Kerala Trip
No of days: 5 (From 26th Dec to 30st Dec)
Places Visited: Cochin (Ernakulum), Munnar, Thekkadi, Alleppey, Fort Cochi.
Type of vacation: Family trip with kids.
Day 1:
Started from Bangalore on 26th Dec at 6 Am by Ernakulum express (12677) at 6 AM and reached Ernakulum at 4.45 PM. It was comfortable journey in AC chair car.
After reaching Ernakulum we checked in the hotel called “Saas Tower Hotel" It was small but nice hotel, located near marine drive. So we went for walk on the marina walkway and enjoyed evening in nearby children’s eco- park with train ride, music, dance etc.
For dinner we went to iconic Grand hotel and had sumptuous dinner.
Day 2
After breakfast we started for Munnar by Chevrolet enjoy car. The route was very scenic and on the way we saw waterfalls, spice garden and some tea states and finally we reached Munnar around 1.30 pm.
We went for Elephant Ride at “dream land” and also saw water Dam, Echo point and some sightseeing points etc.
Night we checked in to Bella Vista resorts(home stay). It was comfortable home stay on the hill and they have arranged DJ dance etc for entertainment.
Day 3
After breakfast at Bella Vista resort, we started for Thekkedi. The journey from Munnar to Thekkedi was very scenic and we stopped the car multiple times for taking pictures at tea states, beautiful mountains and water bodies.
Thekkedi has Periyar national park and it offers safari through boat, unfortunately we could not get boat ride due to heavy rush.
Thekkedi also famous for Ayurvedic massages so we went for full body massage and it was really very good and refreshing.
Night we checked in to Hotel Himarani international, the hotel is situated on Alleppy – Thekkedi road around 33km from Thekkedi. Room was average but the view from room was very good as we can see and hear sound of waterfalls and flowing river through mountains.
Day 4
We reached Alleppy around 10 AM and we went to beach, Kids has enjoyed the beach and around 12 noon we checked in to House boat by the name “Cozy house boat.”
We stayed in the house boat for rest of day and we had ride to see backwater, lake and very scenic farms etc while we were on the boat. Boat also offered luxury stay and big deck for music, dance and dinner etc. It had six rooms on the boat and six families were staying on the boat but I feel one bedroom boat or two bedroom boat could provide much better service.
Day 5
After checking out at 9 Am from house boat we went to fort -Cochi. There we saw a very old church (Vasco digamma time), beach, Chinese net etc.
Fort Cochin also offers some shopping options as well.
For some time we also went to Trident Cochin and there we just relaxed for few hours and then took bus back to Bangalore at 7.30 PM.
Morning 6.30 AM we reached Bangalore.
What to avoid:
1.Avoid going in season time, so that room rates will be reasonable and traffic will be less.
2.Avoid booking house boat through online sites, better to call and book and transfer money in advance.
3.If you don’t want to stay on the house boat at night then there are options available to just book house boat for the day and stay at hotel at night.
What to Plan in advance:
1.Train tickets.
- Perirar National Park, boat safari tickets are available online.