Kerala, 2 weeks, Christmas and New Year

caro7

Greetings

This will be our second time in Kerala, and as it will be peak time I'm assuming this time I'll have to book everything before I go and not rely on finding friendly homestay offers when we arrive at the bus station...?

Anyway, plans are as follows and if anyone could chime in with any thoughts or suggestions that would be really appreciated - I'm all Googled out!


Dec 22 – arrive in Trivandrum, bus to Kollam, then boat to Alleppey (is the 10.30-6.30 tourist boat still going, and are there others?)

Dec 24 – Travel to Cheruthuruthy (train to Shoranur from Alleppey?)

Dec 25 – Cheruthuruthy Christmas festival - this was the only Christmas festival I could find, but if anyone knows of any others it would be nice to know. Cheruthuruthy accommodation is very limited, it seems!

Dec 26 – Travel to Wayanad (Muthanga) (looks like I'll have to go via Calicut, so lots of connections potentially - is this do-able in a day?)

Dec 29 – Travel to Calicut from Sulthanbatheri - any idea of bus times?

Jan 1 – Travel to Trivandrum


Thanks so much in advance to anyone that can help

2cents

...that would be the most comfortable way to travel. You would have to book well ahead to reserve seats.

The Cochin Carnival is Fort Kochi is held during the last 10 days of the year and I guess that qualifies as a Christmas festival - http://www.cochin.org.uk/fairs-and-f...-carnival.html
I have never heard of the Cheruthuruthy Christmas festival though. What does it involve?

You could try ringing up the Station Master or Unit Officer in Sulthan Bathery. You might be able to get your question across and get the bus timings from them. Worth a try if you want to get that info well in advance before you reach Sulthan Bathery.

The 'Directory' page in KSRTC website has the contact number of the Unit Officer - http://www.keralartc.com/html/directory.html
The page has been updated on the 8/10/2008 so the number listed is likely to the right one.

benkey2

hi
also include cochin in your itinerary. as suggested by 2cents you can couple the visit and festival and for that you have to skip the Cheruthuruthy trip. just a suggestion better you think and decide.

caro7

Thanks to you both and your good advice, I have decided to switch the Cheruthuruthy plan and go to Cochin instead. We went to Cochin last trip and just missed the Christmas/New Year festivities - having been there already we wanted to try somewhere new, but the fact that it's almost impossible to find specific info on the Cheruthuruthy festival and also accommodation means that Cochin just makes sense Thanks very much for your help - I'd better book my Cochin accommodation quickly!