Kerala Tour Package 5 Nights 6 Days

The Climb: Roughly 130 km and four hours inland, rising through rubber plantation and then into tea.

On the Way: Cheeyappara and Valara falls both drop beside the road and make natural stops.

Munnar: At around 5,200 ft, the air changes noticeably. The tea here was planted by Scottish managers from the 1880s and the estates still run on that layout.

Afternoon: Free at the hotel, or a short walk into the estates behind it.

• Top Places to Cover: Cheeyappara Falls, Valara Falls, Munnar town, the tea estates.
• Importance of Each Place: Munnar was developed almost entirely by the Kannan Devan Hills Produce company and remains one of the largest contiguous tea-growing areas in India.
• Things to Know: The ghat road is winding for the last two hours - motion sickness tablets before you start. Munnar nights drop to single digits in winter.

Meals: Breakfast | Overnight: Munnar

Eravikulam National Park: Home to the Nilgiri tahr, and the slopes here carry the Neelakurinji, which flowers once every twelve years - last in 2018.

Mattupetty: The dam and its reservoir, with a cattle-breeding farm nearby and boating on the water.

Echo Point and Top Station: Top Station sits on the Tamil Nadu border and gives the widest view in the district when the cloud lifts.

Tea Museum: The KDHP museum shows the processing chain from leaf to cup and is the best hour for understanding what you have been driving through.

• Top Places to Cover: Eravikulam National Park, Mattupetty Dam, Echo Point, Top Station, Tea Museum, Kundala Lake.
• Importance of Each Place: Eravikulam holds the largest surviving population of Nilgiri tahr, which were close to extinction in the mid-20th century.
• Things to Know: Eravikulam closes for the tahr calving season, roughly February to March. Entry is by shuttle bus only and tickets sell out by mid-morning in season.

Meals: Breakfast | Overnight: Munnar

The Drive: About 110 km and four hours through the cardamom hills.

Periyar: The lake inside the tiger reserve was created by the Mullaperiyar Dam in 1895, which flooded a valley - the dead trees standing in the water are the remains of that forest. Boat safaris run through the day.

What You Will See: Elephant, gaur, sambar and otter are common. Tiger sightings are rare and no operator should suggest otherwise.

Spice Walk: A plantation walk through cardamom, pepper, clove and vanilla, which finally explains what is growing on every hillside.

• Top Places to Cover: Periyar Lake, Periyar Tiger Reserve, spice plantations, Kumily town, Mullaperiyar Dam.
• Importance of Each Place: Periyar was one of the first nine tiger reserves declared under Project Tiger in 1973. The cardamom hills around it supply a significant share of India output.
• Things to Know: Boat tickets are sold by the forest department on the day and the first boat has the best sighting odds. Life jackets are mandatory.

Meals: Breakfast | Overnight: Thekkady

Down to the Coast: Roughly 140 km, descending out of the hills into the paddy country of Kuttanad.

Boarding: Board a private houseboat around noon. These are kettuvallam - the design comes from the rice barges that carried grain along these channels before roads existed.

The Afternoon: The boat cruises the Punnamada backwaters past duck farms, coir villages and paddy fields that sit below sea level.

On Board: The crew cooks fresh - usually karimeen fried in banana leaf. The boat moors before dusk, as state rules require.

• Top Places to Cover: Punnamada backwaters, Kuttanad paddy fields, Alleppey canals, the houseboat.
• Importance of Each Place: Kuttanad is one of very few places in the world where farming is done below sea level. The Nehru Trophy snake boat race is held on Punnamada each August.
• Things to Know: Houseboats are required by Kerala regulation to moor before dusk and do not cruise at night. Air conditioning usually runs only from evening on generator hours.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner | Overnight: Houseboat

Morning: Breakfast on board, then disembark.

The Transfer: About 75 km to Cochin airport - allow two and a half hours.

• Top Places to Cover: Alleppey jetty, Cherai beach (optional), Cochin airport.
• Things to Know: Disembarkation is usually by 9 am. If your flight is late, Cherai beach is a reasonable stop on the way to the airport.

Meals: Breakfast | Overnight: Journey ends