I have a question in mind about why Kerala is known as god's own country? To search for an answer I packed my bag and went on to explore Kerala for over a month. On some days along with exploring Kerala, I was also remotely working and here I am sharing with you how you can create your Kerala travel itinerary of 15 days.
In these 15 days, you will explore magical mountains, memorable backwaters, Falling Beauties(waterfalls) and a magnificent coastline.
Where to start :
We started our trip from Kochi as I found it the best suitable location to explore Kerala because of its high connectivity with other big cities by road, air and railways. Also, it is in the centre of Kerala so no location is too far from Kochi.
How to reach :
By Train: For Kochi, Ernakulam is the station where you have to deboard. I started from Mumbai so it took me 24hr to reach Kochi.
By Air: Cochin International Airport is 25km from the city centre and you can easily find flights from all metro cities of India.
By Road: From Chennai, Bangalore and Coimbatore you can find a direct bus to Kochi.
How to budget your trip:
One of my friend joined me on this trip and we did a budget backpacking trip. We kept approx Rs.1500/- per day per person this includes food, stay and travel. You can get a decent room or homestay in all the locations for 1000/- approx, bike rent for 600/- approx, 300 for fuel/-, and food for 1200/- for 2 people (Breakfast, lunch & dinner).
So to sum up, you can easily cover the whole trip in 23k - 27k if planned properly. This excludes your tickets to and from Kerala.
Kochi to Munnar:
On day 1 you can book a bus from red bus and it will take you 4 hrs and will costed you 250/- PP. You can also book cab that will cost you 3000/- approx.
We planned to stay in old munnar as it is less crowded and you can easily find budget rooms here. Take rested for some time and in evening you can experience sunset at Pothamedu view point.
On day 2 You have to start early in the morning like at 5 am to experience one of the most beautiful sunrise in Lockhart Gap viewpoint as it is 20 km from Old munnar.
After you can come back to city centre and while tracing back to munnar you will will see tea plantation you can also visit some of them if you want. Now it's time for you to explore Tea museum of munnar where you can taste different tea and shop for the same as well.
Have lunch and explore munnar city which is famous for its chocolates and tea.
On day 3 again you have to start early at 4 am and head for top station viewpoint which is 35 km approx from city centre.
While tracing back you can visit echo point, Mattupatty dam and also experience boating in Kundala lake.
you will cross through multiple elephant crossing zones and if you are lucky you can spot some elephant as well.
On day 4 you can start late and after having your breakfast head toward Ervikulam National Park to see nilgiri than and beautiful flora and fauna of it. It is 12 km from city center
After that head 20km toward lakkam waterfall and you won't regret travelling this 20km.
Munnar to Kochi:
On day 5 Take a bus from munnar in morning and enquire a day before to confirm the bus timings in morning. By afternoon you will be in kochi I will suggest you to stay in fort kochi which is around 20 km away from ernakulam. We stayed in goStop hostel and it costed us 500/- PP.
In evening you can explore fort kochi beach and churches around the beautiful town.
you can watch a very old technique of fishing with this chinese fishing nets.
On day 6 have your breakfast and head toward the biggest waterfall of south India, Athirappilly waterfall aka Bahubali waterfalls.
It's a 3hr drive from kochi so you can rented a bike for 1000/- from fort kochi area you will find multiple bike rental in fort kochi
It will be almost afternoon to trace back to kochi. In evening you can explore cafes some nice cafe in fort kochi like the Qissa cafe.
Don't miss out the chocolate cafe from here.
On day 7 is the time for you to visit a bit offbeat kochi. It's time to get a countryside feel.
So take a rented scooty and head for fort kochi jetty stand and start your journey to the beautiful vypin island.
In vypin island you can visit forts, multiple beaches and backwaters as well.
Cherai beach is the most famous beach among all. After exploring cherai beach it's time to visit lulu mall but before that try Mandi in Al- reems.
After Exploring mall end you day at mattancherry palace in fort kochi.
It consist of museum, temples, murals and beautiful architecture .
End your day watching sunset near the same palace.
Kochi to Alleppey:
On day 8 have your breakfast in fort kochi and head for Ernakulam bus stand and take a bus to Alleppey aka Alappuzha there are state buses in plenty and will take 1.5hr as it's just 50 km from kochi.
Things to do in Alleppey:
On first day you can do Shikara boat ride to explore the backwaters it will cost you 400/- per hour approx for a boat and almost 4-6 people can easily texplore in one boat.
Start you shikara ride after 3 pm and take the ride for at-least 3-4hr to experience the beautiful sunset.
On day 9 take the houseboat experience and stay overnight there in that boat. Houseboat will cost you 6500/- for 2 person including lunch, dinner and next day breakfast.
Boat jetty road is the best place to book as there are multiple shop just be good with your bargaining skills.
Alleppey to Varkala:
On day 10 to reach varkala you can opt for bus as well as train. The distance is about 110km we opted for train and it took us 2.5 hrs approx to reach varkala.
Where to stay:
I will suggest you to stay on north cliff if your are on budget and if not then south cliff of varkala.
We stayed in this beautiful property called The Boho County and it costed us 1200/- Per day non AC rooms.
Best part is it's just 10m away from the cliff. Book a scooty to explore around it will cost you 400/- approx per day and go to city center for lunch. I will suggest go to Arabian choolah and try there Biryani, mandi or alfam.
After lunch go to varkala black sand beach for sunset.
In evening explore the cafes on cliffs special mention is Darjeeling cafe. Vibes of those cliff cafes are amazing.
End your day with relaxing waves on the cliff.
On day 11 it's time for you to experience something very unique and explore some offbeat places in varkala as well.
First head toward jatayu bird century it's world largest bird sculpture.
It's 27km from varkala.
After that have lunch and head toward Anjengo fort.
It's a small fort with a lighthouse and beach view and the roads to this place are very beautiful.
End your day watching sunset from north cliff.
On day 12 start with Golden Island
You have to take a boat to that island. After that go to Shree Janardhana Temple which is a 2000 yr old temple.
Have your lunch and rest for some time and in evening head for beach hopping. Start with Edava Beach.
The most famous beach is kappil beach go there next.
Finally experience sunset away from the crowd at Paravur Beach which is just 2 km away from kappil beach.
You can also explore Munro Island if you have spare time with you.
Varkala to Thiruvananthapuram:
On day 13, we took a bus from varkala and distance was 50km so it took us 2hr to reach the capital city. We stayed in city centre and we got rooms for 1000/- per day.
On this day you can visit the world richest place for worshipping i.e Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.
On day 14, you can visit Shangumug beach and also don't miss the kovalam beach which is famous for its lighthouse.
Kovalam Beach is 22km from city so you may rent a bike or book a cab which ever is suitable for you. We rented a bike for a day.
Sunset is very beautiful from kovalam beach and you can also do water sports activities in kovalam beach.
On last day pack your memories along with your bag and trace back to home.
For a complete virtual experience you can visit my youtube channel I have made this made a separate playlist for Kerala.
If you have any doubt feel free to comment.
Thanks for reading..Keep smiling...Keep travelling☺️☺️☺️
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