOR KERALA FOR FIRST TIME VISITORS BY GLOBAL INDIA PASSAGES.. FOR MORE DETAILS LOG ON TO www.globalindiapassages.com
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| The legendary tea gardens estate of Munnar... |
Planning your trip
Planning a trip to kerala can get overwhelming, from narrowing down to the place to selecting what to see & do, to all the bookings. Having received mixed reviews from friends & acquaintances,
You will have Kerala on your bucket list for the longest time, Not wanting to miss out on anything, you can plan a tight 9 days trip covering Kochi, Munnar, Thekkady, Allepy & Poovar, planning to stay in each place 2 days & in Poovar for a day
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| Kerala travel itinerary |
In the first of the two series guide, we will be sharing our experiences from two major tourist attractions - Kochi and Munnar.
Kochi / Cochin
Kochi, the largest city in Kerala, has historically been an important port city right from the 14th century - colonised by the Portuguese, Dutch & British at different times in history, Ernakulam is the city’s cosmopolitan part where as Fort Kochi is the tourist hub.. The city still preserves an intriguing mix of architecture from its varying colonial past.
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| Checking out the map at Fort... |
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| Elephants on Kochi streets |
You can chose to stay in fort Kochi area which is almost 40 Kms from the airport, luckily there are hourly AC buses from airport to fort Kochi.
We chose to discover this area on foot since all the places we wanted to see were close to each other.The fort Kochi area has it own quaint charm, It is buzzing with tourists, but each at their own pace - this part of the city has a ‘homestay’ in every corner!
You will first walked to the Chinese fishing nets - Iconic to Kochi, these cantilevered fishing nets are said to be in use since 500 years! these are fixed land installations & each of them is about 10M high operated by a team of 5-6 fishermen. If you wait around, you might get to watch them in use!
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| Chinese Fishing nets |
You can visit the folklore museum but being shut on Sunday, instead we walked on; stopping from time to time taking pictures of interesting street art - you can also visited David hall & OED galleries on the way. Do stop by if you are an art lover, I had an interesting conversation with Mr. Dilip, who spent time with us & showed us the gallery’s diverse contemporary art collection, you can also check the gallery website if the current exhibition is of interest to you before going there.
Mattancherry is known for spice markets, you can visit a local spice store called ‘All spices market’ & were in awe of the variety of spices,oils,teas & coffees & felt like a kid in a candy store! I even bought chocolate tea! (which I don’t recommend!). Some of the street stores also sell spices, herbs, soaps & oils.The Mattancherry (Dutch) palace museum is definitely worth a visit. The museum captures a small part of Kochi’s Traditional, Portuguese & Dutch history.It is said to cover an episode from the epic in 48 paintings. Another part of the museum documents the portraits & lifestyles of the rajas of Cochin.
The Murals in the bedchamber part of the palace depict scenes from the Ramayana. One can also find a few items of furniture gifted to the rajas from the Portuguese.
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| An interesting building on the way to Mattancherry |
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| All Spices market |
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| Antique Store at Mattancherry |
Jew street has some very interesting antiques & gifting items, once can find painted cow heads, little house boats & hand made soaps everywhere. Many antiques sold here are not traditionally from Kerala though, I was surprised to find many shops selling handicrafts from Kashmir & Rajasthan not just here but at most tourist attractions in Kerala. The Jewish or Pardesi synagogue is a highlight of this area. This entire area preserves parts of its Jewish heritage. One can also purchase lace & needle work pieces like table runners & matts locally made by the residents of the area.
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| The Pardesi Synagogue from outside |
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| Shops at Jew Street |
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| Our Lady of Hope Church |
You can eat Kashi cafe (& art gallery - another recommendation if you are an art buff like us!) Every cafe we visited in the city had great cold coffee & homemade cake.At night we ventured out to princess street - it is a great place to shop & eat! It rained that evening & being unprepared, we were drenched (it often rains in Kochi, be sure to carry your umbrella when you visit!) One can see pretty houses with flowers on their windowsills & more street art across this area.
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| It rains often in Kochi... |
Kashi cafe (Art & food) & Oceanos (seafood) If you like Art & Seafood - I bet you’ll like Kochi as much as I did! If you enjoy seafood, Kochi has some pretty great restaurants & cafes - My favourites are Fort house restaurant without a doubt as it had the best food we had in the entire trip; evenings are the best time to visit since it has a great view as well.
Here's another article to know more about Fort Kochi: India. Fort Cochin, Kerala
Here's another article to know more about Fort Kochi: India. Fort Cochin, Kerala
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| Fort House Restaurant |
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| Lunch at Fort House restaurant |
Munnar
Munnar is a Hill-station on the foothills of the western ghats, One of the most sought after tourist spots of Kerala owing to its scenic beauty - lush carpeted plantations of tea & spices around its hills. It is also the largest tea growing region of the south.
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| Tea Gardens at Munnar |
We took only AC KSRTC volvo bus from Kochi to Munnar, Starting from Ernakulam bus depot at 9AM. The journey was scenic but nearly 5 hours long! and all through the way, our bus driver played 90s Bollywood music! So our playlist comprised of - songs from Raja Hindustani, Ashiquie, Darr & other nineties hits! quite a nostalgic journey if you ask me!
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| View from the bus |
I found taxis quite expensive in Munnar & realised the need to bargain (luckily, I had Vikram for this!) Kerala is hot during February, & as I found out much later, it’s not the best time to visit Munnar - the waterfalls start to dry up & the wildlife sanctuaries are shut due to breeding season (Eravikulam national park was shut) so we weren’t able to do any wildlife activities!
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| An old rope bridge |
One of the things I enjoyed most in Munnar, was stopping on the way & walking through tea gardens, there are many many scenic places to discover by chance & If you are lucky, you’ll get to see tea pickers in action!
Though Scenic, with large properties, resorts in Munnar are far away from the market & tourist spots, we had to plan our entire day well before leaving the hotel. While we were not able to make it to all the places on our list - My favourite was the Kanan Devan Tea factory & museum. Vikram & I have become green tea converts with this trip & ended up buying a lot of tea from the factory store (make sure you carry a big bag here ;) )
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| A rock and tea plantations |
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| Walking through tea gardens |
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| Vikram picking tea :) |
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| Tea picker Jothy... |
On the way back, our cab driver stopped by many places, claiming that these were ‘Shooting points’ or points where some Bollywood film shooting has taken place. although truth be told all of it was equally scenic!
The Mattupetty dam was extremely scenic! beautiful, calm & serene. Though it was quite sunny around 4pm, (the Kerala sun is quite harsh, during the day & it gets hot by 9 am! don’t leave your hotel without a hat & sunglasses & carry appropriate sunscreen). Boating at Mattupetty dam is one of the main attractions here.This whole stretch is scenic, one can walk around, boat or even shop for home made chocolates in the stretch of stalls by the lake. A completely commercialised tourist spot now - it has all the street food one would expect corn, coconut water,peanuts, snack stalls & even Passion fruit vendors! One can club visiting Mattupetty dam with Top station as both these are only a few kilometres apart.
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| Mattupetty Dam |
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| Elephant ride at Munnar |
I didn’t enjoy the food in Munnar all that much. I also surprisingly found the coffee & tea very mild & milky here. Munnar was not my favourite of the Kerala trip for sure, but I do plan to come again in the monsoon or winter to visit all the places I’ve missed out on!
I found the elephant ride in Munnar to be short & over rated & would recommend the one in Thekkady since its in the forest! We also chose to visit spice plantations in Thekkady Instead of Munnar.
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