Forest reflected in Pookode lake, Wayanad

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Nine places
worth the drive.

Drive times below are real ones, measured from our yard in Aluva with the traffic and the ghat roads counted. The suggested nights are what each place actually needs — not the maximum we could sell you.

The lay of the land

Aluva sits in
the middle of it all.

Kerala runs 580 kilometres north to south and rarely more than 120 across, with the Western Ghats down one side and the Arabian Sea down the other. From Aluva, next to Cochin airport, the high range is four hours east, the backwaters two hours south and the waterfalls ninety minutes north.

That geography is the whole argument for a private vehicle. It lets you take tea at altitude in the morning and be on a houseboat the same evening, without spending the day at bus stands.

01 · High range

Munnar

Tea planted on every slope the British could reach, at 1,600 metres, with Anamudi — the highest peak in south India — behind it. Mornings arrive as mist and leave as hard light. Come for Eravikulam at opening time, the lakes at Mattupetty and Kundala, and a walk through the estates where nobody else stops.

Drive from Aluva: 4 hours, 110 km
We suggest: 2 nights
Best months: September to March
Known for: Tea estates, Eravikulam, cool nights

02 · Spice country

Thekkady

The Periyar reserve wraps around a lake made by a dam in 1895, and the drowned trees still stand in it. Take the first boat of the day and you will see elephant, gaur and sambar come down to drink. Around Kumily, cardamom, pepper and vanilla grow on the same hillside, and the air smells of all three.

Drive from Aluva: 4 hours, 140 km
We suggest: 1 to 2 nights
Best months: October to March
Known for: Periyar lake, spice plantations

03 · Backwaters

Alappuzha

A town built between canals, and the place to board a kettuvallam. Ours leave around noon, cook lunch while you move through the narrow channels, and moor in still water for the night. Paddy fields sit below sea level on either side; the only sound after dark is water against the hull.

Drive from Aluva: 2 hours, 75 km
We suggest: 1 night on board
Best months: All year, finest November to February
Known for: Houseboats, Vembanad lake, snake boat races

04 · Harbour

Fort Kochi

Six hundred years of trade in twenty walkable streets: Chinese fishing nets on the shore, a Portuguese church, a Dutch palace, a synagogue at the end of a spice lane. Best done slowly, on foot, with the car left behind and lunch somewhere with a fan and a view of the water.

Drive from Aluva: 1 hour, 30 km
We suggest: Half day, or 1 night
Best months: October to March
Known for: Heritage quarter, Kathakali, harbour sunsets

05 · Waterfalls

Athirappilly

Eighty feet of the Chalakudy river going over an edge, loud enough that you feel it before you see it. Go early, before the tour buses, and walk the path to the base. Vazhachal is ten minutes further on and half as busy, and the forest road beyond it is one of the finest drives in the state.

Drive from Aluva: 1 hour 30 minutes, 55 km
We suggest: Day trip
Best months: June to January, at full flow
Known for: Waterfalls, river forest, film locations

06 · Northern hills

Wayanad

Coffee, pepper and bamboo instead of tea, and forest that runs on into Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Neolithic carvings inside the Edakkal caves, a swim under Soochipara falls, and Banasura Sagar holding back water below the hills. The nine hairpins up the Thamarassery ghat are part of the trip.

Drive from Aluva: 6 hours, 270 km
We suggest: 2 to 3 nights
Best months: October to May
Known for: Wildlife, caves, plantation stays

07 · Meadows

Vagamon

Grass hills with almost nothing built on them, a planted pine forest, and wind that does not stop. Paragliders use the ridge at Kolahalamedu in season. It is the closest thing Kerala has to an empty landscape, and it is only three hours from Aluva, which makes it the easiest weekend in the state.

Drive from Aluva: 3 hours, 100 km
We suggest: 1 to 2 nights
Best months: September to February
Known for: Meadows, pine forest, paragliding

08 · Cliff coast

Varkala

The only place on this coast where laterite cliffs drop straight to the sand. A path runs along the top past cafés and small hotels; springs come out of the rock onto the beach below. The Janardhana Swamy temple at the south end has been there for far longer than any of it.

Drive from Aluva: 4 hours 30 minutes, 200 km
We suggest: 1 to 2 nights
Best months: November to March
Known for: Cliff walk, sunsets, ayurveda

09 · The south

Kovalam &
Trivandrum

Three crescent beaches under a lighthouse, and half an hour inland the state capital: the Padmanabhaswamy temple in its tank-side square, the Napier museum in its gardens, and the best coastal sadya you will eat all trip. A natural finish to a one-way journey down the state.

Drive from Aluva: 5 hours, 220 km
We suggest: 1 to 2 nights
Best months: November to March
Known for: Beaches, temple city, museums

Kathakali performer in full costume and make-up

Between the places

A Kathakali face takes four hours to paint. A sadya is eaten with the right hand off a banana leaf, in a fixed order. We will tell you which one is on where, and get you there before it starts.

Eating well

Ask the driver,
not the guidebook.

Kerala food changes every hundred kilometres: beef fry and appam in the Christian towns of the centre, biryani in Malabar, red fish curry on the coast, plantation cooking up in the hills. None of the good places advertise.

Our drivers eat where they eat every week, and will happily take you there — a toddy shop lunch near Alleppey, a fish stall in Fort Kochi, a small hotel in Kumily that does one thing perfectly. Tell us what you cannot eat and it will be handled quietly, at every stop.

Plan a trip around it

Put them together

Pick two or three.
We will make
a route of them.

Tell us which places pulled at you and how many nights you have. We will sequence them so the driving stays sane and the good hours are spent outside the car.

Send an enquiry See ready-made routes

Call or WhatsApp: +91 81296 21027
Email: nasarnajumudheen@gmail.com
Office: Veramparabil, Meathanam,
Aluva, Ernakulam, Kerala

Nine placesworth the drive.

Aluva sits inthe middle of it all.