Itinerary advice please!

jgogia

We are planning on committing 8-9 days in Kerala at the end of February. The plan right now is:

Day 1-2: Fly into Cochin
Day 3: Backwaters tour (to Allapuzha?)
Day 4-5: Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary (is this worth it? )
Day 6-8: Trivandrum/Kovalam

Then Fly out from Kovalam

Does anyone have recommendations regarding this itinerary or any ideas on how best to get from place to place? Any things we absolutely shouldn't miss that we overlooked here? Thanks so much!

Eatpie

Never been to India before but after at least 50 hrs of research I can tell
u I am doing the EXACT same itinerary. We'll be there around the same time -
Feb 17-24. Only exception is we are ending the trip at Marrari Beach and flying out of Kochi.

MadnoMad

hi jgogia,
there is nothing much to see in cochin except a tour of the small islands in the backwaters.....you will enjoy that....get to cochin...take a rickshaw to the marine drive boat jetty, there you will have a Kerala tourism (KTDC) office offering you various packages.....you might want to choose one that covers the following places

Bolgatty island
vasco da gama's grave
the jewish synagogue
chinese fishing net factory
coir factory

the names may not sound fancy, but its really worth it

the backwaters tour is ok...you will have to goto a place called Kumarakom which is alleppy (alapuzha) there you can even hire a houseboat and chillout on the backwaters (quite expensive)......there is nothing much to do in alleppy except the backwaters and probably get yourself a ayurvedic massage

Periyar wildlife sancturay(thekkady) is a good place....very beautiful...there is also a small village near thekkady called kumili where you can go see black/green pepper plantations

if you have the time you could do a trip to munnar which is a hill station with lots of tea plantations....lots of greenery and streams flowing all over the place..

Kovalam is very very touristy...so if you are not into that kinda thing then you might wanna skip kovalam and do Varkala beach...dont know where exactly it is..but its an awesome place

you could visit www.ktdc.com for more info...

hope my tips helped...have a great trip..

adios
The MadnoMad

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steven_ber

Kovalam or Varkala???

Will there be (relatively) more 'package tourists' in Kovalam than 'backpackers' in Varkala at the end of February? A difficult question.


Kovalam will be very quiet (for Kovalam) at the end of February, most package tourists find it difficult to take holidays at this time of year, most backpackers don't go to Kovalam.

February is a popular time of year for backpackers, whilst Varkala wont be at it's busiest, I would imagine it's less affected by the slowdown of tourist numbers than Kovalam.

For the last couple of years Kovalam has got a very bad press from guidebooks and travel forums, whilst Varkala has been widely accepted as THE place to be, I wonder what effect this is having locally.

Varkala is widely accepted as the beach to head for when going to Kerala, Kerala is India's fastest growing tourist destination (and has been for years), has/will this change Varkala? I don’t know.

Personally, I would go to Kovalam, I think the beaches were better than Varkala (I liked the small beach to the south of the Rockholm hotel), though there was nothing wrong with the beaches at Varkala.

All the above is just my opinion, others will disagree, I had 5 days at Kovalam and one day at Varkala at the end of January 2002, Kovalam was already getting quiet, so was Varkala, but I wonder how much this has changed in the last 3 years, especially with (seemingly) everyone recommending Varkala over Kovalam.

If you do choose Kovalam, you may find some useful info on this thread.


Trains and buses are plentiful in south Kerala, you will not have a problem getting from A to B.


A couple of threads you should read.

Corruption in Kochi (Cochin): a tip for those coming in by plane.

Kerala Backwaters - A cruise on budgets!

__________________
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How to get helpful replies to your transport/Itinerary questions.


Train information.


RAC & Waitlists explained.

goamit

There is no Airport in Kovalam so you have to drive to Trivandrum to catch your connecting flight

smokiecat

just returned from 3 weeks in Kerala , have fallen in love with the place and the people and hope to return for a 3rd visit

apart from the usual touristy places Alleppey, Perriyar, Munnar we took the train from Cochin down to Varkala

We stayed at the http://www.asthamay.com and now ive let my little gem out i will prob never get a room there ever again, the owners Celia and Barla were great host and the views from our bungalows were fantastic, beach was quiet tho towards the end of our stay a few hawkers did pass thru but without to much hassle. the main dragg on the cliff has the usual gifty shops and bars a good bar was the art cafe (think that was its name) a bit funky and served cosktails (hence why i cant remeber the name)i never went down further to the main beach

Varkala is smaller and bit quieter than Kovolam though i found it hard to decide which i prefered, they both have their own qualities andi wld be happy to spend half and half of my time at each place, i guess the only downpoint of Kovolam is the constant hassle from the fruit ladies on the beach though is is quite entertaining to watch them biccker but on a plus note it seemed a bit more personal everybody remebers u even when u have been away travelling about and make u so welcome maybe i didnt spend enoughtime in the hub of things in Varkala to experience that but that wil be for another visit

i cld ramble on forever but i wont

hope this helps anyone with their visit

steven_ber

Thanks for the info smokiecat.

Asthamay looks a good place but there are no prices on their website.

How much did you pay?

kiranlal

Dear frimd you can also try the follwing ittenery
Cochin - Munnar -Periyar -Alleppy - Kollam (By boat - back water )-the Kovalam - and the air port is only 16 km from the beach , and you have a very good road straight to air port,

you r welcome to kovalam , May be we can meet here for a drink i am from Triavndrum

snowcrab

We were in Kovalum last year just befor Christmas it was not all that busy. Got a decent hotel for 150Rs per day off the beach. Lots of sidewalk vendors crying the blues about no customers, empty restaurants etc. After the tsunami, who knows?

Be sure if you go that you check out the pathways back behind the beach, wonderful shady spaces, twist around between the hills for miles.

jgogia

Thank you all so much! I can't wait. All of your advice is extremely helpful!

Dav

Not sure if you'll still be in Kerala in early March? If so, there are two local festivals on:

4th of March in Allapuzha
6th of March in Kollam

Slot in a backwater cruize in-between and it's all good!!

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Davinski

caymus1984@yahoo.com

I just got back from my honeymoon (Cochin - Alleppey - Munnar) and would like to say "Don't miss out on Munnar" It was one of the most amazing places I've ever seen. A place of incomparable beauty. If you go stay at the Cloud 9 hotel, its about 20 km past Munnar but is situated in between towering mountains and tea plantations. Alleppey and Backwaters were amazing (Check out the 3 day package at Kayaloram on the backwaters, 2 nights at hotel and one night aboard a houseboat, and lots of other extra goodies.) You can check out my post 'kerala honeymoon - cochin to alleppey to munnar' for more ideas. Good luck and have a great time.
SL

cazaresil

I just got back from India, including a few days in Kerala. I entered Kerala from Tamil Nadu, my first stop being Periyar Tiger Reserve. A few comments follow:
- Periyar Tiger Reserve: I just stopped there because it was on my way, took the 2-hour boat and had an amazing experience. I saw A LOT OF wild elephants, wild boar, Indian bison, sambhar deer and otters. Also the remains of a deer eaten by a tiger the day before! Ah, also an interesting variety of birds. I know they have a million other plans to offer, including night excursions to see tigers. I can't tell you about it, but I would say, at least stop for the boat tour. You won't regret it.
- Munnar: it's just 100+ kilometers from Periyar. This is my favorite place in Kerala. The tea plantations are really beautiful. You can cover the Munnar area in just one FULL day (given that you wake up very early). You can cover the road to the Top Hill Station in the morning and the road to Ernavikulam NP (much shorter) in the afternoon. The road to Kochi is also very beautiful, but you can do it next day when traveling either to Kochi or Kumakoram. You may want to spend a second day if you are a relaxed traveller, which I'm not.
- Backwaters: from Munnar I hired a car with driver to Kumakoram for 1,200 rupees. Once there I took the backwaters tour to Alapuzzha. It takes only 2 hours. Short but beautiful, including rice paddies, coconut islands, colorful people, narrow and wide waterways. I got to Alapuzzha by 5 pm and took a bus to Kochi. Next day I took what it is known as the Kochi backwaters tour, which in fact is 35 Km away from Kochi. There they put you in a boat without engine, where you can visit the very narrow waterways along coconut plantations. The 7-hour tour stops in several places to show you how the locals use coconuts for coir and rope manufacturing, how they use palm tree in the production of mats and some other interesting processes. That tour costs only 400 rupees with lunch included. It goes at a very slow place, but it’s worth it. I didn’t do the Kollam-Alapuzzha tour, but I spoke to people who did so. It seems that they saw more people than I did, and also they run into more Chinese nets. So my advise…. do more than one tour if you can afford the time.
- Kochi: well, just be sure you don’t miss the kathakali dance show. This is a world class performance. The actors are professional. They spent years in a kathakali school in Thrissur, and you can see the show for a mere 100 or 200 rupees. I also had a very interesting time in Vipyn (the island in front of Fort Kochi) interacting with the kids that live in an orphanage just next to the church that you can see from Fort Kochi. Also, the Mattancherry palace is interesting with a great collection of religious murals. You may wish to go to Cherai beach, 20 Km off Vypin. I don’t recommend this beach as I didn’t find it very special.

It was a short visit, but with a lot of substance. Ah, don’t forget to speak many times with the locals. It’s the only way to understand why Kerala is so far away in human development compared to other Indian states.

DoDi

I'm going to be in Kerala from March 9 until April 1... does anyone know of any events or festivals that they would recommend during that time? Or in the neighboring areas of Tamil Nadu?

tomanly

In the backwaters you can try the home stay of Zachariahs family, for having a first hand experience of the backwater Keralan life. This place is situated 10 kms. east of Alleppey acessible both by road and water. You can enjoy the fanastic Keralan cuisine veg. and non-veg. .
Tel. (0)9349412236 or 0477 2724497.