Our trip to Kerala in February
We planned a holiday trip to Kerala in February this year along with our kids aged 3 and 6 years.
This was our maiden trip to Kerala and we have not visited this state before.
After searching the best options on the internet we planned a 4N / 5D trip to Kerala.
For the for nights we planned to stay two nights at Munnar, one Thekkady and one in a house boat in Kumarakom in the Kerala backwaters.
We decided on the following package
(this information was provided by tour operators)
Day 01 –Cochin- Munnar
Arrival assistance & transfer from Cochin airport/railway station to Munnar. Check into the hotel. Overnight stay at hotel.
After breakfast Sightseeing in Munnar, covering Mattupetty Lake, Eco point, Rajamalai National Park ,Tea museum etc. Overnight stay at hotel.
Day 03– Thekkady
Morning drive from Munnar to Thekkady. Check in to the hotel. Sightseeing in surrounding place of Thekkady. Visit spice market and Periyar Lake. Overnight stay at hotel.
Day 04 – Kumarakom (House Boat)
After breakfast drive to Kumarakom board on to the houseboat. Cruise through the backwaters and inland waterways of Kumarakom and Alleppey. Overnight on board the house boat anchored in the backwaters.
Day 05 -Back to Home
At the end of tour transfer back to Cochin Airport/Railway station.
Many tour operators are there in Cochin and we took quotation from many of them. The eternities were more or less the same and the variation was there on AC or non AC car and type of hotels 2, 3 or 5 star. We got the all inclusive quotes between Rs 16 to 30,000 rupees.
But finally we decided to go without booking any package tour. We only booked an AC Indica taxi for 5 days from one Prajith in Alleppey (09847157744) for Rs 1600 per day excluding parking and toll which was less than Rs 100 for the entire trip. Prajith has a fleet of taxis from Indica to Luxury ones
We booked our flights by Kingfisher airlines departure from Mumbai on 23rd February 7:00 AM on departure from Cochin on 27th February 9:00 PM. This way we had full five days of enjoyment.
We landed on time at Cochin airport at about 9:30 in the morning. Deepu an English speaking driver sent by Prajith was there at the airport to receive us. The taxi was neat and clean with washed white seat covers, and cooled before our arrival.
Within 15 minutes we were comfortable talking with each other and children started mixing up with Deepu. Deepu had good knowledge about all tourist places in Kerala. We told him about our tentative program. He advised us to make a change program and stay in the houseboat at Kumarakom the first day instead of the last day, as this will be more comfortable with children and more enjoyable. We agreed and headed to Kumarakom for houseboat stay for that day.
He called up one of his friends associated with house boats to look for some good houseboat while we were on the way. Kumarakom is only about 1-1.5 hours journey from Cochin. We stopped for some snacks on the way and finally reached Kumarakom at 12:00 noon.
Houseboat in kumarakom
We saw three four house boats and chose one which was neat and clean and big in size with two bedrooms (one remained empty). We finalized the tariff at 5500 rupees fro 24 hour stay on AC house boat including all meals and tea.
By 12:30 we were happy relaxing in the big exclusive house boat with three crew members at our disposal.
Deepu left for his home with an assurance to come back at 9:00 AM the next day, and to call him (9744284916) if we face any problem in the houseboat.
Tips
House boat stay is a must do activity in Kerala backwaters, an experience difficult to match. Do not avoid it
Content updated in January 2023