Kerala Honeymoon Tour Packages

If you have not been able to visit the Chinese Net area, you can do so early morning before breakfast. Later return to hotel timely for the breakfast.

After breakfast you leave the coast and climb. The drive to Munnar is about 108 to 130 km depending on the route, roughly 3 to 4 hours on NH85 through Adimali, and it is one of the loveliest road journeys in South India. The air changes as you go up. You will feel it before you see it.

Your driver will stop where you want photographs. There are waterfalls along the way in and after the monsoon, and small tea shops where you should try a strong Kerala chai. Please do not rush this drive. The road has many bends and a good driver takes them gently.

Munnar sits at about 1,600 metres in the Kannan Devan Hills of Idukki district, and averages around 17 degrees through the year. That is why the British made it a resort town and why it is still the most loved hill station in South India. Check in at your hotel and take the afternoon slowly. Walk out into the tea, or sit with a hot drink and let the mist come in. For a honeymoon this half day of stillness is worth more than another sight.

If you are visiting between December and February, please carry one warm layer each. Mornings can drop towards 5 to 10 degrees, and couples who pack only for a beach holiday regret it here. Overnight at Munnar.

Today is the day the two nights pay for themselves. You have a full unhurried day in the hills instead of packing again.

We usually start with Eravikulam National Park at Rajamala, about 13 to 15 km from town. This is where you may see the Nilgiri Tahr, the endangered mountain goat that lives on these slopes below Anamudi, the highest peak in South India at 2,695 metres. Entry is 8 am to 2 pm and the fee is about 200 rupees for Indian visitors and about 500 rupees for foreign nationals. Book online a couple of days ahead on the official site eravikulamnationalpark.in, because online and reserved tickets use a separate and much faster queue.

One honest warning about the season. Eravikulam closes every year for the Tahr calving, officially February to March. In practice the gates shut from about 1 February and reopen around 1 April, and the exact dates shift a little each year. If your honeymoon falls in that window, the park will be closed and no operator can get you in. We will tell you this when you book, not when you arrive, and we will use the morning differently.

The rest of the day is Mattupetty dam and its still water, the viewpoints around the town, the tea estates and Devikulam. The Tea Museum run by Kanan Devan Hills Plantations, the former Tata estate, at Nallathanni is open about 9 am to 4 pm with entry around 75 rupees for adults, and it is closed on Mondays and on Good Friday. If you have ever wondered how the leaf in your cup is rolled and dried, this is a genuinely interesting hour.

In the evening, walk. Munnar after dark is cool and quiet and smells of tea and woodsmoke. Overnight at Munnar.

After breakfast you drive down out of the tea hills to Thekkady, about 120 km and roughly 3 hours. The landscape changes from tea to cardamom, pepper and coffee. Wind the window down. This is the part of Kerala that smells of spice, and it is not a figure of speech.

Check in and get refreshed, then go out for the afternoon. A spice plantation walk is the thing to do here, and it is more interesting than it sounds. You will be shown pepper vines climbing the trees, cardamom growing at ankle height, nutmeg, clove and vanilla, and you will finally understand why ships once crossed oceans for this hillside.

Thekkady is the base town for the Periyar Tiger Reserve, 777 square kilometres of Western Ghats forest in Idukki district. If you would like a gentle walk, the Forest Department Nature Walk and Green Walk run about 2.5 to 3 hours at around 350 rupees per person. Tell us in advance and we will arrange it.

Sleep early tonight. Tomorrow starts before sunrise, and it is worth it. Overnight at Thekkady.

You leave the hotel around 6 am for the first boat. This is a real early start and we are asking it of you for a reason: the first cruise around dawn and the last near dusk give much the best chance of seeing animals, because they come down to the water and the crowds are thinner.

A few practical things that catch people out. Private vehicles cannot drive to the boat landing. You park in the Thekkady area about 4 km away and take a Forest Department shuttle bus, roughly 15 minutes and about 60 rupees a head, so build that into the timing. The government KTDC cruises run in fixed slots at about 7:30, 9:30, 11:15, 13:45 and 15:30, each lasting around 90 minutes, and you must report at the landing well before your slot. Life jackets are compulsory and are worn by everybody, a rule that followed the loss of the boat Jalakanyaka on this reservoir on 30 September 2009. Please wear yours properly.

On the water you will most likely see Indian gaur, sambar deer, wild boar, otters and many waterbirds. Elephants are a matter of luck. Leopards and tigers are rare. We would rather tell you that now than have you feel short changed. Take the upper deck if you can, and carry binoculars if you own a pair.

Come back for breakfast, then drive to Kumarakom, about 120 km and 2.5 to 3 hours. Kumarakom is a cluster of green islands on Vembanad Lake, the largest lake in Kerala, in Kottayam district. It is the quieter and more upscale backwater base, and after an early start it is the right place to land.

In the afternoon visit the Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary, a 14 acre haven on the old Baker estate beside the lake, open about 6 am to 6 pm. If you are travelling between November and February you may see migratory birds such as teal, pintail, flycatcher and darter. Then walk out to the houseboat jetty and the small villages on the banks as the light goes. Overnight at Kumarakom.

Take your breakfast slowly this morning. You leave around 10:30 am for Alleppey, officially Alappuzha, about 52 km and an hour away. Houseboats check in around 12 noon, so there is no reason to hurry.

Your boat is a kettuvallam, a traditional rice barge tied together with coir rope and no nails. Alleppey is the hub of Kerala's backwaters, a network of canals, rivers, lakes and lagoons stretching over about 900 km, and the town is often called the Venice of the East. You will understand why by about four o'clock.

The cruise runs through the afternoon. You pass paddy fields lying below the level of the water, toddy shops, children coming home from school along the bank, women washing at the steps. Your crew cooks your lunch, evening tea and dinner on board and serves it fresh. For most couples this afternoon is the memory they keep.

Please know that the boat will not sail through the night. By rule houseboats moor at sunset, commonly around 5:30 pm in Alleppey, and stay at anchor until morning. This protects the waterways and the night fishing. So an overnight houseboat is an afternoon of cruising, a sunset, a quiet night at anchor and a slow breakfast. Nobody is cutting your trip short.

Two small things worth checking. On deluxe boats the air conditioning is commonly run only at night, often about 9 pm to 6 am, to save the generator, while premium and luxury boats run it full time. Please confirm the hours in writing when you book so there is no argument on board. And every legal houseboat carries a Kerala Inland Vessel registration and the Kerala Tourism classification, Silver, Gold or Diamond, along with working life jackets. You are entitled to see all of it, and we check it before we put you on a boat. Overnight on the houseboat.

Your houseboat checks out around 9 am. Have your breakfast on the water first. There is no better place to drink your last Kerala coffee than the deck of a moored kettuvallam with the mist still lifting off the backwater.

Then the drive back to Kochi, about 64 km and roughly 2 hours, to the airport or to Ernakulam station depending on your flight or train. Please allow the full 60 to 90 minutes if you are going to Cochin airport from the Fort Kochi side, and tell us your exact timing so we can start early enough. We would rather you wait at the airport than watch the clock in traffic.

If you have a late flight, there is time for one more thing. Fort Kochi for coffee and the seafront, or Jew Town for shopping. Kerala is good for spices bought at source, for coir and for handloom. Ask your driver which shop he would send his own family to, and go there instead of the first place with a large signboard.

This is the end of your honeymoon with us. Thank you for letting us plan it. When you come back to Kerala, and most couples do, come in a different season and you will find it is a different place.