Kovalam Tour Package with Athirapilly, Munnar & Houseboat – 9 Days

Your Kerala journey starts with the thunder of falling water. Your driver meets you at Kochi airport or Ernakulam railway station, loads your bags into the car and heads north on the highway towards Angamaly and Chalakudy for a drive of about two hours to Athirapilly, Kerala's biggest waterfall. If you've arrived on an early flight, it's a wonderful way to shake off the journey: within a couple of hours of landing, you'll be standing in the forest with the spray of the falls on your face.

Beyond Chalakudy, the highway is left behind and a smaller road follows the Chalakudy River east, upstream into the hills. The landscape changes quickly. The busy towns give way to rubber and oil-palm plantations, then to tall, dense forest, and the air grows cooler and greener. This is the Vazhachal forest division, one of the richest stretches of lowland forest left in Kerala, and the road winds along the river with glimpses of rocks, rapids and deep green pools through the trees.

You'll hear Athirapilly before you see it: a low, steady roar that grows louder as you walk from the entrance along the forest path. Then the trees open, and there it is. The Chalakudy River, which rises in the Anamalai Hills, reaches the edge of a broad rock shelf and pours over it in several great streams, falling about 24 metres into a churning pool below. Clouds of mist rise from the base, catching the sunlight in rainbows, and the noise fills the valley. It's often called the Niagara of India, and after the monsoon, when the river is in full flood and the falls spread right across the cliff in a single curtain of white water, the comparison feels well deserved.

From the viewpoint at the top, where you can watch the river gathering speed before it plunges over the edge, a steep path of stone steps leads down through the forest towards the base of the falls. It's about a kilometre each way and takes around 20 minutes to walk down, a little longer to climb back, but it's well worth the effort. At the bottom, you see the falls in all their height and power, the spray drifts over you, and the rocks tremble with the force of the water. Wear shoes with a good grip, as the steps can be wet and slippery, and keep to the paths and viewing areas, as the rocks near the water are dangerous.

A few kilometres upstream, the Vazhachal falls are quite different in character. Rather than a single drop, the river spreads out and slides in a wide, foaming cascade over a long slope of black rock, with the forest pressing in on either side. On the way between the two, the little Charpa falls pour down beside the road during and after the monsoon, close enough to feel the spray from the car.

The forests here are wonderful for wildlife. Athirapilly and Vazhachal are among the few places in India where four species of hornbill live side by side: the great hornbill, the Malabar pied hornbill, the Malabar grey hornbill and the Indian grey hornbill. Look up into the tall trees along the river, especially fig trees in fruit, and listen for the loud whoosh of their wings. You might also see lion-tailed macaques, Nilgiri langurs and the striking Malabar giant squirrel, with its maroon and cream coat and long bushy tail. The falls have been the setting for many films, including scenes from the epic Baahubali, and you may well recognise them.

Have lunch at one of the restaurants near the falls. Kerala meals here are simple and good: rice with fish or chicken curry, vegetable thoran, sambar and crisp pappadam. The falls close to visitors in the late afternoon, so after lunch, drive back to Kochi for the night.

Your hotel is in Kochi, and if you still have energy in the evening, there's plenty to do. Take a stroll along Marine Drive, Ernakulam's waterfront promenade, where families gather to watch the sunset over the harbour and the boats coming and going from the port. Or head to Fort Kochi to watch a Kathakali performance at one of the small cultural centres, which hold shows every evening. Arrive early to see the performers applying their elaborate make-up, a slow, meditative ritual that is almost as fascinating as the dance itself.

Included today: pick-up at Kochi airport or railway station, private car to Athirapilly and Vazhachal and back to Kochi, hotel in Kochi.

Good to know: about 4 hours of driving in total. Entry tickets to the falls are paid locally, and the falls close to visitors in the late afternoon. The path to the base may close after very heavy rain. Breakfast on arrival day and lunch aren't included.

After breakfast, set off east for Munnar, about four hours away, high in the Western Ghats. Today you leave the coast behind and climb more than 1,500 metres into the mountains, and the journey is one of the most beautiful drives in South India, with the scenery changing at every turn.

The first hour takes you across the busy plains of Ernakulam district, through towns such as Perumbavoor and Kothamangalam, past rubber estates, banana groves, paddy fields and coconut palms. You'll see rubber trees being tapped in the early morning, their bark scored in neat diagonal lines, and sheets of white rubber hanging to dry outside farmhouses. At Neriamangalam, you cross the Periyar River on an old stone bridge with five tall arches, built in the 1930s, and from here, the road starts to climb in earnest, twisting up through thick forest with hairpin bends and sudden views back over the plains.

Stop at the Cheeyappara waterfall, which tumbles in seven tiers down a rocky hillside right beside the road, and at the Valara falls, which drop into a deep, forested gorge a few kilometres further on. They're at their most impressive between June and December, but beautiful at any time of year. Tea stalls by the falls sell hot tea, fresh fruit, sweet corn roasted on charcoal and spicy banana fritters, and troops of bonnet macaques wait patiently nearby for anyone who drops a snack.

Further up, stop at a spice garden to see how Kerala's spices grow. A guide will walk you along shady paths through a garden of pepper vines climbing tall trees, cardamom bushes with their pods tucked at the base of the stems, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, cocoa and coffee. Taste a fresh peppercorn, smell a crushed cardamom pod, and hear how the spices of these hills drew traders from Rome, Arabia and China, and later the Portuguese, Dutch and British, to the Malabar Coast. The garden shop sells fresh spices, often much cheaper than in the cities.

Near Munnar, the road passes Pallivasal, home of the first hydroelectric power station in Kerala, opened in 1940, and the Attukad waterfalls, which pour down a steep, forested slope through the tea estates. Then, as the road climbs the last few kilometres, the tea appears all around you. The hills are covered from top to bottom with bushes clipped into soft, rounded rows that follow every contour of the land, like a vast green carpet thrown over the mountains. Silver oaks stand above the tea to give it shade, narrow paths wind between the rows, and the tea pickers move slowly through the bushes, plucking the tender top leaves and dropping them into the baskets on their backs.

The first tea estates appear as you climb towards Munnar, where you check in by mid-afternoon. Munnar lies at about 1,600 metres, at the meeting point of three mountain rivers, and its name means "three rivers" in Malayalam. In the late 19th century, British planters came to these hills, then home only to forest, elephants and the Muthuvan tribal people, and cleared the slopes for tea. Within a few decades, the High Ranges, as the region came to be known, were one of the great tea-growing areas of the world, with factories, bungalows, churches, clubs and even a light railway.

Spend the rest of the afternoon resting at your hotel and enjoying the cool mountain air. Many of Munnar's hotels sit on hillsides with sweeping views over the tea estates and valleys, and there's no better way to welcome the evening than with a cup of fresh tea on your balcony, watching the mist roll in over the hills.

In the evening, the temperature drops quickly, and the hills grow quiet. Wrap up in a warm layer and enjoy dinner at your hotel or in town, where many restaurants serve both Kerala dishes and North Indian favourites. Try a hearty Kerala chicken stew with appam, a spicy fish curry with rice, or a bowl of hot soup, which is just right on a cool mountain evening.

Munnar's weather is pleasant almost all year round. From September to May, the days are mild and sunny and the evenings cool, while December and January can be properly cold at night, with frost on the higher estates in some years. The monsoon months, from June to August, bring heavy rain and thick mist, but also a dramatic beauty, as the waterfalls swell and the hills turn an even more vivid green. Whatever the season, pack a warm layer, comfortable walking shoes and a light raincoat or umbrella. Get a good night's sleep: tomorrow starts early at Eravikulam.

Included today: private car from Kochi to Munnar with stops at the waterfalls and a spice garden, hotel in Munnar, breakfast.

Good to know: drive about 4 hours, plus stops. The road has many bends; if you're prone to motion sickness, sit in front. Lunch is at your own cost. Evenings in Munnar can be cold from November to February.

Start at Eravikulam National Park when it opens at 9 AM and take the park bus up to the grasslands of the Nilgiri tahr. The park lies about 15 kilometres from Munnar, on the road towards Marayoor, and it's the most popular sight in the hills, so it's worth being at the ticket counter early. The forest department's buses carry visitors up a narrow, winding road through the tea estates to Rajamala, where the walking path begins.

The Nilgiri tahr is a wild mountain goat found only in the southern Western Ghats, where it lives on steep, grassy slopes and rocky cliffs between about 1,200 and 2,600 metres. Its numbers fell sharply in the 20th century through hunting and the loss of its grasslands, but Eravikulam was protected as a sanctuary in 1975 and became a national park in 1978, and today it holds the largest population of tahr in the world. The adult males are dark brown, almost black, with a pale saddle on their backs and thick, curved horns, while the females and young are a lighter grey-brown. They're remarkably calm around people, and you'll often see them grazing beside the path or standing on the rocks just above you, completely unconcerned by the visitors below.

Walk slowly along the path as it follows the hillside, and take time to enjoy the views. The park protects a high, rolling plateau of grassland, broken by patches of shola, the dense, stunted evergreen forest that grows in the sheltered folds and valleys of these mountains. Above the path rises Anamudi, which means "elephant's forehead", at about 2,695 metres the highest peak in India south of the Himalayas. On clear mornings, the views stretch across the ranges and down to the patchwork of tea estates in the valleys, and as the clouds drift across the slopes, the landscape changes from moment to moment.

Once every twelve years, these hills are covered in the blue-violet flowers of the Neelakurinji, a shrub that blooms all at once across the slopes, a spectacle that draws visitors from all over India. Even in other years, the grasslands are full of wild flowers, butterflies and birds, many of them found nowhere else, such as the Nilgiri pipit and the Nilgiri flycatcher.

Then visit the Tea Museum, in one of Munnar's old tea factories, to see how tea is processed and taste a cup. The museum tells the story of tea in the High Ranges through old photographs, maps, documents and machines, from the first plantations in the 1880s to the present day, and includes relics such as parts of the old Kundala Valley Railway, which once carried tea from the estates until it was destroyed in the great flood of 1924. A short film and a demonstration show you how freshly plucked green leaves are withered, rolled, oxidised, dried and graded, and you'll learn the difference between orthodox tea, rolled to keep the leaves whole, and CTC tea, cut into small granules for a strong, quick brew. End with a tasting, and pick up a packet or two in the shop.

In the afternoon, drive the Mattupetty road to Mattupetty Dam, Echo Point and Kundala Lake. This is one of the loveliest drives in Munnar, winding through tea estates, eucalyptus groves and grassy hills, with viewpoints at every bend. Mattupetty Dam holds back a long, calm reservoir between the hills, and the dairy farm nearby, set up with Swiss help in the 1960s, raises high-yielding cattle on the slopes. At Echo Point, a little further on, shout across the lake and hear your voice ring back from the hillside. Kundala Lake, surrounded by eucalyptus and tea, is a peaceful place for a pedal-boat or shikara ride, and in spring, the cherry trees along its banks are covered in pink and white blossom.

If you have time, continue a little further to Top Station, on the border of Tamil Nadu, where the land drops away suddenly and, on a clear day, you can see far across the plains below. Then drive back to Munnar as the late-afternoon light turns the tea gardens gold.

Back in town, Munnar's small market is worth a stroll in the late afternoon. Stalls sell tea straight from the local factories, from strong everyday blends to delicate high-grown leaf teas, as well as cardamom, pepper, homemade chocolates, fruit wines, eucalyptus oil and warm woollen shawls. Taste before you buy; the shopkeepers are happy to brew a cup. Then spend a quiet evening at your hotel, enjoying dinner and the cool, fresh air of the hills, and get a good night's rest before tomorrow's drive to Thekkady.

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 and boating are paid locally. The Tea Museum is closed on Mondays. See our Munnar tour packages for more ideas.

After breakfast, leave Munnar and drive three to four hours through cardamom country to Thekkady. The road winds south through the Cardamom Hills, past tea estates around Devikulam and Pooppara, and then through a landscape of spice plantations, small hill towns and patches of forest. Cardamom, known as the queen of spices, grows in the shade of tall forest trees, and here the hillsides are covered with leafy cardamom plants beneath a high canopy. During the harvest season, from about August to February, you'll see the green pods spread out to dry on mats outside homes and in small drying sheds along the road. Idukki district, which you're driving through, grows most of India's cardamom, and its pepper, coffee and tea are just as famous.

Arrive in Thekkady around lunchtime and check in to your hotel. Thekkady and its neighbouring town, Kumily, sit on the border with Tamil Nadu, at the edge of the Periyar Tiger Reserve, and the town has a relaxed, friendly feel, with spice shops, small cafés, handicraft stores and homestays set among gardens and plantations. Above the town, on a hilltop inside the reserve, stands the ancient Mangala Devi temple, dedicated to the heroine Kannagi of Tamil legend, which opens to pilgrims on just one day a year, at the full moon of Chitra Pournami in April or May.

In the afternoon, take the boat ride on Periyar Lake, where elephants, gaur and sambar deer often come to the water's edge. The lake was formed in 1895, when the Mullaperiyar Dam was built across the Periyar River by the British engineer John Pennycuick to send water east to the dry plains of Tamil Nadu. As the water rose, it drowned the forest in the valley, and the bare grey trunks of the old trees still stand in the lake today, where cormorants, darters and kingfishers perch. The boat glides slowly along the winding arms of the lake, with the forest rising on both sides, and everyone on board scans the shoreline for movement. Herds of elephants often come down to drink and bathe, especially in the dry months from February to May, and gaur, the massive wild cattle of India, graze in the grassy clearings by the water. Otters play along the banks, wild boar root in the mud, and the air is full of the calls of birds.

The reserve covers about 925 square kilometres of evergreen and deciduous forest, grassland and hills, and it's home to more than 60 species of mammals and over 300 species of birds, as well as a small population of tigers, which are rarely seen. Boat rides run several times a day, and tickets can sell out in the busy season, so it's worth booking in advance or getting to the boat landing early.

In the evening, watch Kathakali or Kalaripayattu, or walk through a spice plantation. Kathakali, Kerala's famous dance-drama, tells stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata through gestures, eye movements and facial expressions, with performers in extraordinary make-up, towering headdresses and billowing skirts, accompanied by drums and chanted verses. Kalaripayattu, one of the oldest martial arts in the world, is a spectacular display of leaps, kicks, sword and shield fights, and fighting with sticks, performed in a sunken pit lit by flickering oil lamps. A guided walk through a spice plantation, on the other hand, shows you cardamom, pepper, coffee, cloves, nutmeg and vanilla growing side by side, with a guide to explain how each one is grown, harvested and processed.

For those who want to see more of the forest, the Kerala Forest Department runs eco-tourism programmes led by local guides, many from the tribal communities who have lived in these forests for generations. They include guided nature walks, bamboo rafting on the lake, border hiking along the ridges and longer treks, which need to be booked in advance.

After the show, return to your hotel for dinner. Thekkady's hotels and restaurants serve excellent Kerala food, often flavoured with spices grown just down the road, so try a pepper chicken, a cardamom-scented biryani or a simple vegetarian meal with fresh vegetables from the hill farms. The nights here are cool and quiet, filled with the sounds of the forest: the chirp of crickets, the croak of frogs, the call of nightjars and, sometimes, the distant trumpeting of an elephant.

For the boat ride and any walks in the reserve, wear comfortable clothes in muted greens and browns, sturdy shoes, a hat and sunscreen, and bring binoculars and water. Keep your voice low, and you'll see far more.

It's a day of spices, forest and wildlife that shows a completely different side of Kerala.

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.

Drive down from the hills to Alleppey, now officially called Alappuzha, about four hours away, and check in to a resort on the backwaters. It's a journey from the cool, forested mountains to the warm, watery lowlands of the coast, and you'll feel the change as you descend: the air grows warmer and more humid, the forests give way to rubber plantations, and finally the land flattens out into a world of paddy fields, canals and coconut palms.

The road leaves Kumily and passes through tea estates around Vandiperiyar and Peermade, a quiet hill town that was once the summer retreat of the Maharajas of Travancore, then winds down through thick forest in a series of steep bends below Kuttikkanam, with views over the plains far below. Beyond Mundakayam, rubber plantations line the road for kilometre after kilometre, and then you reach Kottayam, a town known for its publishing houses, schools and old churches, set on the eastern edge of the backwaters.

From Kottayam, the road runs west into Kuttanad, the rice bowl of Kerala, one of the very few places in the world where farmers grow rice below sea level. Over generations, the people of Kuttanad reclaimed land from the lakes by building mud dykes and pumping out the water, creating great paddy fields called padasekharams, which lie a metre or two below the level of the surrounding canals. Driving along the raised roads, you can look down over the fields on one side and across the water on the other, with boats gliding past at the level of your head.

Check in to your resort and spend the afternoon relaxing by the water. Alleppey's resorts are built to make the most of the backwaters, with gardens of palms and flowering shrubs running down to the water's edge, swimming pools looking out over the lake, hammocks strung between the trees, and terraces where you can sit with a cool drink and watch the life of the backwaters go by: houseboats drifting slowly past, village canoes loaded with coconuts or firewood, fishermen casting their nets and children rowing home from school.

If you'd like to explore, take a shikara ride, a small covered boat, into the narrow canals behind the resort, or walk along the dykes between the paddy fields. Many resorts also have Ayurveda centres, where a traditional massage with warm herbal oils is a perfect way to relax after the drive.

Alleppey is often called the Venice of the East, for its network of canals and waterways, and every year, on the second Saturday of August, it hosts the famous Nehru Trophy Boat Race on Punnamada Lake, when long, sleek snake boats, each rowed by more than a hundred oarsmen, race across the lake to the beat of drums and songs, cheered on by huge crowds lining the shores. The town is also the centre of Kerala's coir industry, turning the fibre of coconut husks into rope, mats and carpets, and you may see coir being spun by hand in the villages.

Then walk on Alleppey Beach at sunset. The long, golden beach is lined with casuarina trees and palms, and the iron supports of an old pier, built in the 19th century when Alleppey was one of the busiest ports on the Malabar Coast, still march out into the sea. The striped lighthouse nearby has watched over the coast since 1862. In the evening, the beach fills with local families, couples and groups of friends, strolling along the sand, eating roasted peanuts and ice cream and watching the sun sink into the Arabian Sea in a blaze of orange and red.

For dinner, try some of the specialities of the backwaters: karimeen pollichathu, pearl spot fish marinated in spices and grilled in a banana leaf, a rich duck roast or duck curry, a Kuttanad favourite, or tiger prawns cooked with coconut and curry leaves, with soft, lacy appam or Kerala's nutty red rice. Afterwards, enjoy the stillness of the backwaters at night, with the lamps of the moored houseboats glowing across the water.

Tomorrow, you'll move from the resort to your houseboat, so before bed, pack a small overnight bag with clothes, toiletries, sunscreen, mosquito repellent and a torch. The rest of your luggage can stay in the car with your driver, who will meet you again at the jetty the next morning.

Sleep well to the gentle sounds of the backwaters; tomorrow, you'll be out on the water yourself, drifting through the villages on your own private houseboat, with nothing to do but watch the world go by.

Included today: private car from Thekkady to Alleppey, backwater resort in Alleppey, breakfast.

Good to know: drive about 4 hours. Shikara rides and Ayurvedic treatments are optional and paid locally. Alleppey is warm and humid all year, so light cotton clothes, sunscreen and mosquito repellent are useful.

Spend a slow morning at the resort, with breakfast by the water and a last swim, then around noon, board your private houseboat for a cruise past paddy fields, coconut palms and lakeside villages. Your crew, usually a captain, a cook and a deckhand, will welcome you aboard with a fresh tender coconut, show you to your cabin and settle you into a comfortable chair on the open deck. Then the engine starts, the boat slips away from the jetty, and for the next day, the backwaters are your world.

The kettuvallam, the traditional houseboat of Kerala, takes its name from two Malayalam words, kettu, meaning tied, and vallam, meaning boat, because the planks of its hull are tied together with coir rope rather than nailed. For centuries, these long, graceful boats carried rice, coconuts, spices and other goods across the backwaters to the port at Kochi. When road transport replaced them, the boats were given a second life as floating homes for travellers, with bedrooms, bathrooms, a lounge and a dining area under a curved roof of woven bamboo and palm thatch.

The Kerala backwaters are a vast network of lakes, rivers, lagoons and canals stretching for hundreds of kilometres along the coast, fed by rivers flowing down from the Western Ghats. Most cruises begin on Vembanad Lake, the longest lake in India, where the boat cruises across wide, open waters with the shoreline of palms far off on either side. Then it turns into narrower channels, and suddenly you're in the middle of village life.

Lunch, dinner and breakfast are cooked on board. Lunch is served as you cruise: Kerala red rice, sambar, a vegetable thoran with grated coconut, avial, cabbage or beans stir-fried with mustard seeds and curry leaves, crisp pappadam and pickle, with a fish curry or fried karimeen, and fresh fruit to finish. The cooks on these boats are often superb, and the food is one of the highlights of the trip.

Through the afternoon, sit on the deck and watch the scenery slide by. Houses with tiled roofs line the narrow strips of land between the canals and the paddy fields, their stone steps leading down to the water. Women wash clothes and pots at the water's edge, children splash and swim, and old men sit chatting on the steps. Narrow canoes, paddled standing up, carry coconuts, firewood, vegetables and people from village to village. You'll pass white churches with tall gabled facades, small temples with oil lamps, toddy shops, ferry landings and lines of ducks swimming along the banks. Kingfishers flash blue as they dive, egrets and herons stand motionless in the shallows, and cormorants perch on posts with their wings spread to dry.

If you'd like seafood for dinner, the crew can stop at a fishermen's landing so you can choose fresh prawns, crab or fish, which the cook will prepare for you at a small extra cost. In the late afternoon, tea and snacks are served on deck, perhaps pazham pori, banana fritters, as the sun begins to sink and the light turns golden over the water.

The boat moors for the night at about 5:30 PM, as local rules require, so that the fishermen can lay their nets safely after dark. Moored by the bank, you can watch the sunset paint the sky in shades of orange, pink and purple, and the palms turn to black silhouettes against the glow. As darkness falls, lamps come on in the village houses, the sound of evening prayers drifts across the water from a temple or church, and the frogs and crickets begin their chorus. Dinner is served on board, and afterwards, you can sit out on the deck under the stars, enjoying the deep peace of the backwaters at night.

The crew know these waters well, and many of them grew up in the villages along the banks, so don't hesitate to ask them about life on the backwaters, the farming and fishing, the festivals and the famous snake-boat races. Their stories are one of the joys of the trip, and a small tip at the end of the cruise is always appreciated. It's a day that shows you why the backwaters are the heart of Kerala, and why so many travellers say their night on the water was the highlight of their trip.

Let the gentle rocking of the boat lull you to sleep, and wake tomorrow to the soft light of dawn over the water and the first canoes gliding past your window.

Included today: breakfast at the resort, private houseboat with lunch, dinner and breakfast on board.

Good to know: bedrooms are air-conditioned at night, usually from about 9 PM to 6 AM. Pack a small overnight bag; the rest of your luggage can stay in the car. Compare boats on our Alleppey houseboat packages page.

Wake early on the houseboat to watch the backwaters come to life. Mist rises from the water as the first canoes glide past, fishermen pull in their nets, flocks of ducks are herded out along the banks, and the village ferries begin their rounds. After breakfast on board, leave the boat by 9 AM and drive south along the coast through Kollam to Kovalam, near Trivandrum. The drive takes four to five hours, sometimes more with traffic, so settle in and enjoy the passing scenery.

The coastal highway runs through a string of towns and villages, past churches, temples, mosques, markets and colourful houses. South of Alleppey, the temple town of Ambalappuzha is known for the Sri Krishna Temple and its palpayasam, a creamy rice pudding cooked in milk and offered to the deity, and for a famous legend in which Krishna, disguised as a sage, challenged the king to a game of chess. Further on, near Kayamkulam, Krishnapuram Palace, built by the great Travancore king Marthanda Varma in the 18th century, holds one of the largest murals in Kerala, and makes a good stop if you'd like to stretch your legs.

Then the road reaches Kollam, once known as Quilon, one of the oldest ports on India's west coast. For centuries, ships from China, Arabia and Europe called here to load pepper and other spices, and Marco Polo described the town in the 13th century. Today, Kollam is the centre of India's cashew industry, and its factories process cashew nuts from across India and beyond. The town sits on the shores of Ashtamudi Lake, a beautiful, many-armed lake lined with palms and Chinese fishing nets, and at the seafront, the red-and-white Tangasseri lighthouse, built in 1902, rises above the ruins of an old Portuguese fort. Stop for lunch at one of Kollam's seafood restaurants, or continue to Varkala, a short detour from the highway, where dramatic red cliffs rise above a long, golden beach, with cafés and shops along the clifftop path.

As you approach Thiruvananthapuram, the city's grand old buildings and leafy avenues remind you that this was the capital of the kingdom of Travancore. Skirt around the city and continue to Kovalam, about 16 kilometres south, arriving in the afternoon.

Check in near the beach and spend the evening on Lighthouse Beach, with the red-and-white lighthouse above the bay at sunset. Kovalam is a series of three crescent-shaped bays, separated by rocky headlands and lined with palm trees, small hotels, cafés and shops. It became famous in the 1970s, when travellers on the hippie trail discovered its calm coves and gentle way of life, and it has been one of India's best-loved beach resorts ever since. Lighthouse Beach, the southernmost bay, is the liveliest, with a promenade of restaurants and shops along the sand, while Hawa Beach, just to the north, is busy with fishing boats in the morning, and Samudra Beach, further north, is quieter and more local.

Climb the spiral staircase of the lighthouse on Kurumkal hill for a superb view over the bays, the boats drawn up on the sand and the green, palm-covered coast. Then walk along the water's edge as the sun sinks into the Arabian Sea, turning the sky and the waves gold, pink and orange.

As darkness falls, the beachfront restaurants light up and display the catch of the day on ice: kingfish, red snapper, tiger prawns, lobster, crab and squid. Pick what you'd like and have it grilled with garlic and lime, or cooked Kerala-style with coconut, chilli and curry leaves, and eat with your toes in the sand and the sound of the waves in your ears.

Tomorrow is a free day, so there's no need to set an alarm. Take a last stroll along the beach after dinner, with the warm sea breeze, the sound of the waves and the beam of the lighthouse sweeping slowly across the dark water, and decide over a cool drink whether you'd like to spend tomorrow by the sea or exploring Trivandrum.

Kovalam's beaches are at their best from October to March, when the sea is calm, the skies are clear and the days are warm and sunny. The monsoon, from June to September, brings rough seas and heavy rain, but also lush greenery, fewer crowds and lower prices, and many travellers come for Ayurvedic treatments, which are traditionally said to work best in the cool, damp monsoon months, when the body is believed to absorb the herbal oils more easily.

Included today: breakfast on the houseboat, private car from Alleppey to Kovalam, hotel in Kovalam.

Good to know: drive 4–5 hours, sometimes more with traffic. Lunch is at your own cost. Swim only where the lifeguards' flags are, as the currents can be strong, especially during the monsoon.

The day is yours. Swim, book an Ayurvedic massage and relax on the sand, or spend a few hours in Trivandrum, Kerala's capital. After a week on the move, many travellers simply stay by the sea, and Kovalam is a wonderful place to do nothing at all.

Start with an early walk along the beach, when the sand is cool and quiet and the fishermen are hauling in their nets. On Hawa Beach and Samudra Beach, you can watch teams of men drawing in the long shore seines, chanting in rhythm as they pull, while women wait to sort and buy the fish. Then spend the morning swimming in the calm bays, sunbathing under a palm umbrella, or reading in a café overlooking the sea.

Kovalam's three beaches each have their own character, so it's worth exploring them all. Lighthouse Beach is the busiest, with surf schools, sun loungers, cafés and shops along the promenade; Hawa Beach, separated from it by a rocky headland, is smaller and livelier with local life in the mornings; and Samudra Beach, further north, is the quietest, with fewer people and a more relaxed, local feel. The sea is generally calm in the sheltered bays from October to March, but always swim where the lifeguards are on duty, as currents can be strong.

Kerala is the home of Ayurveda, India's ancient system of medicine and well-being, and Kovalam has dozens of Ayurveda centres and resort spas. Book a traditional Abhyangam, a full-body massage with warm herbal oils, or Shirodhara, in which a slow, steady stream of warm oil is poured over the forehead, a deeply relaxing treatment. Many centres also offer yoga sessions in the morning and evening, often on terraces overlooking the sea.

If you'd like some sightseeing, spend a few hours in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), about 30 minutes away. The Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, in the old fort area, is the city's great landmark, with a towering seven-storeyed gopuram rising above its temple tank. Inside, Vishnu reclines on the coils of the serpent Anantha, and the deity is so large that devotees view it through three separate doorways. Entry is open to Hindus only, with a strict dress code, but everyone can admire the gopuram and wander the lively streets around the temple. Next door, the Kuthiramalika Palace, built by the musician-king Swathi Thirunal in the 1840s, takes its name from the 122 carved wooden horses along its eaves, and part of it is a museum of royal treasures.

North of the centre, the Napier Museum, built in 1880 in a striking mix of Kerala and European styles, displays bronzes, temple carvings and ornaments, and the Sree Chitra Art Gallery, in the same grounds, has a wonderful collection of paintings by Raja Ravi Varma, the 19th-century Kerala artist who brought India's gods and heroines to life in oils. The leafy grounds also hold the city's zoo, one of the oldest in India.

You could also take a short trip to Poovar, where a river meets the sea, for a boat ride through the mangroves. Poovar lies about half an hour south of Kovalam, where the Neyyar River flows into the Arabian Sea. A boat takes you along quiet, mangrove-lined channels, past fishing villages and coconut groves, to a long, golden sand bar between the river and the ocean, where you can walk on the beach with calm water on one side and the open sea on the other. It's especially beautiful in the late afternoon.

Just south of Kovalam, the busy fishing harbour at Vizhinjam is colourful in the early morning, when the boats bring in their catch, and nearby stands a small rock-cut cave temple from around the 8th century, with a carving of Shiva. Today, Vizhinjam is also home to one of India's newest deep-water seaports, built to handle the world's largest container ships.

Whatever you choose, come back to Kovalam for a last sunset over the sea. Find a seat at a café on the promenade, watch the sun sink below the horizon and the lights of the fishing boats twinkle out on the water, and enjoy a final seafood dinner by the waves.

However you spend it, today is a chance to slow down and savour the warmth, colour and easy rhythm of life in the far south of Kerala, before your journey home tomorrow. Make it exactly the day you want it to be, whether that's busy, lazy or a little of both.

Included today: hotel in Kovalam, breakfast. Trivandrum sightseeing or a drive to Poovar by private car, if you choose.

Good to know: Padmanabhaswamy Temple entry is for Hindus only, with a strict dress code. Kuthiramalika Palace and the Napier Museum are closed on Mondays. Entry tickets, boat rides and Ayurvedic treatments are paid locally.

Enjoy a final morning by the sea. Wake early to see the sun come up behind the palms, when the beach is cool and quiet and the light is soft and golden. Walk along the water's edge from Lighthouse Beach to Hawa Beach, where the fishing boats are coming in with the night's catch, the crews sorting their nets on the sand and the traders gathering to bargain for kingfish, sardines and prawns. It's one of the most colourful sights in Kovalam, and a lovely last glimpse of everyday life on the Kerala coast.

Then have a last swim in the calm morning sea, or join a yoga session on one of the hotel terraces overlooking the bay, before sitting down to an unhurried breakfast. Try a classic Kerala breakfast one last time: soft, lacy appam with a fragrant vegetable or chicken stew cooked in coconut milk, or steamed puttu with spicy black chickpea curry, with a glass of strong filter coffee or sweet milky tea.

If your flight or train leaves later in the day, there's time for a few last visits on the way to Trivandrum. Just inland from Kovalam, the village of Balaramapuram has been a centre of handloom weaving for more than two hundred years, since the rulers of Travancore brought weaving families here from Tamil Nadu. In small workshops along the lanes, weavers still work on wooden looms, producing the fine cotton kasavu sarees and mundus, cream or white with borders of gold thread, that Keralites wear for weddings and festivals. Buying directly from the weavers' shops is a lovely way to take home a piece of Kerala.

Closer to the airport, Veli Tourist Village sits where a freshwater lagoon meets the Arabian Sea, separated from the waves by a narrow sand bar. It's a relaxed, green park with gardens, large outdoor sculptures and a floating bridge, and pedal boats can be hired on the lagoon. Nearby, the Beemapally mosque, with its white and pink domes and minarets near the beach, is the shrine of a Muslim woman saint, Beema Beevi, and draws pilgrims of every faith. In the city itself, the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple is famous for the Attukal Pongala festival in February or March, when well over a million women gather along the streets of Trivandrum to cook offerings of sweet rice for the goddess in clay pots over open fires, one of the largest gatherings of women anywhere in the world.

For last-minute shopping, Trivandrum has plenty to offer. The Chalai Bazaar, near the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, is the oldest market in the city, a maze of narrow lanes crowded with shops selling spices, brass lamps and vessels, flowers, textiles and household goods. Government emporiums sell Kerala handicrafts at fixed prices: carved wooden elephants, Kathakali masks and figures, coconut-shell crafts, coir products, and brass and bell-metal lamps. Spices, tea, coffee, cashews from Kollam and banana chips fried in coconut oil all make good gifts and travel easily.

Your driver takes you to Trivandrum airport or railway station, about 30 minutes away. Trivandrum's airport is close to the city and the coast, but traffic can build up at busy times, so leave plenty of time and check your terminal before you set off. If you're leaving by train, Thiruvananthapuram Central station is in the heart of the city, a short drive from the bazaars and the temple.

Before you go, take a moment to say goodbye to your driver, who has looked after you all the way from Kochi to the far south of Kerala. Over nine days, many guests come to feel that their driver is part of the trip, sharing stories, local knowledge and favourite tea stalls along the way, and a tip at the end of the tour is a welcome way to thank him.

Looking back, you'll have seen Kerala from top to bottom: the thundering falls of Athirapilly, the misty tea gardens of Munnar, the forests and wildlife of Periyar, the peaceful backwaters of Alleppey and the golden beaches of Kovalam. Our team will stay in touch until you're home safely. Thank you for travelling with Dreamland Vacations, and we hope Kerala will call you back again soon.

From all of us, safe travels home. We hope the memories of these nine days, the waterfalls, the tea hills, the backwaters and the beaches, will stay with you for a long time, and we look forward to planning your next journey, wherever in the world it takes you.

Included today: private car to Trivandrum airport or railway station, breakfast.

Good to know: drive about 30 minutes to the airport. Book a flight that leaves at least 3 hours after you reach the airport. Stops on the way, such as Balaramapuram or Veli, are by private car if time allows.