KOCHI · KERALA · INDIA
Spice lanes, palm canals, the Arabian Sea.
Backwater houseboats and shikara cruises, Fort Kochi heritage walks, the Mattancherry spice quarter and tuk-tuk city runs. Plus the day trips out to the Munnar tea hills and the Athirappilly falls.
Only here
Kochi's own three.
Backwater cruises and city tours turn up in every guide. The shore-operated Chinese nets, a night afloat on a Kerala rice barge, and the spice lanes of Mattancherry belong to this coast alone.
Hung on the shore
The Chinese Fishing Nets
Cantilevered teak-and-bamboo nets line the Fort Kochi shore, dipped and raised by hand on a counterweight of stones. Traders from the court of Kublai Khan are said to have carried the design west; nowhere else in India fishes quite like this. The heritage walks reach them as the catch comes in.
- 1 Kochi Tour Guide -A Heritage walking tour in Fort kochi and Mattancherry !
- 2 Fort Cochin Heritage Tour by The Kochi Heritage Project
- 3 Walking Tour Of Fortkochi & Local Lunch
A rice barge, reborn
A Night on a Kettuvallam
The kettuvallam once carried rice and spice down the inland waterways, its hull lashed together without a single nail. Now they are slow houseboats with a deck, a cook and a cabin, drifting the palm-walled lagoons of the Kerala backwaters and mooring among the paddy for the night.
- 1 5 Days Luxury Kerala Tour with Houseboat Experience
- 2 4 Days Best of Kerala Tour with Private Houseboat, Sightseeing & Car
- 3 8 Days Kerala Private Tour (3 Star) with Munnar, Houseboat & Cab- Iris Holidays
Spice-trade crossroads
The Mattancherry Spice Lanes
Pepper, cardamom and ginger still scent the godowns of Jew Town, where Portuguese, Dutch, Arab and Jewish traders met for five centuries. The Paradesi Synagogue of 1568, the Dutch Palace murals and the antique shops sit a few steps apart along one narrow, fragrant street.
- 1 Kochi Tour Guide -A Heritage walking tour in Fort kochi and Mattancherry !
- 2 Jewish Heritage Tour of Cochin
- 3 Local and personalized Tours of Fort Kochi and Mattancherry by Tuk Tuk
Start here
The one to book first.
More travellers begin their time in Kochi with this one than anything else on the list.
Most booked
Kochi's Most Popular Tours
Tuk-tuk city runs, backwater houseboats, Fort Kochi heritage walks and the Munnar tea hills. The days most travellers come to Kochi for.
Where to begin
The experiences a Kochi trip is built around.
The backwater houseboats, the Fort Kochi lanes, the tuk-tuk loops, the Mattancherry spice quarter and the tea-hill day trips. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The backwater question
How to ride the Kerala backwaters.
South of the city the land dissolves into a maze of lagoons, rivers and palm-shaded canals. How you ride them decides the day. Three ways onto the water, depending on the time you have.
Fort Kochi
Five centuries on one peninsula.
The Portuguese raised the first European church in India here in 1503; the Dutch and the British followed. Today Fort Kochi is a walkable grid of pastel facades, cafe-lined lanes and street art, with St Francis Church, the Santa Cruz Basilica and the Chinese fishing nets all within a slow morning’s stroll.
Read the guide: the best of Fort Kochi →Four hours inland
Up where the tea grows.
Beyond the coast the land climbs to Munnar, 1,600 metres up in the Western Ghats, where tea estates terrace the hills in every shade of green. Day trips and overnighters run from Kochi for the plantations, the viewpoints, the spice gardens and the cool mountain air.
See the Munnar day trips →The Arabian Sea
The port that pulled the world in.
Pepper made Kochi. For six centuries Arab dhows, Chinese junks, Portuguese carracks and Dutch traders rode the monsoon winds into this harbour for the spice of the Malabar Coast. The forts, churches, synagogue and godowns they left behind still line the water, and the cruise ships still tie up where the spice once did.
Harbour cruises & boat trips →After dark
The face behind the green paint.
Kathakali is Kerala’s own theatre of gods and demons, the performers’ faces built up over hours into towering green-and-crimson masks, every glance and finger a line of the story. Evening shows in Kochi open with the makeup, so you watch the character appear before the drums begin.
- 1 Kochi: Kathakali, Theyyam, and Kalaripayattu Evening Show
- 2 Skip the Line: Kerala Cultural Show Ticket
- 3 Kochi: Kathakali Evening Show with Transfers
By pace
Pick the speed of your day.
Kochi runs at whatever pace you set. Slow on the water and through the old lanes, a full day out to the hills and the falls, or the long Kerala loop that strings it all together.
Slow and local
Backwaters and old lanes.A shikara through the village canals, a heritage walk past the Chinese nets, an evening Kathakali show. The unhurried Kochi.
A full day out
Tea hills and waterfalls.A day trip up to the Munnar tea estates or out to the Athirappilly falls, then back to the coast by dark.
The long loop
All of Kerala, end to end.Multi-day tours that string Kochi together with the backwaters, the hills and the spice gardens into one route.
The autorickshaw
The whole old port, three wheels at a time.
The tuk-tuk is how Kochi actually moves, and the best way to see it. Local drivers thread the autorickshaw through Fort Kochi’s lanes and across to Mattancherry, stopping at the nets, the synagogue, the spice market and the laundry yards, covering in a morning what would take a day on foot.
See all 50 tuk-tuk tours →By place
Six ways to point the day.
Fort Kochi for the nets and the churches. Mattancherry for the spice lanes. The backwaters for the houseboats. Munnar for the tea. Athirappilly for the falls. The city itself for everything in between.
By activity
Pick how to spend it.
A houseboat if you want to sleep on the water. A tuk-tuk if you want the whole city fast. A heritage walk if you want the history slow. Cooking, kayaking, a sunset cruise, or a day in the hills.
Plan it
Three days, done right.
First time in Kochi? A long weekend that hits the essentials without a wasted hour.
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