After arriving from the Gulf Air flight via Bahrain to COCHIN, we stayed the first 2 nights at the Taj Malabar situated on Willingdon Island overlooking Cochin harbour and backwater area. A comfortable well presented hotel and is a short distance to the centre of Cochin (approx 15mins drive)

Our first day was spent doing a harbour cruise then visiting the synagogue in Jewtown and St.Francis church where Vasco da Gama was originally buried. We had lunch and site inspection at Malabar House Hotel which is a delightful ‘funky boutique’ hotel in the historical area of Fort Kochi, not far from the famous Chinese Fishing Nets. Although it only has a plunge type pool(see picture) it provides an ideal town based hotel.

Our evening meal was at Brunton Boatyard which is a wonderful little hotel originally the boatyard of George Brunton. Belonging to the CGH Earth Group of hotels (standing for Clean, Green and Healthy) overlooking the Arabian Sea has two wonderful restaurants, either inside or outside. All rooms have typical dark wood Keralan furniture with very high beds which you need a step box to get into!

Our next day was spent driving the 4.5hrs to THEKADDY which is set high up into the Cardamon Hills of the Western Ghats. You drive up through the tea and rubber plantations and little villages where you can see the pace of life getting slower and slower.

Our stay at Thekaddy was the Cardamon County Hotel for just 1 night. This hotel is set up a hillside, so not good for the elderly or infirm at all but very lush and green so very attractive to look at. The accommodation was more basic with bathrooms being functional but certainly not a place to linger too long!

We had a very nice lunch here before heading off to the Spice Plantation, where a guide talked us through all the numerous spices and fruits being grown, from Cardamon, pepper, mustard, ginger, jack fruit and more. Evening dinner was taken at Spice Village just 100 yds walk from Cardamon County. This hotel backs onto the Periyar National Park area and the rooms are all thatched roofed and set in clusters around the grounds. Rooms are fairly traditional but with modern bathrooms. Each night they have local Keralan dancers perform whilst you are having dinner. All meals are produced from own vegetable plot and local produce.

Next day our 4 hours drive took us to KUMARAKOM, which is an island on Vembanad Lake. This is a small town accessed by navigable waterways known as backwaters. We stayed at Kumarakom Lake Resort which is spread over 10 acres of garden and is very peaceful. Our rooms were called meandering pool villas, which had access to the lagoon pool via steps from either your bedroom or living area, depending if you had a single storey room or duplex. Quite a lot of dark wood in the rooms, and all with outside bathrooms.

From here we had a wonderful sunset boat ride around the lake fo r an hour which was accompanied by two Indian percussion musicians which really set the scene – it was magical!

We had site inspection and lunch at Taj Garden Retreat which is a lovely hotel in Kumarakom set along a lagoon. Accommodation is spread amongst the extensive grounds on one level. Lovely open air restaurant as well as a fine dining option inside.

The following day we had lunch at Coconut Lagoon Hotel which is only accessible by boat. This is a lovely property with typical Keralan style buildings. Very peaceful and tranquil with beautiful views of the backwaters around you. You can also do a backwater cruise from here too for the day. Really good food here.

After spending 2 nights at Kumarakom Lake Resort, we then drove 2 hrs to Alleppy for our overnight and day onboard our rice barge. We had 4 barges in total which move at a slow pace along the backwaters. The rooms are pleasantly decorated and all have en-suite shower rooms and wc. Nicely furnished, and all slightly different in style and size.

We always moored up next to each other so that we could all dine on the largest of the boats. During the day we transferred for an hour’s canoe ride through the very narrow waterways, which is a fantastic experience as you can get up close to the local life – people doing their washing on the rocks, people bathing, washing their pots and pans, fishing – you name it, it goes on along the backwaters.

The crew took care of everything onboard, from making you tea or coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Only soft drinks and beer are provided on board, so wine and bottles of spirit can be purchased at the local ‘toddy bars’. Here you can purchase most alcohol from behind iron grilles, at fairly cheap prices all wrapped in newspaper!

Following our overnight backwater cruise, we disembarked at then drove south to Kovalam which is approx 4 hours. We stopped at Travancore Heritage Hotel for site inspection and lunch. The Heritage rooms here are the better rooms scattered around the extensive grounds whilst the Beach Grove rooms are reached by a very rickety lift and whilst the rooms are closer to the beach they are very non-descript and modern in style.

Our final stay was 2 nights at the Leela Kempinski Hotel in Kovalam where we had the upgraded Club rooms which are located in a separate wing of the hotel, with its own lounge, library and cigar room, restaurant, spa and pool. Very modern and well equipped rooms with balconies overlooking the Arabian sea which crashes down below the hotel. It takes about 30 mins to get to Trivandrum where there are plenty of different shops but the local shops in Kovalam are probably best for a bit of tourist ‘tat’ or antiques.

Our flight home from Trivandrum was at the unearthly hour of 05.00hrs so check-out from hotel at 01.00hrs was not great! One thing to remember is to get rid of all unwanted Rupees before getting to airport as the only bureau de change at the airport is at the entrance, so once you have gone through immigration there is nowhere to change your money back other than use it in the VERY limited duty free shop and coffee stall. Not the most brilliant of airports!

Pauline