Kerala First Escape

Met at Kochi airport or Ernakulam station and driven east without a night in the city, so the nights go where the landscape is. Coconut and paddy give way to rubber, then cardamom and pepper as the road climbs past Adimali, and finally tea. Around four hours, with the Cheeyappara and Valara falls beside the road on the way up — worth the stop when there is water behind them, which means the monsoon and the months after it. Munnar sits near 1,600 m and the evening is cold enough to want a layer; nothing is scheduled beyond arriving.

Eravikulam National Park at opening, by the timed shuttle from Rajamala, for the Nilgiri tahr — entry is capped daily and the park closes for calving, roughly February to March. Then straight out along the Mattupetty road while the sky is still clear: the dam, Echo Point, the Kundala lake and Top Station on the Tamil Nadu border, where the escarpment falls away into the Theni plain. Cloud usually closes that view by late morning, so it comes before lunch rather than after. Back to the Tea Museum at Nallathanni in the early afternoon; it is closed on Mondays, and a Monday here gives that hour to an estate walk instead.

Down out of the hills to Alappuzha, about four and a half hours, to board in the early afternoon — the boat holds the boarding. It cruises through the afternoon and moors overnight in a quiet channel; by regulation none travel after dark. Meals are cooked aboard; karimeen grilled in banana leaf is the thing to ask for.

Off the boat mid-morning and driven to Kochi airport, about two and a half hours. If your flight is late there is time for Fort Kochi on the way — the Chinese fishing nets on the point and the Paradesi synagogue in Mattancherry, shut Fridays and Saturdays, are a short walk apart.