Munnar & Alleppey Tour Package – 4 Days

This four-day Munnar and Alleppey tour shows you Kerala's two most famous landscapes, the cool green tea hills and the calm palm-fringed backwaters, at an easy pace. Your driver meets you at Kochi airport or Ernakulam railway station, whatever time your flight or train arrives in the morning, and you head east into the hills in a private air-conditioned car.

As the city falls behind, you pass through the gentle green countryside of central Kerala: houses with red-tiled roofs set among coconut palms, banana groves and jackfruit trees; churches, temples and mosques sitting side by side; and busy little towns where tea shops, bakeries and fruit stalls line the road. Kerala's bakeries are famous, so if you're hungry, stop for a plum cake, a banana puffs or a crisp, spicy samosa with a glass of sweet, milky tea.

The road winds up past rubber and cardamom plantations to Cheeyappara and Valara, two waterfalls that tumble down beside the highway. Cheeyappara falls in seven steps down a rocky hillside, white water against dark stone and green forest, and Valara drops into a deep, wooded gorge just a few kilometres further on. They're at their fullest from August to December, after the monsoon, and the spray cools the air. Monkeys often gather by the road hoping for a snack, so keep food out of sight. It's a lovely place for your first photographs in the hills.

Stop at a spice garden to see how pepper, cardamom and vanilla grow, then continue into the tea country. A guide leads you through the garden, showing you black pepper vines climbing up the trunks of trees, the long leaves of cardamom with its small green pods growing near the ground, and the twisting vines of vanilla, an orchid whose flowers have to be pollinated by hand. You'll also see cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, coffee and all-spice, and learn how Kerala's spices drew traders from Rome, Arabia, China and Europe to this coast for more than two thousand years. The garden shop is a good place to buy fresh spices at fair prices.

Then the tea begins. As the road climbs higher, the hills are covered from top to bottom in tea bushes, trimmed into soft, rounded rows that follow the curves of the slopes, with narrow paths winding between them and tall silver oaks planted for shade. It's one of the most beautiful landscapes in India, and it changes constantly with the light and the clouds.

You reach Munnar in the afternoon, with the evening free. Munnar lies about 1,600 metres above sea level, where three mountain streams meet, and its name means "three rivers" in Malayalam. British planters developed it as the heart of a great tea-growing region in the late 19th century, and it's been a favourite hill station ever since, loved for its cool climate, its rolling tea gardens and its peaceful atmosphere. Settle in, enjoy a cup of fresh Munnar tea on your balcony, and watch the mist roll into the valleys as evening falls.

Munnar's evenings are quiet and restful, and that's a big part of its charm. If you'd like to go out, the little town centre has a busy market, shops selling tea, cardamom, homemade chocolates and warm shawls, and simple restaurants serving Kerala and North Indian food; try a plate of Malabar parotta with a spicy curry or appam with vegetable stew. Otherwise, enjoy dinner at your hotel and an early night, ready for an early start at Eravikulam tomorrow.

The estates around Munnar are home to thousands of families, many of them descended from workers who came from Tamil Nadu generations ago to work in the tea gardens. You'll see their neat rows of houses, small temples decorated with marigolds and schools tucked among the tea, and hear Tamil spoken alongside Malayalam in the town. Most of the estates are now run by a company in which the workers themselves are shareholders, an unusual arrangement that's a source of 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 rises.

Get a good night's sleep tonight: tomorrow is a full day of sightseeing in the hills, starting early at Eravikulam.

Keep a light jacket handy, as the temperature drops quickly once the sun goes down in the hills.

Welcome to the tea hills of Kerala.

Included today: pick-up at Kochi airport or railway station, private car to Munnar with stops at Cheeyappara and Valara waterfalls and a spice garden, hotel in Munnar.

Good to know: drive about 4 hours. Breakfast on arrival day isn't included. Evenings in Munnar can be cold from November to February, so pack a warm layer.

Today is a full day in the tea hills. Begin at Eravikulam National Park at 9 AM, taking the park bus up to the grassland where the Nilgiri tahr, a mountain goat found only in the Western Ghats, roams near the path. The park covers a high plateau of rolling grassland and patches of shola forest, crowned by Anamudi, at about 2,695 metres the highest peak in South India. The tahr were once hunted almost to extinction, but under protection their numbers have recovered, and today they graze calmly beside the walking path, often just a few metres away. The views across the valleys and tea estates far below are some of the finest in Kerala.

Visit the Tea Museum to see how tea is made, from plucking to packing, and enjoy a fresh cup. The museum, set in an old factory, tells the story of Munnar's tea through photographs, documents and machines, from the 1880s, when the first estates were planted, to the present day. You'll see how fresh green leaves are withered, rolled, oxidised, dried and graded, and end with a tasting of Munnar's teas, bright and brisk from the high, cool slopes.

After lunch, drive to Mattupetty Dam, Echo Point and Kundala Lake, where you can take a pedal boat. Mattupetty's long lake lies in a fold of the hills, surrounded by grassland and forest, and wild elephants sometimes come down to its shores. At Echo Point, shout across the water and hear your voice come back clearly from the hills. Kundala Lake, ringed by eucalyptus and tea, is a peaceful place for a pedal-boat ride or a trip on a bamboo raft, with the hills reflected in the still water.

Finish at Pothamedu viewpoint or the Botanical Garden as evening falls on the estates. Pothamedu offers a wide view over tea, coffee and cardamom plantations, and in the late afternoon the hills glow gold and green. The Botanical Garden, run by the forest department, is a pleasant place to stroll among flowers and trees from the hills.

Eravikulam is also famous for the Neelakurinji, a shrub that covers the slopes and flowers only once every twelve years, turning the hills a soft blue-purple. The last mass flowering was in 2018, and the next is expected around 2030. Even in other years, the park is full of wildflowers after the monsoon, and the grasslands are home to many birds and butterflies.

If you have time, Munnar has more to offer. 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 below, often over a sea of clouds. The Blossom Park is a pretty spot for a stroll, and the homemade chocolate shops in town sell bars and truffles flavoured with cardamom, pepper and coffee.

Munnar's weather can change quickly, from bright sunshine to drifting mist within an hour, and light rain is 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 of all, as the tea gardens fade softly into the clouds.

In the evening, enjoy dinner at your hotel. Many Munnar hotels light a fire on cool evenings, and there's nothing better than a hot cup of tea or a bowl of soup by the fireside after a day in the fresh mountain air. It's your last night in the hills, so enjoy the peace and quiet before tomorrow's journey to the coast.

The Tea Museum also has a few unusual exhibits worth looking out for, including a stone sundial and the heavy rollers and dryers used in the early factories, and a short film tells the story of the estates and the people who built them. At the shop, you can buy Munnar's different grades of tea, from strong breakfast blends to delicate green and white teas, as well as tea-flavoured chocolates and spices.

Munnar's history is full of surprises. In the early 20th century, a narrow-gauge railway and a ropeway were built to carry tea down from the estates, until a great flood in 1924 swept them away; traces of the old line can still be seen near Kundala. The British planters also built churches, a club and bungalows in the hills, and a few of these old buildings still stand in the town.

Then return to your hotel for a relaxed evening and an early night before tomorrow's journey.

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. Find more to do in the hills on our Munnar tour packages page.

After breakfast, leave the hills for Alleppey, now officially called Alappuzha, about five hours away, as the landscape changes from tea slopes to coconut palms and paddy fields. It's a journey through all of Kerala's landscapes in a single morning: first the tea gardens, then the cardamom and pepper forests, then the rubber plantations of the foothills, and finally the flat, watery lowlands of the coast, where canals run alongside the road and paddy fields stretch to the horizon. Stop for lunch on the way at a simple restaurant serving Kerala meals on banana leaves.

Check in to a resort on the backwaters and spend the rest of the day by the water. Alleppey's backwater resorts are among the most relaxing places to stay in Kerala, with gardens of palms and hibiscus running down to the water's edge, hammocks strung between the trees and terraces where you can sit and watch the world go by. Houseboats drift past, village canoes carry coconuts and fish along the canals, and ducks paddle in long lines across the water.

In the late afternoon, take an optional shikara ride, a small covered boat that slips through narrow canals the big houseboats can't reach, or walk on Alleppey Beach at sunset. The shikara glides slowly past village homes, little churches and temples, paddy fields and coconut groves, with children waving from the banks and kingfishers darting along the water. In the golden evening light, it's one of the most peaceful experiences in Kerala. Alleppey Beach, a long stretch of golden sand lined with palms, has the ruins of an old 19th-century pier and a red-and-white striped lighthouse, and it's a favourite place for local families to watch the sun set over the Arabian Sea.

Alleppey, often called the Venice of the East, is the gateway to the Kerala backwaters, a vast network of lakes, rivers, canals and lagoons that runs parallel to the coast for hundreds of kilometres. The region around it, Kuttanad, is one of the few places in the world where rice is grown below sea level, in fields reclaimed from the lake and protected by earthen dykes, a farming system recognised by the United Nations as a globally important agricultural heritage. Life here revolves around the water: children go to school by ferry, villagers travel by canoe, and the canals are lined with homes, churches, temples and little shops.

The backwaters are also wonderful for birdwatching. From your resort, look out for kingfishers flashing blue and orange along the water, cormorants and darters drying their wings, herons and egrets stalking through the paddy fields, and Brahminy kites circling overhead. In the evening, flocks of birds fly in to roost in the palms, filling the air with their calls.

For dinner, try the local speciality, karimeen, the pearl spot fish found in the backwaters, marinated in spices and fried, or wrapped in a banana leaf and cooked as karimeen pollichathu. Duck roast, prawn curry and crab are also favourites, and vegetarians will love a Kerala meal of rice with avial, thoran, sambar and pickles. As night falls, sit on your terrace and listen to the frogs and crickets, and watch the lights of the moored houseboats twinkling across the water.

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, race across the water before huge crowds.

If you'd prefer a night on the water, you can upgrade your Alleppey stay to a private houseboat, with lunch, dinner and breakfast cooked on board by the crew, and an afternoon cruising through the backwaters before mooring for the night beside a quiet village. Many travellers say it's the highlight of their trip to Kerala. Ask us when you book.

Alleppey is also a good place to buy coir products, from doormats and rugs to small souvenirs, made from the fibre of coconut husks, an industry that has supported thousands of families in the region for generations.

As the sun sets over the backwaters, the sky turns orange and pink, the palms stand dark against it, and the water reflects every colour. Sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy one of the most peaceful evenings of your trip; this slow pace is exactly what Alleppey is for, and many travellers say it's the moment they finally feel completely on holiday.

Keep a little cash handy for the shikara ride, tips and small purchases, as many boatmen and small shops prefer cash or UPI.

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

Good to know: drive about 5 hours. The shikara ride is optional and paid locally; a houseboat night can be added instead of the resort at extra cost.

Enjoy a slow breakfast by the lake, then drive about two hours to Kochi. The early morning is the most beautiful time on the backwaters, with mist on the water and the villages waking up, so try to be on the terrace with a cup of coffee as the sun rises.

If you leave in the evening, spend the afternoon in Fort Kochi: the Chinese fishing nets on the waterfront, St Francis Church, Santa Cruz Basilica and the spice warehouses of Jew Town. Fort Kochi was one of the great spice ports of the world, and Arab, Chinese, Jewish, Portuguese, Dutch and British traders all left their mark on its streets. The Chinese fishing nets, huge frames of wood and rope worked by teams of fishermen, are the city's most famous sight. 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. The Santa Cruz Basilica, with its twin spires and painted ceilings, is one of the most beautiful churches in Kerala. And in Jew Town, the old spice warehouses still fill the air with the scent of ginger, pepper and cardamom.

Your driver drops you at Kochi airport or the railway station.

Fort Kochi is also a lovely place simply to wander. Its quiet streets are lined with old Portuguese and Dutch houses with tiled roofs and wooden shutters, many now turned into boutique hotels, art galleries and cafés, and the walls are bright with street art. Mattancherry Palace, also known as the Dutch Palace, has some of the finest Kerala murals anywhere, vivid scenes from the Ramayana in rich reds and ochres, and the Paradesi Synagogue, built in 1568, has a floor of hand-painted blue-and-white Chinese tiles.

For a last Kerala meal, Fort Kochi's restaurants serve fresh seafood, fish moilee cooked in coconut milk, appam with stew and Kerala thalis, and its cafés serve excellent coffee, cakes and fresh juices in shady courtyards. 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, a small Kathakali mask or a carved wooden elephant. Pack spices and tea safely in your checked luggage.

As you head to the airport, look back on your four days: the waterfalls and spice gardens on the road to Munnar, the Nilgiri tahr and the endless tea gardens, the calm of the backwaters at Alleppey and the historic streets of Fort Kochi. It's a short trip, but it shows you two of the most beautiful sides of Kerala, and many travellers come back for more, adding Thekkady's spice forests, the beaches of Kovalam and Varkala, or a night on a houseboat.

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 in the city can be heavy in the evening, and keep a little cash handy for parking, entry tickets and small purchases.

Thank you for travelling with Dreamland Vacations. Safe travels home, and we hope to welcome you back to God's Own Country soon.

Before you go, take a moment to enjoy the backwaters one last time. Many resorts offer short canoe rides in the early morning, when the water is still and the birds are most active, and it's a lovely, peaceful way to start your last day in Kerala. Then pack, enjoy a final Kerala breakfast of appam, stew or puttu, and set off for Kochi.

Finally, remember your driver: a small tip at the end of the trip is customary and much appreciated.

Kochi itself has a long and fascinating history. For centuries, traders came to the Malabar coast for its pepper, and after a great flood in 1341 opened its natural harbour, Kochi became the most important port on the coast. The Portuguese built the first European fort in India here, followed by the Dutch and then the British, and each left their mark. Today, Fort Kochi is a living museum of these many cultures, and a perfect place to end your Kerala holiday.

If your flight is early, simply relax over breakfast and drive straight to the airport; Fort Kochi will be waiting for your next visit.

Allow plenty of time for the drive, as traffic around Kochi can be heavy, and keep your ID and tickets handy for the journey home. We hope you go home rested and happy, with a camera full of photographs.

Included today: private car from Alleppey to Kochi, Fort Kochi if time allows, drop at Kochi airport or railway station, breakfast.

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