Kerala India

Kerala: What Backwater Tourism Gets Right and What It Gets Wrong

Kerala is a narrow strip of land on India’s southwest coast, roughly 550 kilometres long and averaging 80 kilometres wide, bordered by the Western Ghats to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. The international reputation rests on three things: the backwater network around Alleppey, the tea hills of Munnar, and the Ayurveda industry. All three are real and worth the travel. All three have also been packaged into tourist products that vary wildly in quality, and knowing which version you are booking matters more than the brochure would suggest.

The Backwaters

The backwaters are a 900-kilometre network of interconnected lakes, canals, rivers, and lagoons running parallel to the coast. The classic experience is the kettuvallam: a converted rice barge houseboat fitted with bedrooms, a kitchen, and a rooftop deck. A standard two-bedroom houseboat with crew costs Rs 8,000 to 15,000 (approximately USD 95 to 180) for 24 hours depending on season and operator. Meals are included: typically fish curry, rice, and vegetables.

The honest assessment is that the main backwater channels near Alleppey are busy with other houseboats, and the environmental pressure from diesel engines in a closed water system is a legitimate concern. The more interesting areas are the smaller canals connecting village life to the water – where women wash clothes on concrete steps, men fish from dugout canoes, and coconut palms arch over waterways barely wider than your boat. These are accessible on foot from the town, by bicycle, or by booking a smaller canoe tour rather than a full houseboat circuit. A half-day canoe tour runs Rs 500 to 800 per person through guesthouses in Alleppey.

Fort Kochi, 90 kilometres north, is the better base if you want the backwater experience without committing to a houseboat. The town has Dutch, Portuguese, and British colonial architecture, the Chinese fishing nets installed in the 14th century and still operated by hand on the shoreline, and a manageable tourist infrastructure with better restaurants and guesthouses than Alleppey. The evening kathakali performances at the Kerala Kathakali Centre run at 6pm daily; the makeup process from 5pm is more interesting than the performance itself.

Munnar

Munnar sits at 1,600 metres in the Western Ghats, 130 kilometres east of Kochi on a 4 to 5 hour drive through hairpin bends. The tea gardens were planted by British companies in the 1880s and cover the hillsides in a continuous carpet of precisely maintained bushes. The Tata Tea Museum covers the plantation history with more honesty than most heritage sites manage.

The viewpoints marketed as attractions – Echo Point, Top Station on the Tamil Nadu border – are crowded and frequently fogged in by midday. Go before 9am for clear views and come back down before the valley clouds build. Eravikulam National Park, 15 kilometres from Munnar, protects the Nilgiri tahr, a mountain goat found only in the Western Ghats. Entry is Rs 125; the park is closed during calving season February through March.

Varkala Beach

Varkala, 50 kilometres north of Thiruvananthapuram, is the beach worth your time in Kerala. A red laterite cliff drops 30 metres to the beach below, and the cliff-top path is lined with restaurants and guesthouses with views across the Arabian Sea. The beach is swimmable from November through March. The sacred spring at the base of the cliff at Papanasam Beach is used for devotional bathing by local Hindus; the beach is informally divided between this sacred section and the tourist swimming area further north. Respect the distinction.

Food

The sadya is the argument for Kerala cooking: a traditional feast on a banana leaf consisting of rice surrounded by 24 to 28 side dishes – sambar, rasam, three types of pickle, pachadi, olan (white pumpkin and coconut milk), erissery (pumpkin and black beans), payasam for dessert. Rs 300 to 500 for a full sadya at restaurants catering to tourists. Karimeen (pearl spot fish), specific to Kerala’s backwaters, is worth ordering wherever it appears on a menu. Appam with fish molee – the lacy rice flour pancake with the gentle coconut milk fish curry – is one of the more quietly perfect food combinations in South India.

Getting Around

Trains connect Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alleppey, Ernakulam, and Thrissur on the coastal corridor. For Munnar and the hill country, private taxis or buses are necessary. November through February is the best time to visit: post-monsoon, before summer heat. The monsoon (June through August) is dramatic if movement is not your priority.