Cherai Beach, Munnar, Thekkady & Houseboat – 6 Days

Your Kerala holiday begins gently, by the sea. Your driver meets you at Kochi airport or Ernakulam railway station and drives you to Cherai, on Vypin Island north of the city, about an hour away. The road crosses a series of bridges over the wide, shining waters of Kochi's harbour and backwaters, with glimpses of fishing boats, container ships and Chinese fishing nets, and then runs north along the narrow island, past fishing villages, coconut groves, churches and small temples.

Vypin is one of the many long, narrow islands that line the Kerala coast, separated from the mainland by backwaters and from the sea by a strip of golden sand. It's a world of fishermen and farmers, where the Arabian Sea lies on one side and calm lagoons on the other, and the pace of life is slow and easy. Cherai Beach, near the northern end of the island, is one of the loveliest beaches near Kochi, and it's the perfect place to unwind after your journey.

Check in at a beach resort and take the rest of the day slowly. Many of Cherai's resorts are set in gardens of coconut palms between the beach and the backwaters, with cottages, hammocks and swimming pools, and the sound of the waves is never far away. After the rush of travel, it's a wonderful way to start a Kerala holiday.

Walk along the long, golden beach, which stretches for several kilometres, lined with palms and casuarina trees. The sand is soft and clean, the water is shallow near the shore, and the waves are usually gentle in the dry season, so it's a good place for a paddle or a swim, though you should always follow the lifeguards' advice. Watch the fishermen bring in their boats, a lively scene, as teams of men haul the long wooden or fibreglass boats up onto the sand and sort the catch of sardines, mackerel and prawns, while crows and gulls circle overhead hoping for scraps. Local women buy fish straight from the boats, and the beach fills with the sound of bargaining and laughter.

Or sit by the backwaters that run just behind the sand, lined with Chinese fishing nets. Here, only a few hundred metres from the sea, the water is calm and still, and the great cantilevered nets of wood and rope stand along the banks, lowered and raised by fishermen using heavy stones as counterweights. It's one of the few places in Kerala where you can enjoy the sea and the backwaters on the same afternoon, and the contrast between the crashing waves on one side and the glassy lagoon on the other is part of Cherai's charm. If you're lucky, you may even see dolphins playing offshore in the early morning.

The area around Cherai is also rich in history. A short drive away stands the Pallipuram Fort, built by the Portuguese in the early 16th century and one of the oldest surviving European buildings in India, and to the north lies the region of the ancient port of Muziris, where Roman, Greek and Arab traders came for Kerala's pepper two thousand years ago. The Cherai Gowreeswara Temple, known for its colourful annual festival, with elephants decked in golden headdresses, is a well-loved landmark on the island.

In the evening, watch the sun set over the Arabian Sea. As the sun sinks towards the horizon, the sky turns gold, orange and pink, the fishing boats are silhouetted against it, and the whole beach glows. Local families come out to stroll and play on the sand, children fly kites, and vendors sell roasted corn, ice cream and spicy snacks. Then enjoy a seafood dinner at your resort: Cherai is famous for fresh fish, prawns, crab and mussels, cooked in the Kerala style with coconut, curry leaves and spices, or simply grilled with lime.

If you'd like to explore the backwaters on your first afternoon, many Cherai resorts offer short canoe or kayak trips through the quiet lagoons behind the beach, past village homes, coconut groves and fish farms. It's a gentle introduction to the backwaters before your houseboat night later in the trip, and the birdlife is wonderful, with kingfishers, herons and cormorants all around. As darkness falls, listen to the waves and enjoy the warm sea breeze; it's a peaceful start to your Kerala journey.

Tomorrow you head up into the hills, so enjoy a good night's rest to the sound of the waves.

Welcome to Kerala, and enjoy the sea.

Included today: pick-up at Kochi airport or railway station, private car to Cherai, beach resort at Cherai.

Good to know: drive about 1 hour. Breakfast on arrival day isn't included. The sea can be rough during the monsoon, from June to September, so swim only where it's safe and follow local advice.

Wake to the sound of the sea and take an early walk on the beach, when the sand is cool, the fishermen are setting out and the light is soft and golden. After breakfast, drive inland towards the hills, about four and a half hours.

Today's journey takes you from the coast to the mountains, across the whole width of Kerala's central region. First you cross back over the bridges to the mainland and pass through the busy towns around Kochi, with their colourful shops, markets and churches. Then the countryside opens up, with paddy fields, coconut groves and villages, before the land begins to rise towards the Western Ghats.

The road climbs through rubber plantations and cardamom forest. Kerala produces most of India's natural rubber, and you'll see the tall, slender trees in long, shady rows, each with a neat spiral cut in its bark and a small cup beneath to collect the milky latex, which is pressed into sheets and dried on racks outside village homes. Higher up, the rubber gives way to cardamom and pepper, grown under tall forest trees, and the air becomes cooler and fresher. You cross the Periyar, Kerala's longest river, at Neriamangalam on an old stone arch bridge built in the 1930s, and then the road begins to wind steeply up into the hills.

Stop at the Cheeyappara waterfall beside the road, where the water tumbles down the rocky hillside in a series of seven steps, foaming white between the green forest. It's at its fullest after the monsoon, and stalls nearby sell tea, roasted corn and fresh fruit. Monkeys often gather here, so keep your snacks out of sight. A little further on, stop at a spice garden, where a guide shows you black pepper climbing up the trees, cardamom growing low in the shade, and cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla and coffee. Kerala's spices brought traders from Rome, Arabia, China and Europe to this coast for more than two thousand years, and it was the search for them that brought Vasco da Gama to India in 1498.

The first tea estates appear as you approach Munnar in the afternoon. The hills are covered in tea bushes, trimmed into soft, rounded rows that follow every curve of the land, with silver oaks standing above them and tea pickers moving slowly along the rows with baskets on their backs. It's one of the most beautiful landscapes in India, and after the flat coast it feels like another world.

Munnar sits about 1,600 metres above sea level, where three mountain streams meet, and its name means "three rivers" in Malayalam. In the late 19th century, British planters cleared these hills to plant tea, and Munnar became their favourite retreat from the heat of the plains. Check in at your hotel and enjoy the cool mountain air, a welcome change after the warmth of the coast. As evening falls, wrap up in a jacket, enjoy a cup of fresh Munnar tea on your balcony and watch the mist roll into the valleys.

If you have energy in the evening, Munnar town is a short drive away, with a small market, shops selling tea, spices, homemade chocolates and warm shawls, and simple restaurants serving Kerala and North Indian food. Otherwise, enjoy a quiet dinner at your hotel and an early night, ready for Eravikulam's 9 AM opening tomorrow.

The estates around Munnar are home to thousands of families, many of them descended from workers who came from Tamil Nadu generations ago, so in the town you'll hear Tamil and Malayalam spoken side by side, and see Hindu temples, churches and mosques close together. Most of the estates are now run by a company in which the workers themselves are shareholders, a source of real local pride.

If you wake early tomorrow, step out onto your balcony at dawn: the valleys are often filled with a sea of white mist, with the tops of the hills rising above it like islands, glowing gold as the sun climbs over the ridges.

Munnar's evenings are cool and quiet, and many hotels light a fire after dark. Enjoy a hot cup of tea or a bowl of soup by the fireside, and you'll quickly forget the heat of the coast. Few places in India change so completely in a single day's drive, from palm-fringed beach to misty tea hills.

Rest well tonight: tomorrow is a full day of sightseeing in the hills.

Included today: private car from Cherai to Munnar with stops at Cheeyappara waterfall and a spice garden, hotel in Munnar, breakfast.

Good to know: drive about 4½ hours. Lunch is at your own cost. The road has many bends, so if you're prone to motion sickness, sit in the front. Evenings in Munnar can be cold from November to February.

Visit Eravikulam National Park when it opens at 9 AM and take the park bus up to the grasslands of the Nilgiri tahr. The park protects a high, rolling plateau of grassland and shola forest around Anamudi, at about 2,695 metres the highest peak in South India, and it's the main home of the Nilgiri tahr, a sturdy mountain goat found only in the Western Ghats. Once hunted almost to extinction, the tahr have recovered under protection, and today they graze calmly beside the walking path, often just a few metres away. Watch the young ones clambering over the rocks, and take in the views across the valleys and tea estates far below; on clear mornings, they stretch for miles.

The park is also famous for the Neelakurinji, a shrub that blooms only once every twelve years, turning the hillsides a soft blue-purple. The last mass flowering was in 2018, and the next is expected around 2030.

Then tour the Tea Museum and taste a fresh cup. Set in an old factory, the museum tells the story of Munnar's tea, from the British planters who cleared the forests in the 1880s to the modern estates, through photographs, documents and old machines. You'll watch fresh green leaves being withered, rolled, oxidised, dried and sorted, and then taste the finished tea, bright and brisk from the high slopes. The shop is the best place in Munnar to buy fresh tea.

In the afternoon, drive the Mattupetty road to Mattupetty Dam, Echo Point and Kundala Lake. The road winds through tea estates and grassland, with views at every turn. Mattupetty Dam holds back a long, calm lake in a fold of the hills, where wild elephants sometimes come down to drink, and the Indo-Swiss dairy farm nearby keeps herds of cattle on the slopes. At Echo Point, shout across the water and hear your voice bounce back from the hills. Kundala Lake, ringed by eucalyptus and tea, is a peaceful place for a pedal-boat or bamboo-raft ride, and in spring, cherry trees bloom pink along its banks.

Finish at a viewpoint over the estates as the light softens, when the tea glows gold and green and the shadows of the silver oaks stretch across the slopes. It's the perfect time for photographs.

In the evening, enjoy dinner at your hotel. Munnar's hotels serve Kerala, North Indian and Continental food, and many light a fire on cool evenings. Try Malabar parotta with a spicy curry, or appam with vegetable stew, and finish with a cup of strong, sweet Kerala tea.

If you have time and energy, Munnar has more to explore. Top Station, about an hour's drive away on the border with Tamil Nadu, is the highest point on the road and offers dramatic views to the plains far below, often over a sea of clouds in the early morning. Pothamedu viewpoint, just outside town, looks over tea, coffee and cardamom estates, and the Blossom Park and Botanical Garden are pretty places for a stroll. Munnar's homemade chocolate shops sell bars and truffles in flavours such as cardamom, pepper and coffee, and they make lovely gifts.

Munnar has a long and interesting history. In the 1870s, a British planter named John Daniel Munro leased these hills from the local ruler and began clearing the forest, and tea was soon planted across the slopes. In the early 20th century, a narrow-gauge railway and a ropeway carried tea down from the estates, until a great flood in 1924 swept them away; a few traces of the old line can still be seen near Kundala.

The weather in Munnar can change quickly, from bright sunshine to drifting mist within an hour, and light showers are common after the monsoon. Carry a light jacket and an umbrella, and wear comfortable shoes for the walk at Eravikulam. The mist often makes for the most beautiful photographs, as the tea gardens fade softly into the clouds.

Then return to your hotel for a relaxed evening. Tomorrow you head south through the cardamom hills to the forests of Thekkady, so enjoy your last night among the tea gardens, and if the sky is clear, step outside to look at the stars, which shine brightly in the clean mountain air.

Munnar is also famous for its viewpoints, and every driver has a favourite. Ask yours to show you one of the quieter spots above the estates, away from the crowds, where you can stand among the tea bushes and look out over the valleys in silence.

Included today: Munnar sightseeing by private car, breakfast.

Good to know: Eravikulam usually closes for a few weeks early in the year for the tahr's calving season; entry tickets are paid locally. The Tea Museum is closed on Mondays. See our Munnar tour packages for more ideas.

Drive three to four hours through cardamom plantations to Thekkady. The road winds south through the Cardamom Hills, one of the most beautiful drives in Kerala, past small towns, spice estates and patches of forest, with sweeping views across the Western Ghats. The Idukki district you're travelling through produces most of India's cardamom, and you'll see the leafy plants growing in the shade of tall trees, and farmers drying the green pods on mats outside their homes.

Thekkady lies on the border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, on the edge of the Periyar Tiger Reserve, one of the best-known wildlife reserves in India, home to elephants, gaur, sambar deer, wild boar, otters, lion-tailed macaques, Nilgiri langurs, more than 300 species of birds and a small population of tigers.

In the afternoon, take the boat ride on Periyar Lake, looking for elephants, gaur and sambar deer on the shore. The lake was created in 1895, when the Mullaperiyar Dam was built across the Periyar River, and the trunks of trees drowned by the rising water still stand in the lake, bare and silvery, where cormorants and darters perch to dry their wings. As the boat glides along, the forest rises on both sides, and herds of elephants are often seen wading and bathing at the water's edge, the calves sticking close to their mothers.

In the evening, choose Kathakali, Kalaripayattu or a spice plantation walk. Kathakali, Kerala's classical dance-drama, tells stories from the great epics through dance, music and expressive eye and hand movements, with performers in spectacular costumes and vivid make-up. Kalaripayattu, one of the oldest martial arts in the world, is a thrilling display of leaps, kicks and sword fights by firelight. A plantation walk shows you how cardamom, pepper, coffee, vanilla and many other spices are grown and harvested. Afterwards, wander through the spice shops of Kumily, the little town next to Thekkady, the best place in Kerala to buy fresh spices.

If you'd like to explore the forest more closely, the reserve offers eco-tourism activities led by guides from local tribal communities, who once depended on the forest for their living and now help protect it: guided nature walks, bamboo rafting on the lake and longer treks. These have limited places and must be booked in advance through the forest department, so let us know if you'd like to try one.

The forests of Periyar are wonderful for birdwatching. Look out for the great hornbill, with its huge yellow casque, the Malabar grey hornbill, the brilliant Malabar trogon and the racket-tailed drongo, which mimics the calls of other birds. Butterflies are everywhere too, including the southern birdwing, India's largest butterfly.

The Mullaperiyar Dam has its own story. It was built by the British engineer Colonel John Pennycuick to send the waters of the Periyar east across the mountains to the dry farmland of southern Tamil Nadu, and the story goes that when funds ran short, he sold his family's property in England to finish the work. In the villages that still depend on its water, he is remembered as a hero.

As night falls, the forest comes alive with the sounds of insects and frogs, and the air is cool and fragrant with spices. Enjoy a relaxed dinner at your hotel; many Thekkady restaurants serve dishes from both Kerala and Tamil Nadu, reflecting the town's position on the border.

Thekkady is also one of the best places in Kerala to try Ayurveda, India's ancient system of natural medicine. Many hotels have Ayurvedic spas offering massages with warm herbal oils, and after a long drive, an hour of traditional massage is the perfect way to relax. Kerala is the home of Ayurveda, and its practitioners train for years in techniques passed down through generations.

Kumily's spice shops are well worth a visit. They sell fresh cardamom, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla pods, tea and coffee straight from the surrounding plantations, as well as Ayurvedic oils, handmade soaps and Kerala handicrafts. Prices are fair and the quality is excellent, so it's the best place on your trip to stock up on spices to take home.

Tomorrow is an early start for the drive down to the backwaters, so enjoy a peaceful evening and an early night. If you're up at dawn, take a short walk around your hotel garden: the forest is alive with birdsong in the early morning, and the mist hangs among the trees.

Keep a little cash handy for the boat ride, shows and spice shopping, as some smaller shops prefer cash or UPI.

Welcome to the spice hills.

Included today: private car from Munnar to Thekkady, hotel in Thekkady, breakfast.

Good to know: drive 3–4 hours. The boat ride, shows and plantation walk are optional and paid locally. Read our guide to Thekkady tourist places.

Leave Thekkady at 8 AM for the four-hour drive to Alleppey, now officially called Alappuzha, and board your private houseboat between noon and 1 PM. The road descends from the spice hills through rubber plantations and small towns to the flat, green lowlands of Kuttanad, where paddy fields stretch to the horizon and canals run alongside the road.

Your houseboat, a kettuvallam, is a traditional Kerala rice barge transformed into a floating home, with a curved roof of woven bamboo and palm leaves, a bedroom with an attached bathroom, a sitting area and an open deck. Your crew welcomes you aboard with a cool drink, and then you set off into the backwaters.

Cruise through the afternoon past paddy fields and village life while the crew cooks lunch on board. The backwaters are a world where water is the main road: children travel to school by ferry, villagers paddle canoes loaded with coconuts and fish, women wash clothes on stone steps, and ducks are herded in their hundreds along the canals. Lunch is a feast of Kerala dishes, rice, fish curry, fried fish, vegetable thoran, sambar and pappadam, served on deck as the scenery drifts by.

The boat moors at about 5:30 PM, and dinner is served on deck. Watch the sunset over the paddy fields, as the sky turns orange and pink and the palms stand dark against it. After dark, the backwaters fall quiet, with only the sounds of frogs and crickets, and the stars shine bright overhead.

Kuttanad, the region you cruise through, is one of the most remarkable farming landscapes in the world. Much of it lies one to two metres below sea level, and farmers grow rice in fields reclaimed from Vembanad Lake, the largest lake in Kerala, protected by earthen dykes and drained by pumps. The United Nations has recognised it as a globally important agricultural heritage system. Depending on the season, the paddy fields are flooded and freshly planted, bright green with young rice, or golden and ready for harvest.

The backwaters are also wonderful for birdwatching. Look out for kingfishers flashing blue and orange along the banks, darters with their long snake-like necks, purple herons standing still in the reeds, little cormorants drying their wings on posts, and Brahminy kites circling overhead. In the evening, flocks of egrets fly in to roost in the trees.

In the late afternoon, enjoy tea and banana fritters on deck. If you'd like, your crew can stop at a village so you can stretch your legs along the narrow paths between the paddy fields, or buy fresh fish, prawns or crab from local fishermen to cook for dinner, at a small extra cost. Many travellers say this night on the backwaters, after the beach and the hills, is the highlight of their whole trip.

Alleppey is also famous for its snake boat races, held during the monsoon season, especially the Nehru Trophy Boat Race every August on Punnamada Lake, when long wooden boats, each rowed by around a hundred oarsmen singing traditional boat songs, race across the water before huge crowds.

Houseboats in Alleppey come in many sizes and styles, from simple deluxe boats to premium and luxury boats with glass-walled bedrooms and upper decks. All have a private bedroom, a bathroom, a sitting area and an open deck, and a crew of two or three, including a cook, who look after everything. Let your cook know if you're vegetarian or prefer milder food; they're happy to adjust the menu.

As the boat drifts along, notice the little details of backwater life: the narrow wooden canoes carrying schoolchildren, the floating shops selling groceries, the churches with tall white facades rising above the palms, and the toddy shops where palm wine, tapped fresh from the coconut trees each morning, is sold. Many families here have lived beside the water for generations, and their lives are shaped by the seasons, the rains and the rice harvest.

After dinner, sit out on the deck under the stars. With no traffic and few lights, the backwaters are wonderfully dark and quiet, and on clear nights the stars are reflected in the still water all around you.

Wake early tomorrow if you can: dawn on the backwaters, with mist on the water and the villages slowly coming to life, is one of the most beautiful moments of the whole trip, and the morning cruise before breakfast is wonderfully peaceful.

Keep valuables and phones safely inside the cabin when you're not using them, and carry sunscreen and a hat for the deck.

Enjoy the peace of the water.

Included today: private car from Thekkady to Alleppey, private houseboat with lunch, dinner and breakfast on board.

Good to know: drive about 4 hours. Bedrooms are air-conditioned at night. Compare boats on our Alleppey houseboat packages page.

After a short morning cruise and breakfast, leave the boat by 9 AM, take a walk on Alleppey Beach and drive about two hours to Kochi. The morning on the backwaters is magical, with mist on the water and the villages waking up, so be on deck early. Alleppey Beach is a long, golden stretch of sand with the ruins of an old 19th-century pier and a red-and-white striped lighthouse.

With an evening flight, there's time for Fort Kochi: the Chinese fishing nets, St Francis Church, the Santa Cruz Basilica, Mattancherry Palace and the spice shops of Jew Town. Your driver drops you at Kochi airport or the railway station, with six days of Kerala memories: the beach at Cherai, the tea hills of Munnar, the elephants of Periyar and a peaceful night on the backwaters.

Fort Kochi was one of the great spice ports of the world. After a great flood in 1341 opened its natural harbour, Kochi became the most important port on the Malabar coast, and Arab, Chinese, Jewish, Portuguese, Dutch and British traders all left their mark. The Chinese fishing nets on the waterfront, worked by teams of fishermen, are the city's most famous sight, especially at sunset. St Francis Church, built in the early 16th century, is one of the oldest European churches in India, where Vasco da Gama was first buried in 1524. The Santa Cruz Basilica, with its twin spires and painted ceilings, is one of the most beautiful churches in Kerala, and Mattancherry Palace has superb murals of scenes from the Ramayana. In Jew Town, the old spice warehouses fill the air with the scent of ginger, pepper and cardamom, and the Paradesi Synagogue, built in 1568, has a floor of hand-painted Chinese tiles.

Fort Kochi is also a lovely place for a last Kerala meal. Try fish moilee, cooked in coconut milk with turmeric and green chillies, karimeen pollichathu, pearl spot fish wrapped in a banana leaf, or appam with chicken stew, and finish with a sweet payasam. Before you leave, pick up a few souvenirs: spices and tea from Jew Town, a handloom mundu or sari with a golden border, a brass lamp or a carved wooden elephant. Pack spices and tea safely in your checked luggage.

Kochi airport is known around the world as the first airport to run entirely on solar power. Allow plenty of time to get there, as traffic can be heavy in the evening, and keep a little cash handy for parking, entry tickets and small purchases. Remember your driver too: a small tip at the end of the trip is customary and much appreciated.

Thank you for travelling with Dreamland Vacations. Six days is a lovely amount of time to see Kerala's beaches, hills and backwaters, and we hope you'll return one day to discover more, perhaps the waterfalls of Athirapilly, the temple town of Guruvayur or the cliffs of Varkala. Safe travels home.

As you head to the airport, look back on your journey. On your first day, you walked on the golden sand at Cherai and watched the sun set over the Arabian Sea. Then you climbed into the hills past waterfalls and spice gardens to the tea country of Munnar, saw the Nilgiri tahr at Eravikulam, and drove through the cardamom hills to Thekkady, where elephants bathed in Periyar Lake. Finally, you spent a peaceful night on a houseboat, drifting through the backwaters of Alleppey. Few trips show you so many sides of Kerala in so short a time.

If your flight is early, simply relax over breakfast on the boat and drive straight to the airport; Fort Kochi will be waiting for your next visit. Either way, allow plenty of time for the journey, as traffic around Kochi can be heavy.

Before you leave Alleppey, take a last look at the backwaters, with their palms, canals and paddy fields shining in the morning light. Many travellers say it's the image of Kerala they carry home with them. Keep a little cash handy for parking, entry tickets and small purchases along the way, and your ID and tickets handy for the journey home. We hope you go home rested and happy, with a camera full of photographs and many stories to share.

Finally, if you've enjoyed this trip, tell your friends and family about it; we'd be delighted to help them plan their own Kerala holiday.

Safe travels, and see you again soon.

Thank you again for choosing Dreamland Vacations.

Included today: morning cruise and breakfast on the houseboat, private car to Kochi, Fort Kochi if time allows, drop at Kochi airport or railway station.

Good to know: drive about 2 hours. Book a flight that leaves at least 3 hours after you reach the airport. See our Fort Kochi tourist places guide.