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| Explore
Kerala– 13 nights |
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 About
this holiday:
This is a two-week tour that provides you with an opportunity
to enjoy the main highlights of Kerala – the serene backwaters,
tea-growing hills, spice plantations, national parks with elephant
herds and tigers, and palm-tree lined golden beaches –
at a leisurely pace. We have selected our favourite good-value,
mid-range hotels in Kerala. This is a special trip and we recommend
traveling between December and April. But don’t be afraid
to travel outside of the peak season either when the hotels
offer some very good-value rates.
Holiday highlights
• Wander around historic Fort Kochi
• Visit St. Francis Church, Mattancherry Palace
& medieval synagogue
• Watch a traditional Kathakali dance performance
• Explore Kerala’s serene backwaters and village
life
• Munnar’s tea-growing hills and Thekkady’s
spice plantations
• Two-night stay on exclusive Kettuvallam style houseboat
• Watch elephant herds bathing in Periyar National Park
• Relax on Kerala’s golden beaches
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Depart: Leave London
and fly to Cochin via Colombo on Sri Lankan Airlines
Day 1 & 2:
Arrive at Cochin Airport be met by a Red Dot representative
and transferred in one of our comfortable Ambassador cars to
Fort Cochin, an ancient trading port since at least Roman times
that provided a safe port of call for sailors on the main trade
route from Europe to China. The journey from the airport will
take approximately one hour before you check-in to Bolgatty
palace, one of the oldest existing Dutch palaces outside Holland.
After resting at the hotel and enjoying you first taste of Kerela’s
distinctive spicy cuisine, we suggest you wander around the
fort in the late afternoon. Walk along the fort promontory and
see the unique Chinese Fishing Nets and generally soak up the
atmosphere of the town. During the evening you may wish to watch
a Kathakali dance performance – a noisy, colourful and
spellbinding 400-year dance-drama. The following day, hopefully
after a refreshing night’s sleep, we will show you around
the fort, the highlights of which include Mattancherry Palace,
a gift to the Raja of Kochi back in 1557, St. Francis Church,
first built in 1510 and the resting place of Vasco de Gama,
and a magnificent synagogue dating back to 1568.
Accommodation profile: Cochin
is blessed with monuments of great historic relevance and foremost
among them is Bolgatty Palace. A Dutch trader built this quaint
mansion way back in 1744, and in 1909 it was leased to the British
until independence in 1947. Set amid lush, tropical greenery,
this prestigious heritage hotel provides a holiday of quiet
enchantment. High-class facilities combined with the charm of
its natural settings to make your holiday an experience to remember.
The property offers the following accommodation options: four
suites, 16 rooms, six independent waterfront honeymoon cottages,
all with satellite channels and phone. There is a nine-hole
golf course, 24-hour room service, a beer parlour, restaurant
serving a variety of cuisine,
Day 3 & 4:
Today you journey east to Munnar, the major centre
of Kerala’s tea-growing hills. The spectacular drive will
take four hours. The town itself is not particularly charming,
but the surrounding countryside is beautiful with its soaring
peaks in the distance and neatly-clipped tea estates in the
foreground. We have recommended staying at The Tall Trees. Rest
during the afternoon after the long drive. The following morning
you have several options: laze on your veranda with a good novel;
hire a bike for some off-road cycling; visit a tea factory;
play golf in Munnar, or go walking in the tea estates or hiking
at the Top Station, an idyllic spot 41km from Munnar which offers
fine views over Tamil Nadu. You can also trek in the Eraikulam
National Park, a 100 sq km park of moist evergreen forest and
grassy hilltops that is home to the Nilgiri Tahr, one of the
world’s rarest goats, and also the starting point for
a climb up Anaimudi, at 2,695m the highest peak in South India.
Other activities include.
Accommodation profile: The Tall Trees is
situated 1500m above sea-level in the upper reaches of the Western
Ghats a short drive from Munnar, a tea-growing hill station
town built around the confluence of three mountain streams.
Munnar was a favored summer retreat for the British during colonial
times. The Tall Trees is another special property, remarkable
for its ambience which is created by both natural beauty of
the woodland setting and its staff. The management has taken
great care to look after its employees: they play cricket in
the afternoons and jointly run a curio shop to boost their wages.
The end result is a warm and friendly atmosphere. The grounds
spread out over a 66-acre woodland and cardamom plantation that
includes 561 different species of tree. The chalets are spacious
and each has a balcony with a spectacular view of the valley
below.
Day 5 & 6:
Leave the hills, travelling south across dramatic ridges and
through thick forests to the spice-growing foothills of the
Western Ghats, an area dubbed Cardamom Hills after its most
important crop. Your destination is destination is the picturesque
Periyar National Park, the leading wildlife park in South India,
which was designated as part of Project Tiger in 1972. The lakeside
sanctuary, best explored by boat or on foot with a trekking
guide, is home to a relatively small population of game but,
encouragingly, thanks to enlightened anti-poaching policies
of the Kerala Forest Department, the game numbers are increasing
fast. The forest department have successfully co-opted the support
of the indigenous Mannan community who now conserve the reserve
in exchange for money from eco-tourism. |
You are likely to see elephant grazing
by the lakeside and bison, sambar, wild boar and barking deer
are also commonly spotted. But the tigers are shy and are usually
heard not seen, especially during the nights as they prowl the
jungle for their prey. We’ve recommended staying at Spice
Village. Spend two nights here. We can also organise a spice
plantation tour, a night trek, elephant rides and even a bullock
cart ride (an innovative idea to prevent unsustainable sandalwood
logging).
Accommodation profile: Spice Village, one
of the Casino Groups most famous boutique hotels, is a tranquil
property set in the Kerala's spice growing Western Ghats, on
the edge of the Periyar Wildlife Reserve, a national park that
is using innovative means to protect its fragile eco-system
and wildlife by helping to build sustainable livelihoods for
the surrounding local communities. Spice Village is in every
respect an exemplary and adventurous place. Surrounded by dense
plantations, its cottages are modelled on the jungle-dwelling
design of the local residents, using elephant grass and spilt
bamboo. The rooms are not luxurious but large, peaceful and
comfortable.
Day 7 & 8:
From Periyar you travel south to Kumarakom, an island on the
large Lake Vembanad that is blessed with an idyllic location.
The area has attracted several exotiec hotels offering backwater
and Ayurveda holidays. There is also a wonderful bird sanctuary.
We head straight for Waterscapes for a relaxing two-night stay.
Accommodation profile: Waterscapes is an
interesting new property built on a seven-acre lakeside estate
in Kumarakom. The 40 stilted wooden cottages are unique, perched
up eight-foot in the air with views of the Vembanad Lake or
the lush garden. The cottages, which are thatched-roofed, are
spacious and tastefully furnished. It is just a shame that the
architect was obsessed with red-coloured iron walkways and staircases
which undermine the natural feel. But this is still one of Red
Dot’s favourite mid-range backwater properties –
it is registered as a four-star property. Indeed, we believe
it offers excellent value for money compared to some of its
overpriced neighbours.
Day 9: Relax during the morning at Waterscapes
and wait for the arrival of your traditional Kettuvallum houseboat
(reconverted rice barges) around noon for one of the highlights
of your holiday – a journey through Kuttanad country to
Kollam, a land of shimmering waterways, dense tropical greenery
and age-old village livelihoods so vividly described in Arundhati
Roy’s remarkable novel The God of Small Things. Your houseboat,
fully staffed with a friendly and attentive crew, will chug
slowly through canals and creeks allowing you to relax and unwind.
Hours slip by easily as you gaze ashore, soaking up a myriad
of views as you pass homes, farms, paddy fields, playful children,
fisher folk in traditional dugouts and bathing buffaloes. See
fish eagles circling for prey and wise cormorants perched on
the riverbank. At 6pm the houseboat will moor up and the staff
will cook a sumptuous traditional feast before a restful night’s
sleep.
Day 10 to 13: After breakfast on the houseboat
you will soon arrive in Kollam and then travel overland to towards
Kovalum, the most popular stretch of coastline in Kerala. We
skip Kovalum’s more developed areas and instead seek out
Estuary Island in Poovar. Spend four nights relaxing at the
hotel.
Accommodation profile: Estuary Island is a unique new
hotel property offering guests a taste of the backwaters and
Kerala’s palm-fringed beaches. Only opened in 2005, the
main building, tastefully designed, overlooks a long garden,
across a lake, towards a long wide sand bar and the ocean about
500m in the distance. The 46 rooms are smartly and crisply furnished
with wooden floors, gentle colours, wide balconies, and bathrooms
that have double-bar reeled showers. A huge black-tiled swimming
pool offers guests a cool place to relax but others will prefer
to jump aboard one of the hotel’s boat to crossover to
the sand bar. During the off-season (May to Sept) the sea is
rough but during the season you can layout a sunbed and listen
to the gentle waves foam up the beach; a beach that is isolated
and unspoilt.
Day 14: Leave in good time for your flight
home. The drive to Trivandrum International Airport will take
one hour.
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| Cost: TBC |
Package price includes:
• 12 night’s BB hotel accommodation
on twin-sharing basis
• 1 night’s full-board accommodation
on houseboat
• Airconditioned car and English-speaking
driver for transfers and tour
• Entrance fees: St. Francis Church, Mattancherry
Palace, Synagogue, Kathakali
dance performance, spice plantation tour, one boat
ride in Periyar |
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