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NorthYatra
Organising Happy Traveling
Kerala is three landscapes within a few hours of each other, which is why a week here feels longer than a week anywhere else. The planning question is the order you take them in.
Kerala works because the backwaters, the hills and the coast are close enough to do properly in one trip and different enough that you notice the change. The itineraries below are built around that, and the one thing worth getting right before anything else is the direction you travel in.
The backwaters around Alleppey and Kumarakom are what most people come for, and a houseboat is worth exactly one night. It is a beautiful, slow, slightly repetitive experience, and two nights on the same boat is usually one too many. Munnar is tea estate country at about 5,000 feet, cool enough to need a jacket in the evening, and the drive up is part of the point. Thekkady and Periyar is the wildlife and spice leg, best done between Munnar and the coast rather than as a separate trip. Kovalam and Trivandrum is the beach end, quieter and less built up than Goa, and the easiest place to lose three days deliberately.
| Trip | Nights | From, per person |
|---|---|---|
| Backwaters houseboat | 2 | ₹12,999 |
| Kovalam and Trivandrum | 3 | ₹11,999 |
| Munnar hill station | 3 | ₹13,999 |
| Thekkady and Periyar wildlife | 3 | ₹14,999 |
| Kerala honeymoon | 6 | ₹28,999 |
| Complete Kerala | 7 | ₹32,999 |
Most people should fly into Kochi and out of Trivandrum, or the reverse, rather than returning to where they started. It saves the better part of a day, and on a six or seven night trip that day is the difference between a holiday and a schedule.
The straight answer: June to September is the south-west monsoon, and it rains properly rather than picturesquely. Houseboat cruising continues, the hills are at their greenest, rates are at their lowest, and you will get wet. It is a genuinely good time to come if rain does not bother you and a bad one if the trip has to deliver beach weather.
October to March is the season, and December and January are the peak in both crowds and price. April and May are hot and humid on the coast and pleasant in Munnar, which makes a hills-weighted itinerary the sensible shape for those months. There is a second, lighter monsoon in October and November, and Ayurveda centres consider the monsoon months the best time for treatment rather than the worst, which is worth knowing if that is part of why you are going.
A houseboat rate depends on the boat, not the route: number of bedrooms, whether it is air-conditioned at night, and whether it is a shared or private cruise. All of them stop cruising in the evening and moor overnight, which is a rule rather than a cost-saving. Food on board is included and is usually the best meal of the trip. We quote the band you choose rather than publishing one price for a category that spans a wide range.
Hotels in the band you choose, all transfers and drives in a private vehicle with a driver, breakfast, and the houseboat with full board on the nights it appears in the itinerary. Flights are not included. Periyar boat tickets, spice plantation guides and Ayurveda treatments are normally separate, and each package page says which.
Kerala is the part of our catalogue we run with long-standing local partners rather than our own ground team, which is in Katra and Srinagar. We would rather say that than imply an office in Kochi. The itinerary, the vehicle and the hotel band are ours and we stand behind them.
One night on a houseboat is right, two is usually one too many
Fly into Kochi and out of Trivandrum to save the better part of a day
June to September rains properly, and rates are at their lowest for it
Munnar needs a jacket in the evening even in April
Private vehicle and driver throughout, houseboat on full board
Per-person quote on your dates, no advance payment to see it
Three nights for one region, six or seven for the full backwaters, hills and coast circuit. Kerala is unusual in that a week genuinely fits three different landscapes without rushing, because the drives between them are two to four hours rather than full days.
If rain does not bother you, yes. June to September is the lowest rates, the greenest hills and full houseboat cruising, and it rains properly rather than in showers. If the trip has to deliver beach weather, come between October and March instead.
One. It is a slow, beautiful and fairly repetitive experience, and a second night on the same boat rarely adds to it. Two nights in the backwaters works better as one on the boat and one in a lakeside property.
No. Every houseboat moors in the evening and stays moored until morning. That is a regulation rather than a cost decision, so a boat advertising night cruising is not describing something that happens.
Kochi for a north to south itinerary, Trivandrum for south to north. Flying into one and out of the other saves the better part of a day compared with returning to your arrival city, and on a six night trip that matters.
Cool rather than cold, at around 5,000 feet, and it drops enough in the evening to want a jacket even in April. Most guests underpack for it because they packed for the coast.
