This nine-day guided getaway kicks off in style in the city of Kochi, with a spectacular sunset cruise. The following day, you’ll hit the streets to take in the highlights of colonial Fort Kochi, from Mattancherry Palace to the Santa Cruz Basilica, finishing the day with a Keralan cooking class and dinner. Next, it’s onwards and upwards – literally – into the lush hills that surround the town of Munnar. Here, you’ll spend the next couple of days venturing out to trek through tea plantations, rural villages and tracts of tropical shola forest. From here you’ll be whisked to the backwater city of Kumarakom, where a three-night stay at an Ayurvedic spa retreat should restore those trail-weary limbs. You’ll end this unforgettable adventure with a cruise and Keralan lunch on Kumarakom’s serene backwaters, before departing from Kochi. All of our trips are flightless in destination, with 100% of all carbon emissions offset. It's just part of how we see the world while being good to it.
In the heart of colonial Fort Kochi, this hotel specialises in unabashed opulence. Rooms are palatial in scale, and regally decked out with period-style furniture – think velvet ottomans and wingback armchairs – heavy drapes, and panelled walls. There’s a vast rooftop infinity pool overlooking Kochi harbour, an Ayurvedic spa and a terrace lounge with an open-air theatre.
Built around a historic planter’s bungalow, this hotel offers an intimate collection of spacious, boutique rooms designed with a sensitivity to the heritage and surrounding environment. Decor is pared-back, but high-quality, with honeyed wood furniture, tiled floors and an organic colour palette. But it’s the grounds that are the star of the show – lush, and scented with cardamom.
Cabana-like four-poster beds, draped in voile; rattan arm chairs; sliding French doors that open onto sunset-facing balconies: when it comes to elegant, colonial-style luxury, this place is second to none. If the rooms weren’t relaxing enough, the hotel also specialises in Ayurvedic treatments at its spa, while its landscaped gardens are perfect for practising your yoga poses.