← Back to sample trips
Kerala: Ayurveda, cooking and the backwaters
Photo: Ingo Mehling, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Sample trip

Kerala: Ayurveda, cooking and the backwaters

Ten days on your own in January: Fort Kochi and a home cooking class, a farm island and a night on a houseboat in the backwaters, then four days of Ayurveda and yoga by the sea.

10 days, 9 nightsFor a solo travellerA heritage house, a farm and a retreatAyurveda, yoga and cooking
Fort KochiFort KochiVechoorVechoorKuttanadKuttanadNattikaNattika
Ctrl + scroll to zoom the mapUse two fingers to move the map
IndiaCtrl + scroll to zoom
January is the best month in Kerala: dry, warm and green after the monsoon, and the season the Ayurveda doctors recommend. This trip starts in the old harbour town of Fort Kochi with a cooking class in a family home and an evening of Kathakali, then slows down: two nights on a farm island on Lake Vembanad, one on your own houseboat in the canals of Kuttanad, and four days at an Ayurveda retreat on the beach, with a doctor, daily treatments and yoga.

Fort Kochi

Day1

Getting there

Fly into Kochi (COK). A driver takes about an hour and a half to Fort Kochi, the old harbour town at the tip of the peninsula.

Where you're staying

The Fort Bungalow, a restored colonial house with a pillared courtyard in the lanes of Fort Kochi, a few minutes' walk from the seafront.

  • Two nights; quiet rooms around the courtyard, breakfast included
  • Rated 9.3 on Booking.com from almost 600 reviews
The courtyard
The house from the lane
A room
The dining room
The lounge

Photos: booking.com (property photos)

Evening

Walk to the Chinese fishing nets on the seafront at sunset, when the fishermen still lower the great cantilevered nets into the harbour mouth by hand, as they have for centuries.

  • The nets are worked at high tide, early morning and evening
The nets at sunset
The nets on Fort Kochi beach
A net raised over the harbour

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (Ingo Mehling, CC BY-SA 4.0; Rangan Datta Wiki, CC BY-SA 4.0; Ranjithsiji, CC BY-SA 4.0)

A Keralan kitchen and Kathakali

Day2

Morning

A slow walk through Mattancherry: the Dutch Palace murals, the synagogue and the spice warehouses of Jew Town.

Afternoon

A cooking class in the family home of Nimmy Paul, who has taught the cooking of Kerala's Syrian Christian community for more than twenty years. In about three hours you cook three or four dishes at her stove, then sit down to eat them together.

  • Small groups, booked directly with Nimmy and her husband Paul
  • About 50 to 70 euros a person (estimate)
Around the table at a class
Cooking together
Dishes from a class
The family home
A Keralan curry

Photos: nimmypaul.com

Evening

Kathakali at the Kerala Kathakali Centre in Fort Kochi: the classical dance-drama of Kerala, told with painted faces, eye movements and hand gestures. Arrive early to watch the actors paint their make-up on stage.

  • A short explanation of the gestures before the performance makes the story easy to follow
  • Tickets a few hundred rupees (estimate)
A Kathakali scene
A Kathakali performance
Make-up before the show

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (Evan Silver, CC BY-SA 4.0; JP Vets, CC BY-SA 4.0; Shagil Kannur, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Kathakali

A Kathakali make-up takes over an hour; the green face, called pacha, marks a noble hero.

To the lake

Day3

Getting there

An hour and a half by car to Vechoor on the east shore of Lake Vembanad, the last stretch by boat.

Where you're staying

Philipkutty's Farm, six waterfront villas on a family farm island, with all meals, for two nights.

Island farm

Day4

The day

A canoe through the canals at dawn, a walk round the farm, and a cooking demonstration in the family kitchen before dinner.

Flagship day

A night on the backwaters

Day5

Day 5 · Tue 19 Jan

The day

At noon you board your own kettuvallam, a rice barge turned houseboat, with Lakes & Lagoons, for one night on the backwaters. With a crew of three, you leave the busy main channel for the narrow canals of Kuttanad, below sea level between the paddy fields, where life still moves by boat.

  • A one-bedroom boat with your own captain and cook, about 150 to 220 euros for the night with all meals (estimate)
  • Boats stop cruising at about 18:00 and moor for the night; you go ashore at 9:00
A kettuvallam on the backwaters
A houseboat on Punnamada lake
On the Alleppey backwaters
A boatman in the canals

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (Adam Jones, CC BY-SA 3.0; Ingo Mehling, CC BY-SA 4.0; Paul Arps, CC BY 2.0; Varghesepunnamada, CC BY 4.0)

Kuttanad

Much of Kuttanad lies one to two metres below sea level: farmers have grown rice here behind dykes since the 19th century.

Lunch

On board, the cook makes a Keralan lunch; ask for karimeen pollichathu, pearl spot fish from these waters, marinated in spices and cooked in a banana leaf.

  • Lunch, tea, dinner and breakfast are all made on the boat
Karimeen pollichathu in a banana leaf

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (Anupama1002, CC BY-SA 4.0)

To the Ayurveda retreat

Day6

Getting there

About three hours north along the coast to Nattika.

Where you're staying

Sitaram Beach Retreat, an Ayurveda retreat on Nattika beach, for four nights with treatments, yoga and meals.

Doctor, then treatments

Day7

The day

A consultation with the Ayurveda doctor, who writes your treatment plan and diet; first treatments and yoga at sunset.

Ayurveda days

Day8

The day

Yoga at dawn, two treatments a day, the beach in between.

Ayurveda days

Day9

The day

A last day of treatments and a closing consultation with the doctor.

Home

Day10

Getting home

About an hour and a half to Kochi airport for the flight home.

Build this trip

We will start from this one and reshape it around your dates, your group and your pace. Nothing here is a fixed package.

Build this trip See other trips