Kerala

Hello everybody

I plan to visit to kerala for the first time, in May, with my family i plan to visit to Allepey, Munnar, Thekkady, Kovalam and Kanyakumari i have about 10 days, keeping in mind have two kids under 5. should i take a package for kerala, which i dont wish to at this point, do i get hotels without prior bookings from Delhi, i also wish to spend a day in house boat a tree house in Munnar.

Any ideas ???

May is peak season in the south (as is anywhere) and it's defintely preferable to pre-book your accommodation. Am not really competent to answer the package vs on-your-own question. If you are a person who has the time and zeal to research and pick the routes and accommodation (through forums like here), then I suggest you plan it on your own so that you would have some freedom over where you stay and how much time you spend at each place.

Am not really aware of any tree-house accommodation in Munnar. You could try staying at the 'Periyar house' (KTDC hotel) in the thekkady reserve for a real jungle experience though.

And welcome to Indiamike

Thanx Sharan

I would suggest you book hotels in advance as it will be a problem to go searching for hotels when you are with family.

You can do a part of the journey by train. Kochi to trivandrum can be easily covered by train. From trivandrum you can hire a cab to kanyakumari.

Same way you can cover major cities by train and the other nearby places by hiring a cab.

I don't think it is necessary to book hotels, may is not the full season. You don't like to take a packkage but with children you have to travel safely so i think the best idea is to book a car ( freelance driver )like that you are free of your programm but driver helps you for hotel and he is at anytime with you to go from one place to other. If you like I can give you the contact number of the driver I had when I visited Kerala last september. He speaks english, hindi, tamil and malayalam and know very well the places.

May is not peak tourist season in Kerala so booking hotel rooms ahead is not really necessary but as madhav175 pointed out , since you are travelling with kids it wouldn't hurt to book a room for the first night or two and then decide whether to travel to other places on your itinerary without booking ahead.

In Thekkady, if you and the rest of the family are ready to put up with spartan quarters for a night, then the Forest guest house within the reserve forest is one of the best places to spot elephants without actually trekking/bamboo rafting - http://www.periyartigerreserve.org/h...minperiyar.htm

Dear IM friends

I am willing to visit Kerala in Ist week of December (5 nights 6 days) with group of friends
Selected the following places to visit:
Cochin
Munnar
Alleppey
Kovalam
Kanyakumari
Trivandrum and back to Kolkata
Is this feasible to visit all these places during this short span? If we hire a cab for these six days how much will it cost?

Thanking you all in advance.

Hi,

Covering all these places in 6 days would be way too hectic. You would need at least 2-3 days in Munnar to enjoy the scenic beauty of the place. Kochi and alleppey can be combined with munnar. Or you can ignore this belt altogether and do Kanyakumari - Trivandrum - Kovalam and laze in the beaches.

I would personally recommend you the first option as you would get to experience the hills, coast (Cochin) and the backwaters (Alleppey).