Private Tour
9 Days Kerala Tour: Best of Kerala Tour with Backwater
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Kerala earns its nickname, God's Own Country, honestly. This one week Kerala tour moves through five very different settings in one manageable trip. You start in colonial Cochin. You climb into Munnar's tea hills. You spend a night in Thekkady's wildlife country. You finish on the backwaters of Alleppey and Kumarakom.
It is a genuine Kerala 7 days tour package, built for travellers who want real variety without feeling rushed. Beaches, hill stations, spice markets and a night on a traditional houseboat all fit inside one week.
Call it a one week Kerala holiday, or simply your first real taste of South India. Either way, this route covers Kerala's signature experiences in a sensible order. Hills come first. Backwaters come last.
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7 Days
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Hotel / Airport pickup in Delhi, Noida & Gurgaon
Welcome to the Queen of the Arabian Sea. On arrival, our representative will meet you and transfer you to your hotel. After lunch, explore Kochi's Chinese fishing nets, beaches and European-style architecture. Visit St. Francis Church, Mattancherry, the Jewish Synagogue, Dutch Palace, Jew Town and the Spice Market. In the evening, enjoy a cooking class followed by dinner. Overnight stay in Kochi. Fort Kochi reflects centuries of Portuguese, Dutch and British influence. The iconic Chinese fishing nets are especially beautiful around sunset.
After breakfast, drive to Munnar, one of Kerala's most beautiful hill stations. Enjoy scenic mountain roads, lush valleys and cool, spice-scented air. On arrival, check into your hotel and relax. Later, explore the tea and coffee gardens and shop for tea, coffee, cashews and homemade chocolates. Overnight stay in Munnar.
After breakfast, explore Munnar's highlights, including the Tata Tea Museum, Anamudi Peak, Mattupetty Dam, Eravikulam National Park and Top Station. You can also buy some locally produced tea. Anamudi is the highest peak in South India and offers beautiful views from several points around Munnar. Overnight stay in Munnar.
After breakfast, drive to Thekkady, known for its wildlife and spice plantations. Check into your hotel before enjoying optional activities such as a martial arts show, spice plantation visit or elephant ride. You can also take a boat ride on Periyar Lake through Periyar Tiger Reserve, where elephants, bison and sambar deer may be spotted. Trekking, bamboo rafting and other adventure activities are also available. Overnight stay in Thekkady.
After breakfast, drive to Alleppey, Kerala's famous backwater destination. Check into a traditional houseboat, known as a kettuvallam, and cruise through the peaceful canals and waterways. The scenic journey offers one of the most memorable experiences of this Kerala backwaters tour. Overnight stay aboard the houseboat.
After breakfast, transfer to Cochin Airport or railway station for your onward journey. Your One Week Kerala Tour ends here, with a genuinely well rounded picture of Kerala behind you.
The middle stretch of this trip shifts the mood most noticeably. It moves you from hill country into wildlife territory, and it is worth understanding before you go.
The drive from Munnar to Thekkady covers roughly 94 kilometres. It takes about 4 hours, winding down from tea plantation altitude into denser, warmer forest.
This is a genuine Kerala hill station and backwater tour in structure. The route deliberately puts cool hill air before backwater humidity, not the other way round. Most returning travellers say this order makes the whole week feel better paced.
Thekkady itself sits beside Periyar Tiger Reserve. The boat ride included in this package runs directly through the reserve's core zone.
That gives you a wildlife viewing style unlike a typical jeep safari. Elephants, sambar deer and various bird species are commonly spotted from the water rather than from a vehicle track.
A fair question travellers ask is why this itinerary visits two backwater destinations back to back. Why not just one? The answer comes down to genuine differences between them. Alleppey is Kerala's original houseboat town. An overnight stay aboard a traditional kettuvallam remains the single most requested experience on this entire route. The canals here run narrower, and the pace feels slower. Village life stays visible along the banks throughout the cruise.
Kumarakom, roughly 45 minutes further on, offers a different kind of backwater experience. It centres on Vembanad Lake, Kerala's largest lake, and its bird sanctuary. Rather than a moving houseboat, Kumarakom rewards a slower, land-based stay. A sunset cruise is offered here instead of an overnight one.
International tourism publications have repeatedly ranked it among the world's finest backwater destinations. Pairing it with Alleppey gives you both a moving and a stationary backwater experience in the same week. The bird sanctuary draws serious birdwatchers during migration season, roughly November to February. According to Kerala's own tourism authority, migratory birds arrive here from the Himalayas and even Siberia. Even outside peak migration months, the sanctuary's mangrove-lined paths make for a quiet, unhurried walk.
Unlike a dedicated wildlife tour, this itinerary folds two genuine wildlife experiences directly into the existing route. Neither one needs a separate multi-day detour. Eravikulam National Park, visited on Day 3, protects high-altitude grassland and shola forest. It is best known as the last major stronghold of the Nilgiri tahr, a mountain goat found almost nowhere else.
The park closes each year from February 1 to around the end of March, for the tahr's calving season. This is worth checking before you travel if wildlife viewing matters to your dates. Periyar Tiger Reserve, visited on Day 4, works differently. It is built around a large reservoir, where boat cruises replace the jeep safaris common elsewhere in India. Current park regulations and seasonal closures can be checked through India's National Tiger Conservation Authority before you finalise dates.
Timing matters more on this route than on a single city trip. The itinerary moves through three distinct climate zones in one week: coastal Cochin, hill country Munnar, and backwater Kumarakom. October to March remains the strongest overall window for this Kerala itinerary 7 days route. Temperatures stay comfortable across all five stops, and rain rarely disrupts the houseboat cruise or the Periyar boat safari.
Munnar stays notably cooler than the rest of the route year-round. A light jacket is often useful there, even in warmer months elsewhere in Kerala. April to June brings higher humidity to Cochin and the backwaters. Munnar's altitude, though, keeps it a genuinely pleasant escape during these hotter months.
Monsoon season, roughly June to September, turns the whole route lush and green. The backwater sections generally handle rain well, but this remains the least requested season for this specific itinerary. Travelogy India is recognised by India's Ministry of Tourism. Current travel advisories can also be checked through Incredible India, the government's official tourism portal.
Seven days take you from Cochin's colonial lanes to Munnar's tea-covered hills. From there, a houseboat carries you through Alleppey's quiet canals.
It is a genuinely complete picture of Kerala in one manageable week. Whether you fly in from London, New York, Toronto, Dubai or Mexico City, this route delivers it all. Stop picturing Kerala's backwaters from photos and drift through them yourself. Enquire today, and let Travelogy India plan your one week Kerala tour.