Kerala Honeymoon and Romantic Escape Tour

A smiling welcome waits at Cochin International Airport, where our representative greets you both with fresh jasmine garlands and introduces your chauffeur. The drive to Fort Kochi takes about an hour and a quarter, passing through the suburbs of Aluva and across the bridges of the Kochi backwaters. Our usual choice for honeymooners is a heritage boutique hotel such as the Malabar House or Old Harbour Hotel, both converted colonial homes with courtyards, four-poster beds and plunge pools, subject to availability. A welcome drink of tender coconut water and a small honeymoon cake are waiting in your room, along with a handwritten card from the team.

After a rest, wander hand in hand along the Fort Kochi waterfront in the late afternoon, when the light softens on the Chinese fishing nets and families come out for an evening stroll. Street vendors sell grilled corn, peanut cones and fried fish, which you can pick from the stall and have cooked fresh at the small eateries across the road. Your evening dinner is booked at the hotel's courtyard restaurant, with a quiet corner table, prawn curry with raw mango, and pepper-crusted seer fish. Fort Kochi is easy to walk at night, and the art cafes stay open late.

Overnight stay in Kochi.

Start late with breakfast in the hotel courtyard before your guide arrives at around 10 am for a gentle walking tour of the old quarter. St Francis Church, built by Portuguese friars, has a quiet whitewashed interior and gravestones of Dutch settlers on its walls. Nearby, along Princess Street, painted colonial houses have been turned into cafes, boutique shops and galleries. A short drive takes you to Mattancherry, where the Dutch Palace has murals of Krishna and Rama on its walls, and Jew Town has antique stores packed with carved doors, brass lamps and old ship chests, some of which can be shipped home if you fall for a piece.

After lunch at Kashi Art Cafe, known for its homemade cakes and strong coffee, the afternoon is free to rest. At 5 pm your chauffeur takes you to the Kerala Kathakali Centre or Greenix Village, where you can watch the actors apply their elaborate green and red make-up from rice paste and natural colours, a process that takes over an hour. The performance that follows lasts about an hour, with an English summary beforehand. Afterwards, your sunset cruise by private motorboat takes in Vypin Island, the fishing nets and the harbour mouth, with a chance of dolphins in the shipping lane.

Overnight stay in Kochi.

After a late breakfast, your chauffeur drives you east toward the Western Ghats. Past Kothamangalam the road begins to wind upwards into thick forest, and halfway along it you stop at Valara waterfall, which tumbles down a rock face beside the road and is at its fullest during and after the monsoon. Next, a spice garden at Kallar gives you a short guided walk among cardamom, cinnamon, clove and vanilla plants, and its small shop sells fresh spices and essential oils in pretty gift boxes. A lunch stop at a roadside restaurant offers Kerala parotta and chicken roast, a flaky flatbread with a thick, peppery gravy.

You arrive in Munnar by mid-afternoon to a cool breeze and the smell of tea leaves. Our usual choice for couples is the Fragrant Nature resort or the Panoramic Getaway at Chithirapuram, which has a heated infinity pool hanging over the valley, subject to availability. Your room faces the tea gardens, and a cosy blanket and hot chocolate wait on the balcony. Tonight a private candlelit dinner is set up for the two of you on the resort lawn or a sheltered terrace, with a menu that mixes Kerala dishes with continental options, and a small bonfire if the night is cold.

Overnight stay in Munnar.

Start with a slow breakfast and then a tea estate walk with a local planter, who leads you along narrow paths between the bushes and shows how pickers choose the top two leaves and a bud. The walk ends at a small processing unit where orthodox tea is withered, rolled, fermented and dried, followed by a tasting of different grades, from delicate white tea to strong dust tea used for chai. Afterwards, the driver takes you up the Kundala road to Mattupetty Dam, where a speedboat ride across the reservoir is a favourite with honeymooners, and wild elephants sometimes come down to drink on the far shore.

A few kilometres further on, Echo Point is a lakeside spot where couples shout each other's names to hear them bounce back from the hills. At Kundala Lake, you can hire a pedal boat or a Kashmiri-style shikara and drift across the still water, surrounded by eucalyptus trees. On the return, a stop at the flower gardens near the Munnar bus station gives you a chance for couple photos among roses, dahlias and ferns. Late in the afternoon you return to the resort for a swim in the heated pool or a quiet sunset from your balcony as the hills turn purple and then dark.

Overnight stay in Munnar.

Leave the hills after breakfast and drive down through Adimali and Kothamangalam, where the temperature rises and coconut palms replace the tea bushes. Your chauffeur takes the scenic inner road toward Kottayam, passing small churches, rubber estates and paddy fields, with a lunch stop at a homestyle restaurant for a Kerala meal on banana leaf, finished with a small cup of sweet payasam. You reach Kumarakom in the afternoon. Our usual choice is the Coconut Lagoon, a CGH Earth property reached only by boat, where restored wooden tharavad homes and pool villas sit along canals, or the Zuri Kumarakom with its lake-facing villas, subject to availability.

Your room or villa looks out onto the water, and some come with a private pool and outdoor shower in a walled garden. After settling in, a couples' Ayurveda session is booked at the resort's spa: a synchronised Abhyanga massage with warm herbal oils, done by two therapists working in rhythm, followed by a steam bath and herbal tea. As the sun sets, the resort's country boat takes you across Vembanad Lake for a short sunset ride, with egrets and kingfishers flying low over the water. Dinner can be on the lawn by the lake, lit by brass oil lamps, with karimeen pollichathu, pearl spot fish baked in banana leaf.

Overnight stay in Kumarakom.

After a relaxed breakfast, your driver takes you to Alleppey, where a private houseboat with one bedroom is waiting for the two of you. Our team asks the crew to decorate the bed with flowers and towel swans, and a welcome drink of fresh lime with ginger is served as you step on board. The kettuvallam is built from wooden planks tied with coir and has a curved roof of bamboo and palm leaves, with an air-conditioned bedroom, a private bathroom and an open upper deck with lounge chairs. A captain, a cook and a deckhand keep to themselves while making sure you have everything you need.

Lunch is served as you cruise across Punnamada Lake, home to the Nehru Trophy snake boat race each August, and into narrow canals lined with paddy fields lying below water level, small temples and village houses. The cook prepares fresh fish curry, vegetable thoran, sambar, rice and pappadam, with pazham pori and tea in the afternoon. At sunset, the boat anchors at a quiet bend, as government rules stop houseboats cruising at night, and you can sit on the deck watching fireflies over the fields. Dinner is served by candlelight on board, often with king prawns or crab.

Overnight stay in Alleppey aboard the houseboat.

Wake early if you like for a dawn canoe ride with a local boatman through the narrow canals of Kainakary, where the big houseboats cannot reach. You glide past ducks, children rowing to school and women cleaning fish at the water's edge, while the sun rises over the paddy fields. Back on the houseboat, breakfast of appam with egg curry or puttu is served before the boat returns to the jetty by around 9 am. Your chauffeur is waiting, and the drive to Marari Beach, a quiet fishing village north of Alleppey, takes only half an hour along roads lined with coir workshops.

Our usual choice at Marari is the Marari Beach Resort, a CGH Earth property with thatched villas set in a coconut grove, or the Xandari Pearl, with private pool villas, subject to availability. The beach is long, wide and nearly empty, with only fishing boats pulled up on the sand. Afternoon is free for a hammock under the palms, a swim in the resort pool, or a cycle ride through the village lanes past small churches and homes. At sunset, walk along the beach to watch fishermen pull in their nets and sort the catch of sardines and mackerel. Your evening meal can be grilled seafood at the beach shack.

Overnight stay in Marari Beach.

The final morning is unhurried. Take an early walk along the sand while the beach is still cool, or try a sunrise yoga session in the resort's open pavilion, followed by a long breakfast of fresh fruits, dosas and Kerala filter coffee. Check-out is usually at noon, and if your flight is in the evening, the resort can arrange a late checkout on request. Many couples use the last hours for a final swim or a stop at the resort shop for handmade coir rugs, kasavu cotton stoles with gold borders, or a small set of Kerala spices to take home as a souvenir of the honeymoon.

Your chauffeur then drives you north along the coastal highway to Cochin International Airport, a journey of around two hours depending on traffic through Ernakulam. On the way, if time permits, stop for a final cup of tea at a roadside stall or a photo at the Cherai beach turn-off. At the airport, the driver helps with your bags and says goodbye. The team at Heritage India Private Tours wishes you both a long and happy marriage, and we would love to welcome you back for an anniversary trip, perhaps to the palaces of Rajasthan or the Andaman Islands, whenever you are ready.