Kerala & the Tropical South — Self-Launched

Land at Cochin International (COK) and take the airport shuttle bus or a pre-paid taxi (~£5-8) to Fort Kochi, about 40km away. Check into a heritage-style guesthouse in the old town, then spend the evening orienting yourself: the seafront walk, the Dutch Cemetery and a first proper Keralan meal (fish curry, appam). Optional sunset harbour cruise from the Fort Kochi jetty, around £4-6 booked locally.

🚌Airport shuttle bus or shared taxi to Fort Kochi, ~£5-8

🛏Fort Kochi guesthouse or budget heritage homestay, £12-18/night

• →Fort Kochi seafront walk
• →Optional sunset harbour cruise (~£5)

Do the classic Fort Kochi loop independently — everything is walkable within 3km. Start at St Francis Church (oldest European church in India, Vasco da Gama's original burial site), then Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica, then the Chinese fishing nets at the harbour entrance, where local families still operate the cantilevered nets. Take a short auto-rickshaw (~£1.50) or ferry to Mattancherry for Mattancherry Palace (the Portuguese-built 'Dutch Palace', ~£0.50 entry) and Jew Town's spice and antique lanes. In the late afternoon, catch a Kathakali performance — tickets at the Kerala Kathakali Centre or See India Foundation are ~£5-8 and bookable same-day.

🚌Walking plus short auto-rickshaw hops, ~£2

🛏Fort Kochi guesthouse

• →St Francis Church
• →Santa Cruz Cathedral
• →Chinese fishing nets
• →Mattancherry Palace
• →Jew Town spice lanes
• →Kathakali dance performance (~£6)

Take the morning KSRTC bus from Kochi to Munnar — around 4-5 hours through rubber, cardamom and eventually tea country, roughly £3-4. If you want to break up the drive, stop at a spice or craft cooperative en route (Srishti-style charitable craft centres near Munnar welcome walk-in visitors; small donation). Arrive in Munnar town, where nights are genuinely cool — pack a fleece. Settle into a guesthouse or homestay up in the tea slopes and walk the town bazaar in the evening.

🚌KSRTC bus Kochi-Munnar, ~£3.50, 4-5 hrs

🛏Munnar homestay or guesthouse, £14-20/night

• →Scenic bus journey through tea country
• →Optional stop at a local craft/weaving cooperative
• →Munnar town bazaar

Book a local trekking guide through your guesthouse or the Munnar tourism office the night before (~£12-18 for a half day, cheapest shared with other travellers). The classic walk climbs through tea estates towards the Seven Malai hills with views over Chittrapuram Dam, Changulam Lake and Anamudi, South India's highest peak. Bring water, sun protection and decent shoes. In the afternoon, visit a working tea factory or the tea museum (~£2-3) and do a tasting — the Kanan Devan Hills Plantation factory tour is the best value.

🚌Local auto-rickshaw to trailhead, ~£3

🛏Munnar homestay

• →Guided tea plantation trek (~£15)
• →Tea museum and tasting (~£3)
• →Views of Chittrapuram Dam and Anamudi

Take the KSRTC bus from Munnar down to Theni or Periyakulam, then a connecting bus or shared taxi on to Madurai — total roughly 4-5 hours and £5-7. There is no direct train from Munnar. Arrive by late afternoon and check into a guesthouse within walking distance of the Meenakshi Temple. That evening, go and see the temple's nightly closing ceremony, when the deity is carried to the bedchamber with drums and chanting — free, and one of the most atmospheric things in South India. Dress modestly (shoulders and knees covered; shoes off).

🚌Bus Munnar-Theni-Periyakulam, then bus/shared taxi to Madurai, ~£6 total

🛏Madurai guesthouse near the temple, £12-18/night

• →Nightly closing ceremony at Sri Meenakshi Temple (free)

Start at dawn — Madurai is best before the heat. Walk the temple tank and the flower market around Meenakshi Temple, then go inside properly (free entry for the temple; the thousand-pillar hall and museum cost a couple of pounds). If you want context, hire an ASI-licensed guide at the gate for ~£8-10. Then walk to Thirumalai Nayaka Palace (~£1) and the Gandhi Memorial Museum (free, donation), which covers India's independence movement with real candour. Eat at a local mess — a banana-leaf thali is about £1.50.

🚌Walking, £0

🛏Madurai guesthouse

• →Dawn walk and flower market
• →Sri Meenakshi Temple interior
• →Thirumalai Nayaka Palace
• →Gandhi Memorial Museum
• →Optional local guide (~£9)

Bus back up into the Cardamom Hills to Thekkady/Kumily, about 4 hours and £4-5 (or the slower scenic route via Cumbum). Check into a guesthouse in Kumily village. In the afternoon, wander a spice garden — walk-in tours at the Periyar spice gardens cost £2-3 and unlike the group versions you can linger. In the evening, arrange a cooking demonstration and dinner with a local family through your homestay (typically £8-12 per person including the meal) — most Kumily homestays offer this directly, and it's the best meal of the trip.

🚌Bus Madurai-Kumily, ~£4.50, 4 hrs

🛏Kumily/Thekkady homestay, £10-16/night

• →Spice garden walk (~£3)
• →Village bazaar and spice shops
• →Home cooking demonstration and dinner (~£10)

Book the early bamboo rafting or nature walk slot at the Periyar Tiger Reserve directly at the Ecotourism Centre the day before — these are capped in numbers and sell out, around £12-20 depending on which programme. It's a 3-4 hour forest walk with a tribal guide, best odds of spotting bison, sambar and the odd elephant early in the morning. Afternoon: either a boat cruise on Periyar Lake (£3-4), or stay in the village for an Ayurvedic massage (£10-15) and an evening Kalaripayattu martial arts show (~£3-4).

🚌Walking / short auto-rickshaw to the reserve gate, ~£2

🛏Kumily homestay

• →Guided nature walk or bamboo rafting in Periyar (~£15)
• →Periyar Lake boat cruise (~£4)
• →Optional Ayurvedic massage (~£12)
• →Optional Kalaripayattu show (~£4)

Bus to Kottayam (2.5-3 hrs, ~£3), then a short local bus or auto to Kumarakom. Stay in a backwater homestay or budget resort on the lake edge. Walk the rubber plantation lanes around Kanjirapally/Aymanam — rubber smallholders will happily show you tapping if you ask, and several plantation bungalows run walk-in tours with a home-cooked Keralan lunch for £8-12. Alternatively the Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary is a cheap, quiet afternoon (£1.50).

🚌Bus Thekkady-Kottayam ~£3, then local bus/auto to Kumarakom ~£1.50

🛏Kumarakom backwater homestay, £15-22/night

• →Rubber plantation walk and tapping demonstration
• →Traditional Keralan lunch with a plantation family (~£10)
• →Optional Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary (~£1.50)

Morning: take a shikara (small covered boat) through the narrow canals to a backwater village like Manjira — bookable through your homestay or the Kottayam/Alleppey boat jetty, around £8-12 for a couple of hours. You'll see coir-making, coconut leaf weaving and net fishing up close. Midday: bus to Alleppey (1.5 hrs, ~£1). In the afternoon board a shared single-night houseboat or, cheaper and more sociable, a guesthouse-run backwater canoe trip — a full board houseboat (private cabin, meals included) runs £45-70 if you can share or book a cabin on a group boat, or around £35-45 for a canoe + homestay combo. Sunset from the boat on the Punnamada lake is the highlight.

🚌Bus Kumarakom-Alleppey ~£1, shikara boat ~£10

🛏Alleppey houseboat cabin or backwater homestay, £25-45

• →Shikara canal boat to Manjira village
• →Coconut weaving and coir museum
• →Backwater houseboat cruise and sunset

A long transfer day. Disembark the houseboat after breakfast, then take the train from Alappuzha to Thiruvananthapuram (about 3.5-4 hrs, £2-4 unreserved/sleeper class — book on IRCTC or just buy at the counter). Stop en route (auto-rickshaw from Harippad station, ~£3 return) at Mannarasala Sree Nagaraja Temple, an unusual snake-worship temple set in forest. From Trivandrum, catch a local bus to Kovalam (30 mins, £0.50) and settle into a beach guesthouse in Hawa or Lighthouse Beach.

🚌Train Alappuzha-Thiruvananthapuram ~£3, auto to temple ~£3, bus to Kovalam ~£0.50

🛏Kovalam beach guesthouse, £12-20/night

• →Mannarasala Sree Nagaraja Temple
• →Kovalam beach evening

Skip the private car and do it the local way: bus or train from Kovalam/Trivandrum to Kanyakumari (about 2.5-3 hrs, £2-3 each way). See the Vivekananda Rock and the confluence of the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal by ferry (£1), then Padmanabhapuram Palace (a stunning wooden Travancore palace, ~£1 entry) and Suchindran Temple on the way back. Stay for sunset over the three seas — the whole point of the trip. Alternatively take a slower, cheaper local bus and overnight if you want sunrise.

🚌Train/bus Trivandrum-Kanyakumari return ~£5, ferry ~£1

🛏Kovalam beach guesthouse

• →Kanyakumari viewpoint and Vivekananda Rock ferry
• →Padmanabhapuram Palace
• →Suchindran Temple
• →Sunset at the southern tip of India

Morning option: walk down to Vizhinjam harbour at dawn to watch the fishing fleet come in — free, and a 20-minute walk from Kovalam. Then bus into Thiruvananthapuram (£0.50). Visit Padmanabhaswamy Temple (open to Hindu visitors only, but the gopuram and exterior are spectacular; strict dress code — men in dhoti, women in sari, rented at the gate), then Kuthiramalika Palace next door (£1), the Napier Museum and Sree Chitra Art Gallery (both a couple of pounds, closed Mondays). Back to Kovalam for a last seafood dinner on the beach.

🚌Local buses Kovalam-Trivandrum return, ~£1

🛏Kovalam beach guesthouse

• →Vizhinjam harbour and fishing village
• →Padmanabhaswamy Temple
• →Kuthiramalika Palace
• →Napier Museum and Sree Chitra Art Gallery

Slow breakfast, a last swim, then bus to Trivandrum airport (40 mins, ~£0.50, or taxi ~£5). Trivandrum International is small and efficient — two hours before an international flight is plenty.

🚌Bus or taxi to Trivandrum airport, £0.50-5

🛏—

• →Final beach morning