Cook South Indian dishes with a local family in their Kochi home, learning regional techniques as you help prepare a shared dinner. Discover how coconut, spices and fresh ingredients shape Kerala’s distinctive cuisine.

Sit down together for a home-cooked meal and hear about the recipes from the people who make them. The hands-on setting offers a personal introduction to everyday food traditions beyond a restaurant menu.

Explore Kochi on foot and by tuk-tuk, moving through Fort Kochi’s historic streets and the character-filled Jewish Quarter. Visit landmarks including St Francis Church, the Dutch Cemetery and Mattancherry Palace.

Hear how Portuguese, Dutch and British influences shaped this trading port, from its religious buildings to its waterfront neighbourhoods. Travelling through the streets at a local pace brings Kochi’s layered history into view alongside the bustle of contemporary city life.

Trek with a Local Guide through the Lekshmi Hills, climbing from around 4,650 feet towards a ridgeline reaching up to 6,400 feet. Follow trails across open grassland, with tea estates and patches of shola forest spread across the slopes.

The walk reveals the varied landscapes of Munnar’s Western Ghats highlands. In clear weather, look towards Anamudi, southern India’s highest peak, while taking in the cooler mountain air and wide views across tea-growing country.

Walk through Munnar with your Trip Manager to get a closer look at everyday life in Kerala’s tea-growing hills. Browse local markets, encounter regional spices and produce, and take in the rhythms of this compact mountain town.

Munnar developed as a hill station amid the surrounding tea estates. Its shops and streets offer a different perspective from the plantation viewpoints, with a chance to enjoy a cup of chai in the place where much of Kerala’s tea is grown.

Follow the journey from leaf to cup at Lockhart Tea Factory in Munnar and sample locally produced teas. Walk among the surrounding plantations and through a nearby village to see the landscape behind the region’s best-known crop.

Tea cultivation has shaped these highland slopes and the communities that live among them. The factory visit connects the methods of tea production with what you taste, while the walk offers a closer view of life in Kerala’s tea country.

Explore a working spice plantation in Thekkady and see crops such as pepper, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon growing among tropical greenery. Learn about the ingredients and, where available, sample flavours close to their source.

Kerala’s spices have drawn traders to its coast for centuries. Seeing the plants in the highland conditions where they thrive gives familiar kitchen aromas a place and a history, alongside a glimpse of coffee and other local produce.

Get to know Thekkady on a guided walk through its local streets, lined with shops and restaurants. Your Trip Manager introduces this compact highland town and the daily activity that surrounds its markets and small businesses.

Set near Periyar’s forested landscapes, Thekkady is also a centre for the region’s spice-growing communities. The walk provides a grounded view of the town itself, complementing the plantation and wildlife experiences available in the surrounding hills.

Cruise the waters of Periyar National Park past forested shores, watching for movement along the water’s edge. Elephants, sambar deer, gaur and wild boar are among the animals that may appear, though sightings cannot be guaranteed.

The boat offers a quiet vantage point on this protected Western Ghats landscape. Take in the reflections, wooded slopes and calls of the forest while observing wildlife from the water rather than travelling through its habitat on foot.

Explore Varkala with your Trip Manager and get your bearings in this coastal town. Head towards the clifftop for wide views over the Arabian Sea, where cafés and paths sit above the beach.

Varkala’s distinctive cliff-backed shoreline gives it a setting unlike Kerala’s low-lying backwater landscapes. The orientation introduces the area’s relaxed coastal atmosphere and offers a chance to watch the changing light over the sea.

Join a guided yoga class in Varkala, moving and breathing at an unhurried pace in the town’s coastal setting. The session takes place at the hotel and offers a structured opportunity to stretch and reset.

Yoga’s roots lie in India’s long traditions of physical and contemplative practice. In Varkala, a town known for its laid-back clifftop atmosphere, the class provides a focused wellness experience rather than simply time to relax on the beach.

Cruise Alleppey’s palm-lined backwaters aboard a traditional houseboat, passing canals, rice fields and waterside villages. Enjoy lunch on board and watch daily life unfold along the banks as the boat moves through Kerala’s network of waterways.

Spend the night on the water, with dinner aboard and time to take in the quieter evening atmosphere. The houseboat journey offers a close perspective on a landscape where canals remain part of everyday travel and livelihoods.

Watch a Kathakali performance in Kochi and experience one of Kerala’s distinctive classical theatre traditions. Performers use elaborate costumes, vivid face paint and precise eye movements to bring stories and characters to life.

Kathakali combines dance, drama and stylised gesture in a form developed over centuries in Kerala. Watching the detail of each expression makes this a memorable introduction to the region’s performing arts. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Ride by jeep to the Viriparai sunset viewpoint for a broad perspective on Munnar’s highland scenery. From the viewpoint, take in the folds of the surrounding hills as the evening light changes across the landscape.

Munnar’s elevated terrain and tea-covered slopes make its viewpoints especially striking near dusk. This outing centres on the journey into the hills and time to appreciate the panorama. It is an optional experience at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Watch a Kalaripayattu martial arts show in Thekkady, where practitioners demonstrate the controlled movement and physical discipline of this Kerala tradition. The performance offers a close look at an art form rooted in the region’s cultural history.

Kalaripayattu is known for its flowing sequences, agility and carefully practised techniques. Seeing it performed brings the skill behind those movements into focus. This optional show is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Learn the basics of surfing with a local instructor in Varkala. Practise the foundations of the sport and spend time in the water along Kerala’s Arabian Sea coast.

The lesson adds an active dimension to Varkala’s beach setting, with instruction rather than an unguided swim or beach visit. Conditions on the water can vary, making each session a chance to respond to the sea as you build confidence. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.